Subject: [Fwd: tech] Resent-From: nystaff@agency.com Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 10:54:47 -0500 From: "Mitch Golden" To: "Staff (New York)" Technicalities Dec 10, 1999 *) That new guy That new guy is David Bortnichak, lately of Bloomberg, who decided to turn in those green glowing monitors filled with numbers for the slick information architecture of the WWW. He started here this Monday. Go say hello to the tech dept's newest member, who sits (this week, 'til we move) on 5. Right now he's on the Colgate team, so all I can say at the moment is "No Soap, Radio." *) That new guy is Ritesh Patel, who is taking over the job of VP of the Tech department. As of this past monday he is here full time, and by the turn of the millennium he should be fully at the reigns. No one is more excited at the prospect than me. THE Y2K PROBLEM IS HIS! (OTOH, 5 1/2 hours from now I'll be at a staffing meeting, doing what is now his job. Really, Ritesh, please tell me it's for the last time.) *) Salsa I am writing this after a totally splendid night at listening and dancing to Tito Puente, and drinking far too much. There we all were on the dance floor, a bunch of lame gringos trying our best. Somehow the only people who realized just how cool this was were the strategists. I love the strategists. They're almost as big nerds as we are in the tech department. Only a few of them dress in black. Only Esther Goette really knows how to dance salsa. Only Joanne Hill understood how cool it was that I RODE UP IN THE ELEVATOR WITH TITO PUENTE! REALLY, does everyone recognize what a splendid time it is to be alive?! We are at the dawn of the world wide web. Our great grandparents were all struggling to get a few vegetables to sprout from the dry dirt. Our great grandchildren will be living in a denuded, greenhouse-enhanced world, making the best out of whatever scraps we have left them of the planet. BUT RIGHT NOW WE ARE NEW YORK IN IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL! DO YOU REALIZE HOW INSANELY GREAT THAT IS?! *) Swan song. Well, this is the last of the Technicalities. In answer to the question I've been asked so many times: no, I'm not leaving. Think about it this way: as of this week AGENCY.COM is a public company. The only way we can be worth what people are paying for us is if we grow, grow, grow. When I started in New Media, about five years ago, at the company I was at the tech department was pretty much just me, alone. When AGENCY.COM bought Spiral Media, I was in charge of a department of about 7 people. During the year and a half I've done this at AGENCY.COM it's averaged approximately 20. By the next time we get together to celebrate the next set of holidays it should be closer to 40. If I kept on at it, by 18 months from now, I'd be managing the people who are managing the people who are managing the people who are doing the interesting things. It'd just leave me too jealous. I'm not 100% sure what I'll be doing next, but I believe that Ritesh is the guy who's ready be captain of a crew of 100. Ritesh will be giving the updates for what the tech department is doing. Look for messages that begin "Chaps...". *) Attire A final note to the men of AGENCY.COM. If you don't already own a black tuxedo, go get one. Just trust me on this.