The past year at iVillage.com has been
hectic to say the least.
In its finest year since its inception in 1995, the women’s media network
sounded its trumpet by going public. The New Yorker published a
stylish feature about its content and the personalities behind it. The
hysteria over iVillage.com (IVIL)
reached its zenith when it was featured on “60 Minutes” a couple months ago.
So where do the people go from there? Out the ever-swiftly revolving door
apparently. Though the company has been praised for its bold, popular
content, many employees have been leaving to what they hope will be greener
pastures. Last week, the online women’s network reported a first-quarter
loss. Despite reporting a surge in revenues, iVillage said it lost $25.2
million, or 85 cents per share, in the first quarter, compared with $17.6
million, or 96 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Around the same time the financial statistics were disclosed, Chief
Financial Officer Craig Monaghan resigned, the second top executive to leave
in over the course of a week. The firm’s chief operating officer, Allison
Abraham, announced her impending flight the previous week. In the same week,
the c ompany highered a new executive — Michele Anderson — as senior vice
president of strategic
development to complete the revolving door cycle.
In a phenomenon that mirrors the lightning-strike expansion of the Net, Net
industry pundits have noted the innovators behind “first generation” Net firms
are departing to either set up a new shop or try their honed skills at new
digs.
Former Netscape prodigy Marc Andreessen is an example of the first reason.
He left the firm last year to form product and service start-up Loudcloud.
Top-level talent from a dozen or so established dot-coms followed him. For
her part, Abraham joined a company that was already public in
LifeMinders.com (LFMN) and one that she hopes to help take off.
These are just two examples of what “second generation” dot-coms are all
about. For these people, it’s time to kiss off America Online Inc. (AOL),
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO),
and even iVillage. It’s time to embrace their new families. In fact, at some
level it seems that every company in America today has been affected by the
exodus of talent to jobs that often pay less, require longer hours and,
maybe, provide vast riches.
“I am going to miss the people here at iVillage.com,” Abraham said in a
recent interview. “Candice [Carpenter, iVillage.com president] and I just
cried together [about Abraham’s departure].
On the matter of resignations, what is the “something” about iVillage that
intimidates, and at times, aggravates former and current employees? Abraham,
speaking for the executive level, said the firm is, indeed, “brutally
honest.”
As a jaunt to the corporate insider site Vault.com will testify, former and present
workers are rife with anger and frustration over the working environment
that seems to have settled over the firm like an ominous storm cloud.
Not all of the comments are negative, however. Some of them come to the
defense of the firm. Abraham summed up the way things work at the company.
“You have to deliver what you say you are going to deliver,” Abraham said.
“We move at a faster pace here. We had people come here with years of
experience
from other companies who said they would do this and they would
do that. They didn’t deliver and they faced the consequences.”
Through all of this, employees aren’t the only pieces to the dot-com puzzles
that are affecting the Net economy. Placement firm Management Recruiters International said
many firms are rewiring thier marketing strategies to attract talent.
Marketing today is aimed not just at
customers, but at potential and existing employees.
“Companies have come to realize that their branding efforts aren’t just for
external audiences, they’re for internal ones, too,” said Allen Salikof,
president of MRI.
“A person’s eagerness to work for a company today is tied up not just in
salary and job title, but in what the company stands for, what its brand
conveys to the employee’s friends, family and ultimately him or herself.
We’re actually counseling companies to pay attention to the recruiting
implications their branding messages carry. It can make a substantial
difference.”
Which leads to how Abraham got lured to LifeMinders.com — a blitzkrieg of
viral marketing potential.
While Monaghan left to fill the CFO void at car dealer AutoNation, Abraham
will move on to Lifeminders.com as
president and member of the board in about two months.
Abraham said she had worked with the firm for about a year and was impressed
with its growth potential in the dot-com marketing arena. With LifeMinders, consumers subscribe by entering their personal information. They then pick
weekly reminder tips from 16 categories, including horoscope, pets,
entertainment and a little of each human interest flavor.
Users also may sign up their friends, which brings the “word of mouth”
factor into play. Working similar to the way Hotmail did a few years ago
when it included links in its free e-mail proposals, LifeMinders.com’s
membership ballooned by 78 percent in the first quarter of 1999 to 12.5
million. With money pouring from the plethora of advertisers, revenues
soared by 37 percent for the same period.
Abraham said she not miss the commute to iVillage’s headquarters in New York City.
“I’ll actually get to see my children,” she said.
