Commentary

I Joined A Startup

Big changes in life are inevitable, especially in the interactive business.

With that in mind, I'm happy and relieved to finally share some exciting news. I recently left Nielsen BuzzMetrics (now known as Nielsen Online) -- a company I remain passionate about and loyal to -- to join a startup in the search advertising space, Clickable. My new role is vice president of marketing, and my mission is to help build the company's reputation and evangelize best practices in search-engine and online marketing to help our customers succeed. This is my first week.

Joe Mandese at MediaPost covered my move, but I wanted to share my personal side of the story as well - mainly, the why. Aside from VC Fred Wilson's introduction to CEO and cofounder David S. Kidder, there were five major factors that made this opportunity a no-brainer for me:

1. Passion - I've said it before: passion matters because it's the ultimate competitive advantage. And passion and high energy radiate from every corner of this early-stage company.

2. Entrepreneurialism - Anyone who really knows me knows very well that I thrive in unexplored territory and unstructured environments - situations that require entrepreneurialism, creativity, resourcefulness and a winning-is-the-only-option attitude. The entrepreneurial bug is rampant here. Like me, everyone else has been through a number of other exciting and successful startups.

3. Innovation - To me, innovation means to be alive and prosper. If a company's not innovating, it's probably going sideways or dying. "Come up with a solution and go with it," I've already heard dozens of times in my first few days.

4. Stake - I don't really mean equity, though that certainly plays a role. What's really important is having a high-impact stake in the success or failure of the business. Plain and simple.

5. Domain - I've been submersed in interactive marketing and emerging media for more than a decade now. I love what I do and that's why subject-matter obsession has characterized my entire professional life. That's also why I consider myself a student far more than I'll ever consider myself a veteran or expert. Clickable's focus is on search-engine marketing, a critical dimension of my broader experience. I look forward to building my equity in this direction.

Beyond these core reasons, it also feels good to go home at night and know that we're helping the little guys - small to midsize businesses - do better and become more competitive. I didn't invent the phrase (I believe credit goes to Jeff Jarvis and Seth Godin) but small really is the new big. And this life change is one manifestation of that truth.

But there is one thing that hasn't changed, fortunately: I will continue here in the weekly Spin.

Thanks for you support, and wish me luck in my new venture. The ride begins

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