Marc Seriff

Cofounder of America Online

• Born: May 5, 1948
• Place of Birth: Austin, Texas

Primary Company/Organization: America Online

Introduction

American Internet executive Marc Seriff is known for his technical, entrepreneurial, and investment knowledge and experience with Internet start-up companies. He was an early employee of the data communications company Telenet Communications, Inc., joining the company in 1974 and helping to develop the first commercially available e-mail. He then worked at several start-up companies, including Digital Music, where in 1981 he helped develop the first downloading service for music. Seriff's most notable achievement was the 1985 cofounding of the Internet service provider Quantum Computer Services with Jim Kimsey and Steve Case. The company was renamed America Online, Inc. (AOL) in 1991. Seriff served as the company's first chief technical officer. After retiring from America Online in 1996, Seriff and his wife returned to his home state of Texas, where they became active in the local Austin nonprofit community. He has also remained active in the entrepreneurial and investment communities both within and outside the greater Austin area and sits on several boards of directors. He joined Austin-based G-51 Capital Management as an adviser in 2011.

Early Life

Marc S. Seriff was born May 5, 1948, in Austin, Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and computer science in 1971. He then earned his master's in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1974. Seriff's education provided him with the business and technological skills that would define his career path.

Seriff was among the first to be employed at the start-up Internet service provider (ISP) Telenet Communications, Inc., which had been established by the firm Bolt, Beranek, and Newman (BBN). He joined the new company after graduating from MIT. The company offered the first commercially available packet-switched network. While at Telenet, Seriff was a member of the team that developed the first commercially available e-mail. Telenet would later be acquired by Sprint.

Seriff acquired his interest in the Internet-based business world while at graduate school and during his time at Telenet. He has cited both J. C. R. Licklider (one of his graduate professors at MIT) and Larry Roberts (a former boss at Telenet) as key influences on his business career. His role with Telenet, at the time one of the trend-setting online data communications companies, also played a vital role in establishing his career path as an Internet executive in the exploding dot-com industry centered in Silicon Valley.

Life's Work

Seriff used his experience with Telenet to launch his executive career. He found executive opportunities at several dot-com companies, including Venture Technology, Control Video Corp., GTE Corp., and Digital Music, Inc. While employed with Digital Music, he was among the developers of the first online service allowing the downloading of music from the Internet, which debuted in 1981. He has also served as director of InteliHome from 1997 to 1998, director of U.S. Online Communications, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Eos Management, LLC.

Seriff is best known as a cofounder of America Online and an executive with the company for almost a dozen years. America Online (AOL) began its corporate existence in 1985 as Quantum Computer Services, founded by Internet entrepreneurs Steve Case and Jim Kimsey as an Internet service provider (ISP) for Commodore computer users and headquartered in Dulles, Virginia. The new company's customer base soon expanded to include users of the computers produced by Apple Computer, Tandy Corporation, and International Business Machines (IBM). Quantum began to develop the software required to use its Internet services. Seriff's technical knowledge contributed to America Online's improvement of these products and hence the company's expansion.

Quantum Computer Services changed its name to America Online in 1991, quickly becoming known by its initials, AOL. The company also underwent a leadership change that year. Founding CEO Kimsey became chairman, while Case began his long-standing term as CEO. Seriff was the start-up company's founding chief technical officer. He later served as senior vice president, a position he held until his 1996 retirement from the company. Seriff's responsibilities involved both the technological and business aspects of the company, which would emerge as one of the dot-com era's most successful providers of Internet services and technologies.

During Seriff's tenure at America Online, the company's subscriber base grew to approximately 6 million members, eclipsing competitors such as Prodigy and CompuServe. America Online would later acquire CompuServe. New CEO Case built the company's membership through a marketing strategy centered on low prices and the mass mailing of software (on a CD-ROM) that lured customers with a free trial membership and immediate access. America Online also overcame early financial difficulties and went public in 1992, raising $66 million during its initial public offering (IPO). The start-up company had originally been funded with venture capital.

America Online had started as a closed network, meaning that subscribers received access only to the online content provided through AOL's business partnerships rather than open access to the larger World Wide Web. Successful product introductions and offering expansions during Seriff's tenure included new content providers and content access, greater World Wide Web access, a flat-rate monthly subscription service, and improved customer support services. “You've got mail,” an audible recording that alerted users to new e-mail messages, became a catchphrase commonly associated with AOL.

Seriff helped foster and sustain the company's business partnerships, a key part CEO Case's growth strategy. Company acquisitions during this period included Advanced Network Services, BookLink Technologies, and the Global Network Navigator. In 1996, agreements with Netscape and Microsoft provided America Online subscribers with access to those companies' popular Internet browsers. America Online continued its growth and profitability after Seriff's 1996 retirement, acquiring new companies and market capital infusions and expanding into new online markets such as e-commerce, instant messaging, and mobile communications. In one of the most celebrated mergers of the era, the company joined with Time Warner to form AOL Time Warner in 2001. America Online became a wholly owned subsidiary of the new parent company. Seriff has received recognition for the vital role he played in setting the foundation for the company's ongoing success.

Since his 1996 retirement from America Online, Seriff has maintained his commitment to the Internet-based business community, serving during both his later career and his retirement on the boards of directors of several Internet-based companies, including iExchange.com, InteractiveFunds, Isochron (Isochron Data Corp.), Hire.com, and Unwired Nation (UnWired Buyer). He has also served as a member of the advisory board for Activerse.

Seriff brought his extensive business experience, technical knowledge, and investment advisory skills to the greater Austin, Texas, business community, renewing his commitment to the development of his Texas hometown. He has been active in both an advisory and investment capacity since returning to Austin. He has invested in the company Techxas Ventures and its principal subsidiary companies since 1998. He began his role as an adviser with G-51 Capital Management, headquartered in Austin, in 2011.

Personal Life

Seriff is married and settled with his wife, Carolyn, in his hometown of Austin, Texas, after his 1996 retirement from America Online. During his employment, the couple had lived near the America Online corporate headquarters in Dulles, Virginia. Seriff and his wife began to work closely with the greater Austin area nonprofit community soon after their move to Texas. They founded the Seriff Foundation (TSF), an organization dedicated to a new approach to nonprofit support not based solely on the awarding of grant funding. TSF instead provided management assistance and training for area nonprofit organizations. TSF served the local community from 2001 through 2008, when it became defunct.

Seriff served on the boards of the Highland Lakes Legacy Fund and the Austin Community Foundation and was an establishing member of the Dell Jewish Community Center and the Boys and Girls Club of the Highland Lakes. He is dedicated to the performing arts, serving on the boards of the Long Center for the Performing Arts and the Austin Musical Theatre. In 2016 he started a stint as CEO of the Long Center, and then he and Carolyn move into becoming Broadway producers in their own right, investing in numerous shows as of 2023.

Bibliography

Aspray, William, and Paul E. Ceruzzi. The Internet and American Business. Cambridge: MIT, 2008. Print.

"Marc Seriff." LinkedIn, 2024, www.linkedin.com/in/marc-seriff-9b1a8a79/. Accessed 7 Mar. 2024.

Munk, Nina. Fools Rush In: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Unmaking of AOL Time Warner. New York: HarperBusiness, 2004. Print.

Stauffer, David. Big Shots: It's a Wired, Wired World: Business the AOL Way. North Mankato: Capstone, 2001. Print.

Swisher, Kara. AOL.com: How Steve Case Beat Bill Gates, Nailed the Netheads, and Made Millions in the War for the Web. New York: Times, 1998. Print.

Swisher, Kara. There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future. New York: Crown, 2003. Print.