You Shoulda Been There

Murray and Nova (along with Jack Hidary) were Co-Founders of EarthWeb, one of the first Internet companies in the world. Episode Timeline 3:20 Good news is, I'm employed. Bad news... I'm STILL employed. 4:35 It starts with Jack and Murray. 6:15 Let's put relief agencies on the Internet 8:10 Hatched this idea called ReliefNet 10:40 Murray was a very active playboy 13:20 We started getting calls from ad agencies 16:00 We had one desk for six people! 18:25 "How did you even get a meeting with me?!" CTO, of The Met 20:45 Earthweb became the preeminent Web development shop 23:15 Article in Wired: 'High-Brow HTML House' 24:50 The "Jerry Yang" episode 28:40 Talk about the Innovations... 34:30 I remember sitting with Eric Schmidt... 38:00 Went from $3mm in revenue to $60mm in a year and a half 41:55 You gotta remember, I'm a music major. 44:55 Before Tesla became a household name... 46:30 Everything I know about business, I learned from Jack and Murray 49:30 We crash-landed Wikipedia on the moon... 51:20 More importantly for me is the human side of it...

Kate founded {meta} Marketer in 1999, developed Toshiba America‘s first intranet, is the author of 4 books including her latest, “Tech Humanist” (which was featured at CES 2019), and was recently named to the 2020 Thinkers50 Radar, a global ranking of management thinkers. Episode Timeline 6:00 And so it begins... 8:45 I got indoctrinated into MUDs 11:00 I remember getting tingles on the back of my neck! 14:05 What made you want to be a part of the Internet? 16:00 Toshiba recruited me to come to San Francisco 19:15 The next interesting pivot was Netflix... this '98 22:15 I was still drive by curiosity about everything! 25:00 "Relevance" was what we were going for 27:15 Relevance is a form of respect 29:00 Discretion is too... Balance how much we know about you 33:00 What got your juices going in those early days? 36:00 You could be a generalist 40:30 Impact of technology on people... The Future of Work 41:45 What have you retained from those early days? 45:25 I just became allergic to mangos! 46:30 You're going to love this... 49:30 I was at Magazines.com leading up customer experience... 52:20 So where are we now?

Andrew has been an advocate for digital literacy and equity from the very early days, focused on education, democracy & civic engagement. Episode Timeline 3:10 We all look the same... except for the glasses 6:20 How did it all begin? 8:10 Veteran's group had this old theater on Irving Place (...called "Irving Plaza") 11:05 By 1995 we were experimenting with streaming live music 12:55 I realized I needed to be involved with the community 16:10 I walked into this school and saw 3,000 kids and a single computer 17:20 Tech Glitch HOLD PLEASE 18:10 About 200 people showed up on a Saturday... That led to M.O.U.S.E. 23:00 The Record Industry blew it... they could have built iTunes or Spotify 26:25 The technology changes the art 28:10 ...and then the Bubble burst 29:50 I found it more an anthropological moment than a technological one 34:00 I started a conference call the Personal Democracy Forum 37:30 Politicians don't know the difference between a Server and a Waiter 43:00 Non-profits were starting to use these tools 45:15 Lightbulb: The NY Tech community is still highly empathetic 46:00 Micah Sifry and I Co-Founded Civic Hall together 52:05 The tech community is still way too white, way too privileged 59:20 Any chance we'll see you running for Mayor?

Thor, Jack & Priya led the Boston office of AGENCY.COM and have gone on to do some very interesting things in the digital space. Episode Timeline 4:20 Thor's origin story 9:15 How it began for Priya 12:25 Jack rolls back the time machine 13:05 Example of 1996 design and the THREE Pharma websites that existed! 15:40 "I remember the insanity of it... People were INSANE!" 17:20 "These powerhouses are taking advice from a 20-something!" 18:50 "He punches me in the arm and says 'Goddammit Man, give me a number!'" 19:55 "The world was just changing underneath them!" 22:00 Showing 500 executives what the Internet was. 26:00 "The New York office had it's own culture..." 27:50 "If you want to be with the Senior Team, you show up for pancakes!" 31:05 "I can think of 3 things we did that were absolutely firsts!" 37:15 "We became the soul in the machine..." 40:00 "Think about the skillsets we had..." 41:35 Priya, what are you doing now? 42:50 Jack, how about you? 45:05 Thor, you're up! 49:40 Wrap-up chat

