Just Don't Tell Me It's Completely New

John Ebbert asked me to contribute to a feature in AdExchanger about 2012 predictions for online advertising.  My post takes a somewhat skeptical eye to these annual predictions pieces by challenging the premise.  It was fun to write and I hope you enjoy it.
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Meeting Gil Amelio, the Apple CEO before Steve Jobs Returned

I saw a very funny article about what Steve Jobs thought of Gil Amelio, who was CEO at Apple when Jobs returned.  The article quotes from the upcoming biography written by Walter Isaacson. Jobs had an extremely low opinion of Amelio and there was a funny exchange between Larry Ellison and Jobs about Amelio in the book.

I had a brief encounter with Gil Amelio while working for the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1995.  Amelio came to speak to a small gathering, and while he spoke, he sweated through his shirt, and repeatedly scratched his chest, almost as if he had a nervous tick.  It was difficult to watch, and gave off the impression that he simply didn't have the command you'd expect from someone in the role he had.

Being the eternal optimistic, I stored this memory away in the "if he can be CEO, then there's hope for me" file.

My Encounter with Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs' passing reminds me of an encounter I had with the man back in business school circa 1994. I was a member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business High Tech Club, and Steve Jurvetson was President of the club.  He had Jobs come to his house in Los Altos Hills to give a talk to students.  I covered the talk for the Reporter, the GSB's student newspaper.  Jobs had not yet rejoined Apple at this point, and Jurvey brought in a contemporary Mac keyboard for Jobs to autograph with a Sharpie.  Jobs looked at the keyboard with disdain, as it had a whole row of function keys, much like a PC keyboard.  Without hesitating, Jobs said to Jurvey, "Do you use these keys? Really, do they serve any purpose at all?" Jobs didn't wait for an answer.  He said to Jurvey, "I'll sign this keyboard if I can have these keys." We were all stunned, unsure what he really meant.  Jobs proceeded to take out his car keys and began popping out the function keys one at a time.  While doing so, he said to anyone that was listening, "Changing the world, one keyboard at a time."

This story is true, word for word.  It is indelible my brain.  That man was an original and a visionary. And he never stopped believing in his vision.

Update: Don't believe the story?  Here's Steve Jurvetson's version with a picture of the keyboard, posted seven years ago!  He also posts a link to a book that recounts the same story.  Just go to this link and search for "Jurvetson" to find it.

Another update: Steve Jurvetson just had an article printed in BusinessWeek regarding his experiences with Steve Jobs, including this anecdote.

Joining Inadco

Today, Inadco announced that I joined the company as Chief Operating Officer. I couldn't be more excited and energized by the opportunity. The company is building a platform to enable Cost-Per-Lead advertising on Display inventory. It has the potential for changing the Display advertising world at the same time that it transforms the traditional lead generation business and delivers a much better experience for consumers. What a trifecta!

Here is the press release. TechCrunch wrote a very good piece on Inadco, only miscategorizing us as a network along the lines of an "AdSense for Leads". We're a platform company, so we see the world a bit differently. AdExchanger also just pushed a pretty comprehensive interview.

One of the things I love about Inadco's business prospects is the depth of innovation this market opportunity affords. Once you start digging into what it really takes to merge CPL and Display, and I have already done a lot of this digging, you realize that there is a vast, untapped landscape upon which to stake a claim. There are so many things that CPL on Display can do that have never been done before, and Inadco is the only company focused on doing those things. When there's lots of room to innovate through technology, it is a great sign for the value of the business opportunity.

We're already off to a great start, driving leads for advertisers in 15 different categories or verticals, including many finance, home improvement and legal services categories, in addition to group buying, online education and many others. How many companies that claim they do CPL can support 15 different categories? Answer: none. And we're heading for literally hundreds of categories.

The company is backed by Chris Moore from Redpoint, who may be the most knowledgeable VC when it comes to ad technologies, having been the original VC in RightMedia, and currently on the boards of companies like Efficient Frontier and BlueKai. Angels in the deal include Mike Walrath, the founder of RightMedia, and Matt Coffin, founder of Lower My Bills. Talk about innovators in Display and Lead Gen! The board includes Chris, Mike, James Walker (Founder and CEO) and myself, which couldn't be a smarter, more insightful and effective board for Inadco.

Thanks to everyone for their best wishes and notes of support! We'll make you proud!