Programming Provocateurs

As a new-media start-up, MobiTV, based in Emeryville, Calif., owes its creative pulse to 219 employees--up from just 90 a year ago and on the way to more than 300 by year-end. The common denominator of working here is change--constant, even calamitous at times, but vibrant. Workers average a new deployment, a step in developing new-media services, every 2 1/2 weeks. They are people who are motivated by how they leave an imprint on their world. And one thing is certain: television will never be the same. MobiTV has liberated TV from the box in the living room and transformed it into what more than one person calls the "65-year-old killer app."

Anyone who watches news or comedy or viral videos or listens to XM radio on a Treo, mobile phone or PC knows that MobiTV has been making waves. Just after its co-founders conceived the start-up's objective seven years ago--to solve the problem of large-scale, global data transmission on mobile devices--a eucalyptus branch fell outside Phillip Alvelda's Oakland Hills home, where the three sat brainstorming. The tree smashed his hot tub. Alvelda, a physicist, can probably explain the energy wave given off. But he could not necessarily say what triggered him and Paul Scanlan and Jeff Annison to agree that day to combine their expertise in technology, marketing and project management for a start-up, launched in 2003, that now rivals any other outfit in mobile broadband and music services. MobiTV has more than 2 million subscribers and 110 video channels and 80 audio channels for a range of more than 150 devices across 25 carriers worldwide, including Sprint and AT&T Unity. At $10 a month per subscriber, MobiTV has more than doubled revenues annually for the past several years.

Now CEO, Alvelda, 42, says talent flocks to the company, where the average age is 34, lured by the prospect of working the leading edge--and a big payday when the company goes public or gets bought out. Employee numbers, known by everyone, are status symbols to show who got in early. Alvelda is No. 1. And as he searches for new "superstars" to add to his team, MobiTV surges ahead of revenue projections and subscriber count, chasing the world's 2.2 billion mobile users--starting with the 221 million wireless users in the U.S., where 2.3% (5.1 million) subscribe to mobile TV and video services. MobiTV raised $100 million last quarter with the help of partners, including Hearst and Adobe. That will allow it to forestall the strictures of a public company. But as Alvelda focuses on growth, he also awaits the right moment to launch an IPO.

Alvelda's office resembles that of a physics prof: shelves stacked with books, galaxy screen saver on the desktop--even the whiteboard scrawl. Alvelda's excitable demeanor and wool sweater also serve the scene, as does his stellar résumé, which lists degrees from M.I.T. and jobs with NASA and the Defense Department. But signs of accomplishment--the Emmy on his desk, framed patents and a photo with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger--bespeak a former government technologist who isn't afraid to show off a little.

Alvelda has so far figured out how to achieve his work goal: to grow MobiTV with the best people who can keep the company relevant. "Here we are," he says, "a tiny, clever mouse dancing between elephants." That's some rodent. Every new MobiTV product or service touches a multitude of partners and involves infrastructure, new technologies (for server, handset and network), testing, integration with carriers, marketing and sales support, business development and contract negotiations. "It's a real three-ring circus," he says. "You have to make sure that no one drops anything as they juggle. It's a huge coordination exercise."

Only after reading Jerry Kaplan's book on GO Corp.--a former tech high flyer that flamed out--did Alvelda realize the marketability of a concept contained in a chapter of his 1995 Ph.D. thesis. That concept begat MicroDisplay, his first start-up, that same year and united his twin passions: education and technology. "There is an aspect of education and communication that helps people to grow personally that I never anticipated as part of the corporate world," he says.

MobiTV has reinforced Alvelda's belief that "with the right people, you have a tremendous amount of flexibility." His priority, he says, is to find people who can navigate the rapidly changing landscape and deal with ambiguity in their industry and in their work. MobiTV has a so-called all-hands meeting every Friday, during which employees share "moments of greatness" or praise their colleagues. MobiTV's successes, however, cause Alvelda "a new nervousness," he says, about the responsibility that goes with being a public service and utility. He says the London bombings and Hurricane Katrina tested MobiTV's reliability as well as the market for getting news over mobile phones. For Alvelda, his experience at the World Economic Forum this year affirmed demand for such services. He says leaders of developing countries recognized MobiTV's potential for bringing information to their communities. "Now they don't lay copper. They put up cell towers," says Alvelda. "It leapfrogs some of the challenges of the past."

Every technologist, says Alvelda, wonders what impact he will have on the world. "You start to realize that opportunity to leverage the economics of the First World to build a business and use it to change life in the Second and Third World," he says. "How many people have a chance to do that?" At least 219, and counting.

RYAN PRESSLER MIGHT BE described as a techno-Hessian. Don't misunderstand. He likes contributing to what he considers "the technology that is revolutionizing how people access entertainment and media." And the organic goodies, such as his daily dose of Kagome juice, delivered by MobiTV's kitchen (stocked by the same people who do Google's food service), clicks with his interest in nature and biology. But Pressler is like a lot of thirtysomething tech vets who experienced the dotcom bust: reliable, flexible--and portable.

He designs for MobiTV's user interface, the screen configuration that consumers navigate to get to the programs they want, which also helps define the brand visually. He cut his teeth eight years ago designing PC software for a long-dead start-up called DoDots, then spent five years on DVR software design at TiVo--creator of another revolutionary product and one, he says, "people can no longer imagine living without."