It wasn't just websites that were being built back in the day. Meet some of the couples that met back then still together today. Smooch! Episode Timeline 2:10 Eamonn & Oriana: The Beginning 6:55 The very first trade show & uncomfortable hug 8:30 How did it evolve into a romance? (Slowly & painfully...) 10:25 I had this "partition" around me. 13:00 NYC - 5 Days. 2 Hotel rooms. 1 bed. 15:55 James & Bethany: She was the "Girl Under the Stairs." 17:15 "People were still counting what number employee they were." 20:00 Her boyfriend said, "It's him or it's me." 20:55 What brought you back to James? 22:00 (AGENCY . COM) was responsible for many generations to come! 22:55 What was it like working in "The Pit"? 24:50 Chan & Ruth: Origins in the Time-Life Building 25:55 I had to figure out the "Information Super Highway." 26:50 The Vibe offices... a lot of smoke... some of it from cigarettes 29:00 The tail end of the "Travel Department" offices 31:50 He walked me home 30 blocks... it felt... kind of romantic. 33:00 There's rules and then there's reality. 35:00 "We worked 7 weeks straight without a day off." 36:15 Hyde Park in a rowboat 39:30 My sister said, "I think Chan is your soulmate." 40:00 Group chat! 43:40 "This one's for you, Chan-baby!" 52:35 What's the biggest difference from when you started dating to now? 57:50 I remember distinctly where we had that exchange where we both "came out."

Carla helped shepherd the advertising world to a digital future as President of OgilvyOne in the '90's and is now Executive Partner, Chief Executive, Ogilvy Consulting, and Chief Digital Officer, The Ogilvy Group. Episode Timeline 3:15 How it all began... 4:50 We started to use it for marketing... called it "Brochureware" 6:30 Biggest consolidation in advertising history... 10:50 The beauty of having the consolidated IBM business 12:25 We did a global Yahoo buy... the first one ever! 14:20 I think people have always been attracted to working at Ogilvy 16:30 The vibe of the whole thing was just massive growth * 19:00 We pioneered the whole idea of integrated marketing 20:35 If you didn't have respect of the creatives... FORGET IT! 23:00 CPG stayed out of the picture for a really long time. 24:20 I was an expert in search for about four minutes... 29:25 It was in the David Ogilvy tradition of "We sell, or else!" 30:15 Did the Ogilvy brand help with client conversations? 33:35 Are there any "nightmares" that come to mind? * 36:45 If you don't fail early, you're going to be really late to the party. 40:45 The thread of "We sell, or else!" continues, yes? 42:45 Was there a definitive time where digital was embraced? 44:00 In the 90's I didn't need to do "new business." I just walked in the door! 48:05 Biggest factor was, "Did you get the targeting right?" 49:15 Where are you headed now? 53:10 It feels a bit like it did back in 1997...

Paul was employee #1 at https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2FAGENCY.COM%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3mk4zhDsjZoqbzyUCb05WFi_rDpDEL_r6ZW0_FnFeEuxfrtHZ7V8mivQY&h=AT0YLDN79gaZAAzTks3BZdlu1JGcJXf3raf2rp-in7x9O-l_bnnjDF3g4kR9Kkb6RbBogYGsrYZr4enIB7ZRAPEqfpBf6UW-rx08__O-3Dx3DyugN0ITYXlBjR39HxcJscs1fDV0LSCy8O31bN07yqOg3k9Y-vZ27TYAXuenYh5aGfzGG1Gaq7FMmBU5lxTmyxDYTwZC1DQjMtjxuo53DKmMHAyvXOPkL0YS_-B7Zxl9ApdQtt40SdEJzHOYRiY6iULB_3LmdUpriKWsROKweKjyv339Mx_wQxdkvANx81oq6nucLqbEyHi6TMggRK9msz7tZ-xmWFxFMMyyvwfH_VO3Lji1KQ26DS8EfLJgPz_w5KTPmm7eygeuHh2KHBnbyqU2I9Q8CKyf3mgJQ-jamXdt2CDKqYvrDdU4PUpdIj9-Kj2laD_rMMbg067RO23ZEN2yRFbbe4uO8JPoGMfvu1rOBGOLGfDHvT-UZSpgTETuQ1XHy6E9SPF7Jv0CaoUquGQKczlQcuMUzjgV3NRcXwTc4PNgYxB807UejtOlzsF9miiM4F91MPB33e2E3mDYIrY3pJhK-ckXQZLGl8WSIi1cWg_dNBETDA (AGENCY.COM) and Geoff wasn't too far behind. They were founding members of "The Pit" the nickname of the place where all the magic happened creating the very first Websites. Episode Timeline 4:15 Are you still going by "Poobie King"? 6:45 How it all began for Paul (Poobie) 9:30 How it all began for Geoff 13:55 "I liked that no one knew what they were doing." 15:25 Geoff, what was it like for you? 16:15 "It was way better than making junk mail." 17:20 "I remember being excited about new browser releases." 17:55 Where did the name, "The Pit" come from? 18:40 "I probably worked 3 years worth... in 9 months!" 22:00 Did the culture change for you guys? 25:55 Yeah... I don't like this management thing. 27:05 "It feels like I'm running a Romper Room!" 29:10 Mr. Badner, do you remember THIS?! 31:30 "I think about it every time I drive through Times Square" 35:00 "It was less about the projects and more about the experience." 36:20 "You know who I still talk to is John Nack" 40:05: "I left twice..." [FREEZE] 41:25 "I think I fell in love with the design process." 45:30 "Curiosity and being comfortable with constant change..." 49:10 "Can you make our logo rotate?"

