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LEAP FIRST, look later might summarize how Kenneth Wachtel, ’76,
became the New York Citybased senior vice president of sales
for Internet portal company Excite Inc.
“I talked myself into the job before I knew what it was about,”
Wachtel said of his position with the California company. Indeed,
in the mid-1990s, the Internet was still more buzz than substance.
Wachtel–then vice president of news sales in his twentieth year
at CBS Television Network in New York–knew the Internet could
be important but didn’t know how important. “I was trying to figure
out what the next great advertising and entertainment medium would
be,” he said.
In 1997, Wachtel got a call from an executive search firm telling
him a little Internet start-up in California was looking for someone
with sales expertise. The year before, Excite had completed a
successful, multimillion-dollar initial public stock offering
and had acquired many of its smaller competitors. The recruiting
call wasn’t the first Wachtel received, but he followed up with
Excite because he saw the chance to “get in early on a dynamic
area that I thought could change the face of American business.”
He could help build a sales team for a potential leader in the
new media and technology business, and–through stock options that
represent a significant ownership position–Wachtel could grow
financially with the company as well.
Nearly 17 million people visit Excite pages each month to get
news, look up stock quotes, participate in chat rooms, shop online,
and check email. Founded in 1994, the company has grown quickly.
Revenues in 1996, the year of its IPO, were $14.3 million; by
1998 revenues were more than ten times that at $154.1 million.
Wachtel said he expected 1999 revenues to continue that momentum.
Before joining Excite, Wachtel held several sales positions at
CBS Television, including a turn with the sports division when
CBS had a virtual lock on the market for sports properties, work
with preLetterman era late-night programming, and finally a run
at the news division. Having such a diverse set of challenges
ultimately helped him at Excite.
“I thought it would be tougher,” he said of selling Internet advertising.
He found, however, that “the Internet is more of a ‘must-buy’
than television.”
Many companies decide to invest in Internet advertising as much
from peer pressure as from understanding the medium. “From a client
perspective, they’re scared of what the Internet is going to do
to the future of their company and their industry,” he said. Once
Wachtel explains Excite’s capabilities, he hopes they will be
not scared but, well, excited. Excite can track where any user
of its network visits and what Web sites he or she searches for.
As users visit different pages, they are shown ads or links from
advertisers with whom they might like to do business based on
content and past behavior. At the end of the day, an advertiser
can find out exactly how many people saw its ad, or even how many
people ordered a product from its site after seeing the link through
Excite. “It’s a more accountable medium” than any other, Wachtel
said. “You can tell what you got for the money you spent, linking
sales performance with media expenditure.”
And the advertisers are spending money, as Excite’s revenue growth
attests. Media sales have become the lifeblood of the company,
and Wachtel reported that 60 to 80 percent of sales come directly
from clients, not media buyers. “A lot of clients are picking
up the telephone and calling us themselves,” he said. None of
that is to say that Wachtel has an easier job. At CBS Television,
“I was an eight cylinder car running on two cylinders,” he said.
Now he’s “using twelve cylinders” in a fast-changing industry
and at a young company trying to establish itself. “If I ever
wanted to know the best I could produce, this job has tested it,”
he said.
In April, Excite and its Redwood City neighbor At Home Corporation
received clearance to merge. At Home (www.home.net) delivers Internet
and other online services through cable television lines. “I haven’t
used my twenty years of experience in the past two years,” Wachtel
joked, and now “I’m going to be back selling TV commercials.”
They may be TV commercials, but the ads he’s selling have the
same tracking capabilities as the ads on Excite. He’ll have the
best of both worlds, Wachtel said: a chance to use his past experience
but still stay in the new media company he relishes for its excitement
and ingenuity. “And the other thing,” he said, “is that I don’t
have to wear a damned coat and tie.” –Britta Waller
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