mix data from different companies. These things about data exchange have not been figured out completely, so ChoiceStream is going with the more conservative approach, and so far it’s been pretty effective.
X: Where is the pull for this kind of advertising personalization coming from? Do the advertisers get more excited, because it brings more people into their sites, or do the publishers like it more, because they can charge higher rates for these types of ads?
UF: It’s both. The people pushing it are the technology companies like ChoiceStream, and the publishers like it, obviously, because they’re very eager to move toward more premium inventory. The reason ChoiceStream has decided to focus initially on the retailer vertical [as advertisers] is that they are today the most motivated and the most responsive. They are the most highly attuned to performance-based marketing. The equation is very simple: if you show them a higher ROI, they will spend more.
X: As a board member, how closely engaged will you be with ChoiceStream?
UF: I am on the more active side as a board member. I’m spending at least a couple of days a month with the company, and going in depth in certain areas. My style is that I like depth, so I will pick certain areas and focus on them, and in those areas we will use the next few months to solve certain puzzles in certain areas, and then move on to other ones. And of course, I help them think about the high-level strategic questions like which markets we should go after.
X: What else have you been up to since leaving Yahoo? Any new ventures that you care to talk about?
UF: I’m not ready to discuss it in detail, but I’ll tell you what I’ve been telling people, which is that the reason I left Yahoo was that I had a very clear vision for a startup I wanted to start. But I had an agreement with Jerry [Yang, then Yahoo’s CEO] that I wouldn’t just open up shop the next day across the street. I had great relationships at Yahoo and I still do. The agreement was that I would use the next four or five months to do advisory positions on a couple of boards and explore what’s going on and work to prepare for the startup.
What I’ll share with you is that the economic downturn has turned me on to accelerate some of those plans. Suddenly there are a lot of these companies, quality companies, that are becoming distressed because they are running out of cash and their VCs are not willing to put more money in. That opened up the opportunity of buying some companies. I have not approached any VCs yet. I have been bankrolling it myself. But I’ve been putting feelers out to a couple of companies, and have a couple of offers in the hopper.