Ep. 8 - Lewis Gersh, in partnership with AOL, founded Worldy Information Network in 1998 focusing on investor info publishing during the height of the DOTCOM boom. Episode Timeline 4:25 What are you doing now? 5:00 My first JV with Omnicom and Organic 6:05 Entrepreneur "Reverse Commuters" 6:35 Talk about the "AOL Thing" 8:20 We had 24,000 SKUs of Japanese Animé 10:00 How did you find Organic 12:00 The traffic must have been enormous! 14:55 Mitsui had backed AOL 18:15 We were sharing space with Organic in Chelsea 22:15 Getting people to understand the power being inside AOL 25:20 We've come full circle... it's now Facebook 29:00 We need to talk about "Yo-Yos" 32:25 What did you do that really was new territory? 34:40 Remember when HTML banners came out?! 37:55 One the best banner ads I remember 40:20 We had 2 T1's... in MANHATTAN! 43:10 What was it like investing in the post-Dotcom-Bubble environment? 43:34 Bubble 1.0 46:55 People were talking about Web 2.0 50:10 Lewis has gone mad. I'm sure Lewis has gone mad! 53:00 Take us into the future... What is phase 4.0?

Julia headed up digital for British Airways as they made their transition to Web-based booking. She'll be joined by some special guests who worked with her at AGENCY.COM. Episode Timeline 4:50 How did it all begin? 6:00 Went out with the Saatchis and smoked Marlboro Lights 9:35 How did you decide to find someone to help you? 12:45 There's no point in writing an RFP if people just ignore it! 14:10 We were very tech-driven 16:10 Introducing Esther Han and Margot Hyun - It's a Party! 17:55 Esther tell her origin story 18:30 Say hi to Margot 20:30 Early days of the BA/ACOM relationship 22:30 Who was the procurement guy? 25:00 Some fun pics from 1996 27:25 Do you know how much your IPO cost me?! 29:05 How Esther started on the BA account 32:00 Margot's time in London, "I couldn't understand what anyone said!" 35:15 The time we flew the whole London Team to New York 36:50 What did we build that you were proud of? 39:50 Web-in-a-Box™ 40:40 When we taught 400 people what the Internet was... in a Hanger 43:10 RAD - Rapid Application Development (Agile before Agile!) 48:30 It was a singular time in history 50:20 What Esther is up to today 52:55 What did you carry forward from those days, Julia? 54:30 Wrap-up Party

Ep. 6, Jeff Dachis & Craig Kanarick, the Founders of Razorfish help us kick off 2021 with a bang. We're gonna party like it's 1995. Episode Timeline 4:00 We like to start... at the beginning. 5:05 Jeff and I knew each other growing up. 9:00 A related AGENCY . COM story... 11:50 You could feel convergence happening. 13:00 The Liberal Arts degree turned out to be handy. 14:25 I bumped into the folks at Blender... I bump into Craig. 16:12 By definition we were lucky. 17:30 This was really happening in New York. 19:25 Razorfish... what the heck?! How'd you come up with the name? 23:50 Break the Xerox machine... fill the inkwell with spaghetti sauce and see what happens. 24:40 There was a small group of us that wanted the Internet to be a beautiful place. 27:15 Build the "Thing," not the "Thing about the Thing." 28:30 The time where you didn't have to explain what the "World Wide Web" was. 30:00 When Omnicom made that bet on those 6 companies... It changed the game. 31:25 What was "Holy Crap! We did that!"? ...Building Schwab . com. 35:22 We were at an Omnicom event in London... 36:30 If you want your Website to do that, Division A needs to talk to B. 39:05 Who wanted to have a bunch of failed projects on your roster?! 41:50 How did those early times impact what you do now? 43:30 How did you maintain your culture as you grew? 45:00 Craig, what are you doing today? 47:15 Jeff, how about you? 51:10 Jeff and I would step back a lot to appreciate where we were. 54:20 In Healthtech I feel a similar sense of change.

