Smart and Successful People Missed The Internet in The '90's
In a Nutshell
A finance executive spotted the internet's potential in 1995 via a Business Week article and built United Media's first website, proving its commercial viability through early ad sales and merchandise. When the parent company rejected his proposal to invest in an internet division, he left to join early-stage DoubleClick as employee #10-12, then rapidly rose to CEO and drove aggressive global expansion into 25 countries before any turned profitable. This early-mover strategy and risk tolerance helped DoubleClick dominate digital advertising and could be worth $100 billion today if independent.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Before joining United Media, the speaker worked at Yale University School of Economics, Prudential Investment Company providing investment banking services, INSEAD Institute, and Euro Disney. The main benefit from these experiences was becoming financially oriented and very comfortable with numbers and understanding basic business trends. The role at Euro Disney involved moving from finance to operations, managing hotels as part of launching the project with 15,000 hotel rooms and 50,000 daily visitors - a huge project launched in one day. After this experience, the speaker decided they no longer wanted to work for large companies.
After returning to New York, the speaker took the position of Finance Manager for a department with 180 employees at United Media. This was considered a big job compared to previous experience managing 50 people. The role involved managing all operations and financial affairs, representing a radical transformation and a big step forward both financially and professionally as both a financial manager and operations manager.
The speaker remembers reading an article in Business Week magazine about the internet, which at that time had no browser available. The reaction was immediate recognition of its significance: "Oh my God, this is absolutely amazing. We can all be in touch with each other. We can send messages to each other. We can buy things." By 1995, United Media launched a website for "Delbert" (one of their intellectual properties) which achieved great success due to high traffic from tech-savvy users who could navigate the internet without a browser.
The Delbert website was monetized through manually programmed advertisements, with IBM as the first advertiser renting space for two weeks. Pricing was set without precedent since "how do you price something that literally never existed before." Promotional activities expanded to selling shirts, ties, and similar merchandise. After one year, this had become a very successful business.
The speaker approached the parent company with the conviction that "this thing called the internet is going to be huge" and that United Media had a head start. The proposal was for the company to invest a few million dollars to build an internet division that could serve other companies. The executive who received this pitch was described as "very nice and intelligent, but he is a traditional media man" who responded: "No, because we will wait for the next internet." The speaker interpreted this as the executive being "simply too old to grasp this," noting that the executive was the same age the speaker is today (61 or 62 years old). This interaction led to the conclusion that "This is not my future."
The speaker's conviction about the internet was based on direct observation rather than just traffic numbers. In 1996, the internet was in early stages but starting to flourish with companies emerging and more people connecting. Key observations included that "no one was leaving the internet," people were starting to buy things, and beginning to use maps. The fundamental insight was recognizing that capabilities we now take for granted - "being able to buy something from anywhere, and view content from anywhere" - represented a permanent shift that "didn't exist before."
The realization that "this is obvious and doesn't require any thought" and that "Everyone in the world would do this" led to the decision to leave and start an internet company. At this stage, the internet world was still very small. The speaker had one year of internet experience, making them one of the most experienced people at that time. Silicon Valley companies like Excite wanted to recruit the speaker to join established companies.
Instead of joining established companies, the speaker met the two founders of DoubleClick, which had been founded six months earlier. The founders were described as "very smart and very technical," and the speaker maintains great relationships with both to this day. The decision to join DoubleClick was influenced by wanting to stay in New York and believing it would be a successful company. The speaker joined as the tenth or twelfth person in the company.
After joining DoubleClick, the speaker started as financial manager for a few months, then became president of the company, and subsequently CEO. The factors contributing to this rise included feeling like a founder despite not being one technically, wanting to make the company successful as a team player, and adapting quickly to making decisions very fast. The approach emphasized that "You need to make your decisions faster than others."
The company's aggressive expansion included opening offices in 25 countries during the first three years, while competitors were present in only six countries. This global presence became a key selling point when approaching major clients like Microsoft and Procter & Gamble, who stated they "work in many countries" and needed to work with a globally present partner. Once these major players signed on, smaller companies followed, reasoning that "Procter & Gamble and Microsoft and everyone else are working with you, so we'll work with you too." This strategy resulted in the company "almost dominating our field."
The willingness to take significant risks was demonstrated by being present in 20 countries before the first country became profitable. The speaker acknowledges that "If it hadn't worked, everyone would have said, 'What were you doing?'" Despite making some mistakes along the way, the company built what would become a world leader. The speaker notes that "If DoubleClick were an independent company today, it would be worth one hundred billion."
The key skills and factors identified as contributing to success include adapting to a style of quick decision-making, understanding numbers, and being willing to take risks.
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