A few months after Bob Massey stepped down as president and CEO of
CompuServe Inc. in 1997, he was thinking about the future of his career.
He'd led 3,600 employees at a nearly $800 million public company where
he, himself, had served 20 years.
What interest, then, could this heavy hitter possibly have in joining a
start-up company that, founded just two years earlier, was making less
than 1 percent of CompuServe's revenues?
The key: Equity.
When C.J. Petitti, then-president of CallTech communications Inc.,
offered him a sizable share in the fledgling calling center company,
Massey jumped. Massey was familiar with the start-up because he'd used
it for outsourcing part of CompuServe's $100 million annual investment
in customer service, and he was a friend of Petitti. He saw the
opportunity to leverage relationships he'd built in the Internet
business for CallTech.
"I learned a long time ago the best way to make money is to get equity
in a company that you're building rather than focusing on a big salary,"
Massey says, noting he wouldn't have joined CallTech without an
ownership stake. "I wanted a significant piece of the business." Petitti
was all too happy to accommodate him since "I knew Bob wouldn't stay for
a long period of time unless he had a part of the company," Petitti
says. "I did not want it to be a stepping stone. I wanted him to stay as
long as I could keep him."
Massey says the prospect of growing his own successful company,
especially one in his interest are of the Internet, also attracted him
to CallTech.
Sure, he admits, there was an amount of uncertainty to joining the
start-up. However, the gamble has paid off.
When he first signed on with CallTech, there were about 125 employees
--- and that included three owners besides Petitti: Todd Price and Kent
Bowen, who shared in the management of the company, and Petitti's
brother Phil, a silent partner. "Today there are close to 1,300
employees. There's always a risk, but I have a lot of self confidence,
and I had confidence in C.J., Todd, and Kent."
Now chairman of CallTech, Massey won't disclose his salary or the
proportions of shares of the owners --- five as of late October --- but
he does wish he'd made the decision to have ownership in the company 20
years ago.
"My personal wealth has increased dramatically," he says. Revenues for
CallTech in 1998 were approximately $13.5 million.
He's also more comfortable with the decision-making process at the
smaller company.
"Certainly as president and CEO of a publicly traded company, you make a
lot of important decisions," Massey says.
After all, CompuServe was having troubles of its own near the end of
Massey's term. "The main difference, however, is in the CallTech
environment, the owners, the managers, are also the board of directors,
and so we don't have to turn to a third party to make things happen."
For CallTech's part, Petitti, who now carries the title of CEO, lauds
the payoff in investing in Massey. In his first year with CallTech,
Massey recruited major clients BellSouth and Priceline through
relationships he had developed while at CompuServe.
Having top talent like Massey, as well as former Ohio Division of Travel
and Tourism Director George Zimmermann, on staff hasn't caused any major
headbutting among the company management, Petitti adds.
"Quite frankly, we have the personalities to get into a room and
disagree, and at the end of both of both of us talking about it, either
one of us works it out or sees the light at the end of the tunnel,"
Petitti says.
Still, he's not naive; he knows he didn't get Massey without some
sacrifice on his part too.
"I think that one of the biggest challenges is that you've got to let go
from doing everything," Petitti says. "When you get powerful people like
Bob, you've got to trust in what you're getting."
"I think the biggest key is you can't be blindsided thinking that you
can't give up a lot. You've got to give up some equity to get people of
this power," he says.
"But in return you're going to get some additional business."
