Memo to Self: Take a Hike!

Perhaps the only thing worse than getting the ax is wielding the ax ... over your own head. Call it professional suicide, career masochism, or a gentleman's code of honor. Seven months ago, Chris Doyle called it a foregone conclusion. So during a make-it-or-break-it era for the company he helped develop, the vice president of public relations signed his own walking papers -- voluntarily and without spite.

Last fall, Altrec.com was fighting against strong odds and discouraging analyst predictions for its place in the crowded and highly competitive outdoor-gear and adventure market. Altrec's venture capitalists had balked, the economy had collapsed, and the competition looked more daunting than ever. Doyle questioned whether Altrec could keep its head above water after the crucial holiday-shopping season without scoring new funding or cutting its staff.

In a last-ditch effort to salvage a good thing, Doyle surrendered his job so that Altrec could fight on. He insisted on his own departure primarily because he feared that his colleagues wouldn't. Altrec's close-knit corporate culture valued personal relationships above almost all else. But Doyle didn't want Altrec to protect its employees from layoffs only to sabotage the company in the process, so he downsized his own job. And he wasn't the only one.

Thanks in part to two rounds of layoffs in late 2000, Altrec is the only pure-play outdoor-gear retailer left standing in a market now dominated by brick-and-mortar stalwarts REI, Eastern Mountain Sports, and L.L. Bean. The story of Chris Doyle and Altrec.com is one of loyalty, truth, and self-preservation. And, by God, it ain't over yet.

Before the Fall

"I'd never taken a professional risk that large before," Doyle says of his decision to join the Bellevue, Washington startup in 1998. "When Altrec first approached me, I asked, 'What are you doing to ensure your success when the market crashes?' I was a nervous Nellie while everyone else was euphoric."

Still, Altrec's potential and leadership lured Doyle to the company months before its site debuted online. He was immediately swept up in the exhilaration of launching a dotcom in an economy drunk on its own success. As vice president of PR, Doyle began transforming Altrec.com from a quirky little hiking site into a household name. He was a man on a mission, and he would stop at nothing less than market domination.

"At the time, 5 to 20 players were jumping into every market niche," says Shannon Stowell, vice president of business development for Altrec. "We believed that Altrec needed to build a big brand to become a category killer. We engaged in some massive overbuilding, all in an effort to become the next Amazon."

Then came April 14, 2000, and the earth shifted beneath Altrec's Gore-Tex trail runners. Just weeks before finalizing a deal to buy GreatOutdoors.com and land an investment from Cox Interactive Media -- all to the tune of $10.5 million -- Altrec had to start defending its every move. The same investors who had insisted on massive, persistent branding just weeks before began questioning every dotcom's burn rate. CEO Mike Morford hunkered down to concentrate on raising capital and merging Altrec with GreatOutdoors.com. Meanwhile, competing site MVP.com was launching a $50 million marketing plan starring John Elway, Michael Jordan, and Wayne Gretzky.

The Long Haul

In the calm before the crash, Morford huddled with his senior management team to assess the damage. The diagnosis was bleak, but not hopeless. Early in 2000, Altrec signed a major deal with a network of travel agencies, called Virtuoso, and partnered with National Geographic to create an interactive tour of the nation's hiking trails, called On the American Trail. Traffic was climbing, and more people than ever were buying merchandise on the site. It looked as if Bellevue's spunkiest little startup just might make it through the Web war unscathed.

Then again, maybe not.

"In August, a new reign of nervousness settled in," Doyle says. "There was the promise and hope of new venture capital, but we never saw any term sheets."

Morford says that an overly cautious funding environment prevented Altrec from capitalizing on its relationship with Cox and from landing any additional partnerships or investments during the summer of 2000. And then MVP.com announced a deal to buy PlanetOutdoors.com, and it appeared that Altrec had been shut out of the marketplace.

"At the time, MVP was very well funded with some stellar venture capitalists and big-name celebrities," Morford says. "We never even considered the possibility that MVP would not get future funding. We knew then that we were up against a big, big challenge, and our primary goal was survival."