Ep. 5 - Ben Jones is Global Creative of Unskippable Labs at Google, and was on numerous client projects in the formative years of AGENCY.COM... he's got some stories to tell! Episode Timeline 2:50 You just gotta not suck 4:56 We're doing "2020 Okay." 6:10 How it all started 9:30 Can I start TODAY?! 12:50 I tended to be the "Pitch Pony" 15:10 Two Texaco Stories 18:25 The thing I remember the most is the Churn 22:20 Creative effectiveness in the video world 25:40 Realtime Coffee Freshness System we developed 27:55 The Lucent Business Card interface 28:20 The Jumpman 23 non-text Interface 30:25 Sphere of Genius of Tim Carrier around banner optimization 33:00 Pitching "The Laser that Blows Stuff Up" concept 36:30 Remembering the Creative Directors 38:30 How AGENCY . COM won the biggest global brands 40:05 Stumbling into massive cultural problems in large corporations 40:45 We won the global rebranding for HP... that was never going to work 42:05 Winning GS. That was a biggie. 46:20 What are you excited about now?

Ep. 4 - Eamonn and Andy talk about how they got started, creating pioneering firm Online Magic and experience joining & expanding AGENCY.COM all the way to and through the IPO. Episode Timeline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=305s (5:05)​ Eamonn humbly declares inventing the Internet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=424s (7:04)​ Andy from rocker to Internet epiphany https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=618s (10:18)​ Landing the Economist gig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=740s (12:20)​ Andy's NYC Move https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=770s (12:50)​ "Do you guys build Web sites?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=820s (13:40)​ Of course we can! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=840s (14:00)​ Chan Suh challenges Eamonn's claim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=904s (15:04)​ "Did you have ambitions for global domination?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=1052s (17:32)​ "How did you meet Chan and Kyle?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=1185s (19:45)​ Going out to first dinner with AGENCY.COM team in NYC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=1425s (23:45)​ The cultures never really came together https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=1760s (29:20)​ UK General Election site https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=1890s (31:30)​ Winning (being handed) Manchester United site https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=2145s (35:45)​ One Engine Many Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=2350s (39:10)​ The Tyson/Hollyfield sites https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=2523s (42:03)​ Completing the IPO road show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=2690s (44:50)​ "50" Levels of Education https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=2900s (48:20)​ It definitely became less fun (post-IPO) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=3005s (50:05)​ "Did Andy pay back his Marxist father?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsiEjDDCAE&t=3170s (52:50)​ What are you up to these days?

Ep. 3 - SCOTT MAGER, Principal at Deloitte Consulting, was employee number 4 at AGENCY.COM and a founding member of "The Pit" which is where all the magic happened. He also built the original BIG RED BUTTON™ Episode Timeline 2:08 Dress-Up Fridays Origin 3:30 How I Found AGENCY . COM 6:10 Creating the First Hitachi Website (With Visuals!) 9:35 Tapenet™ 11:15 The Originator of the "Geek & Tell™" 12:57 The Move to 665 Broadway 14:30 Urban Desires - You Could Do Anything 17:20 Creating the Big RED Button™ 21:60 "I'm a designer, but I'm also color blind..." 26:55 The First Gif89a Ad Banner for Apple... within an hour of release! 27:57 Live-Streaming the Concorde in Times Square 31:30 The Immersibility Index 36:45 Pep Talk: "Figure out what sucks. Don't do that!" 38:45 Why it Really Hurt When Scott left 39:40 "What have you carried forward from those early days?" 46:18 Perfecting Your Craft 47:50 How Do You Translate "Small Company" Spirit into (very large) Deloitte Digital?

Chan shares how he discovered coding and the World Wide Web while running marketing for Vibe Magazine, working for Quincy Jones and Time Inc. One thing led to another, and he was in the middle of the Internet storm. 5:00 - How did it all start for you, Chan? 7:40 - You could have Text AND Pictures on the same screen! 12:17 - I did NOT want to do advertising. 15:20 - How did you meet Kyle? 21:15 - We started with $80 and a checking account. 24:10 - When did you make the move? 27:38 - Culture of Curiosity 32:20 - What was a big deal for you back then? 35:15 - If anyone tells you they know what they're doing, they're lying or delusional! 37:35 - Once you got into the "Fortune 500 Club"... 39:15 - I asked, "Is AmericanExpress.com registered? No? Can you hold that for me?" 42:40 - Being a startup... I never really trusted other startups. 47:00 - When Omnicom came to visit 52:00 - What did you take from those early days?

Kyle shares his journey from aspiring actor in NYC to the creation of online magazine Urban Desires; the World Wide Web Artists Consortium (WWWAC); and AGENCY.COM, where he served as Chief Creative Officer of one of the first and largest digital Web agencies of the era. 3:26 - Why Early Days Were Remarkable 8:00 - How Kyle Got His Start 13:08 - "The world just changed!" 19:20 - Clay Shirky and "Geek & Tells" 23:35 - Working with MetLife 25:50 - How Ritesh Joined AGENCY.COM 29:30 - "The PIT" 32:55 - Winning British Airways Account 46:02 - Hiring 30 people in 30 Days! 50:14 - The Creation of TAPENET 52:03 - What's Happened Since the Early Days