KEVIN O'CONNOR AND THE MOUSE THAT ROARED;The founder of on-line ad network DoubleClick paved the way for city's fastest-growing sector.

Crain's New York Business, May, 2000 by messina, judith

it was 1996 when new media recruiter Gregg Grossman met DoubleClick executives for the first time. Eager to work with the company, he offered to take equity as payment for his services. It was standard procedure. Nearly every Web start-up in the city was offering him a stake in its business because none had the cash to pay for his services.

DoubleClick proved to be different. The company insisted on paying cash. ``I remember thinking, `These guys are serious,''' says Mr. Grossman. ``They believed the equity was going to be worth more than the cash.'' In the mid-1990s, amid a sea of half-baked Internet wannabes, DoubleClick emerged as Silicon Alley's class act. One of the first new media companies in the city, it has proved to be the most enduring and the...

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