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Karen Brown
Former Showtime exec Jeff Morris is flying coach these days, but don't feel sorry for him. It's all part of working for a startup, pre-IPO Internet venture - and not only is he having a ball, if his gamble pays off he may one day own the airplane.
Morris, formerly the movie network's SVP-new media and technology development, spends his days - and often nights - working to establish startup Yack.com, an Internet event and information program guide.
Leaping from a the safety of a large, established network to a start-up, pre-IPO Internet company has meant longer hours and a lot of hustling to nurture the fledgling venture on the chaotic, risky, competition-heavy Web.
"I thought my 12-hour days at Showtime showed a significant level of commitment," Morris notes. "This pales. It's now 24 by 7."
Gone, too, are the days of pampered first-class air travel. Now he wings across America and to Europe in the cattle-car section, on his way to drum up partnerships for Yack.com. as it moves toward becoming a global service. That may include versions of Yack.com set in different languages and targeted content for individual countries.
"I spend a lot of time on airplanes traveling back and forth, and now that we are focused on international opportunities I will be traveling even more," he said.
Not that he looks forward to those cramped seats, screaming babies, dog-eared in-flight magazines and rubbery, non-biodegradable food.
"I have my sights set on nothing short of a Learjet," he jokes.
His expectations for Yack.com are equally high, and that's part of what lured him from Showtime. Although he says he was in the "fun part" of the cable business in new media, Yack.com simply offered more room to grow, he said.
"It's also for me it comes down to a personal growth issue. On a daily basis, I am being exposed to things here I would not be exposed to in cable," he said.
Like the phones that don't always work, he notes ruefully. Technical problems aside, Yack.com's goal is to get a foothold in the emerging Internet market, with a dizzying multitude of information and entertainment offerings.
Someone has to bring some order to that chaos, and that is what Yack.com intends to do. Morris believes it provides a long-overdue roadmap to users seeking sites and events on the Web, featuring video and audio clips as well as links to content partners.
"We think we provide a significant value to consumers by providing a valuable one-stop shop to come and find out what's going on," he said.
Though his days as a cable exec are behind him, Morris didn't entirely bid bon voyage to the industry. He headed into this chaotic new Internet world armed with deal-making and networking skills learned in cable, and many of his relationships will remain.
"The cable players are going to be Internet players - that's fairly clear," he said. "That's great. I can't think of a more fun thing to do - to maintain my relationships with friends in the cable world and extend that into this new world."
He also isn't above raiding cable for talent. Yack.com recently hired Ellen Kaye as VP-marketing. Kaye comes to the Internet service from USA Networks Inc.
"There really are similar parallels here. Getting into the Internet space is a little like cable 10 or 15 years ago," Morris said. "The cable world is an exciting space, but it has gone toward such a degree of consolidation. It's fairly established."
Not so with the Internet, where chaos still rules and no one has a clear picture of where it is all headed. That includes Morris.
"The models in flux, the players are in flux and everyone is talking to everyone," he said.
Despite that uncertainty, Morris doesn't regret the leap he made.
"The only reason I did it was to go to a place where it is more fun," he said. "And so far it has been."
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