Salute to Alumni

Chris Kitze, continued

The corporation was created through the merger of several companies, including Snap, NBC.com, and Xoom.com, a Web company Kitze co-founded in 1996. Xoom.com, which Kitze took public in December 1998, pioneered direct-response selling on the Internet by offering a website with free entertainment and community building services, while selling proprietary and third-party products to registered members.

NBC Internet now offers access to a combination of on-air and online services over the Internet, broadcast and cable television, and radio. Its properties rank as the seventh most visited Web sites and services on the Internet.

"Creating web sites that are used by millions of people a month is very satisfying," Kitze says. "The high point of my days are when early investors and employees call to tell me the difference in their lives by being associated with these companies."

Kitze says the key to his success has been persistence. "I've learned more from failure than from success, and you have to persist through your failures," he says. "I guess you could say that after 15 years of being an entrepreneur, I'm an overnight success." His other advice: "Get equity. If you believe in what you do, you should try to own a piece of it and participate in its success."