• by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, March 13, 2008

The events earlier this week reminded me of a situation that I faced almost eight years ago, in the middle of 2000. Back then, I was the chairman of Real Media, Inc., a company that I had founded in 1995 and which, like other online ad companies, was on a real growth tear. Our revenue was doubling year over year and we were on target for $50 million of revenue in 2000. We had filed for a $100+ Million IPO just before the NASDAQ tanked -- and, like almost everybody else in the online ad market, were hopeful that the downturn would be short.

In fact, the word "hopeful" understates how many of us felt. Chalk it up to entrepreneurial zeal (or market blindness), but I was certain that the market bounce was right around the corner. Online ad spending had not slowed down, since most of the dot-coms still had money in the bank. Customers were increasing their orders. We were in the middle of a very big marketing campaign (with ads on phone booths all over New York and San Francisco). We were still hiring. As we were reexamining our budget for the fourth quarter and starting to put together our budget for 2001 (which, consistent with those times, called for more than a doubling of revenue and a doubling of spend), I received an email from one of our independent board directors, Curt Viebranz, to meet him for a cup of coffee that afternoon at the Harvard Club.

Curt had joined Real Media's board at the beginning of 2000 as part of the process to take the company public. He was one of the most accomplished media and digital media executives in the world. He had spent almost 20 years at Time Warner and had been president of HBO International, president of Time, Inc. Europe, president of HBO Video and the first president of Time, Inc. Interactive, where I had met him in 1993 or 1994. Everyone that I had talked to that had worked for or with him talked glowingly of both his management skills and his qualities as a person you could trust and respect. Curt was the anchor on our board. When I walked into the club and sat down at Curt's table, he handed me a small scrap of paper upon which he had written three sentences. The first sentence was direct and to the point: "See reality as it is, not as you would like it to be." You can imagine where our conversation went from there. Curt told me that I was living in the clouds with my proposed budget, and that we needed to start managing the company against the reality of the market, not against our dreams or our previous pronouncements. Further, Curt said that it was time to seriously consider selling the company while we still could. While I listened carefully to Curt that day, and even put the scrap of paper in my wallet, I didn't follow his advice for a number of months -- and only at the point that I was forced into it by my majority shareholder.

By then, it was almost too late and most of the shareholder value had already been destroyed. I carried that note in my wallet for six years, and only took it out to give it back to Curt when he took over for me as CEO of TACODA, Inc. in 2006. I asked Curt to carry the scrap of paper in his wallet as I did, since it was -- and came with -- the very best business advice that I had ever received. Curt is the best business executive that I have ever worked with or for. Curt is a straight-shooter. Curt tells it like it is. Curt knows how to see reality for what it is, and to manage to that reality. As many of you know, Curt left AOL earlier this week. I and everyone that has had the privilege of working with him say thank you for your leadership, for your friendship, and for talking straight. We all love you and wish you the very best.