MSNBC.com

Travis McElfresh (MSNBC.com)

The head of MSNBC.com's technology operations is leaving the giant online news service for Kirkland-based 1Cast, the Craig McCaw-backed startup that unveiled a service today that dissects video news programs into short, bite-sized topical chunks.

Travis McElfresh, who spent five years at MSNBC.com, most recently as vice president of technology, said he wanted to join a startup company. And he noted that 1Cast is filling a real "gap" in terms of how video is distributed online.

The 7-person startup will certainly be a change of pace from MSNBC.com, where McElfresh oversaw about 130 people in software engineering, support and other technical departments.

"Before Microsoft, I did the startup run and I absolutely loved it," said McElfresh in an interview. "The 20 hours you put into each day, you get 20 hours out of it."

Redmond-based MSNBC.com is one of the largest online news sites, attracting 43 million unique visitors during September. Because of that traffic base, McElfresh could be uniquely positioned to help 1Cast build the new online video service.

"The reason that we were attracted to Travis is precisely because he has handled Web video at that scale," said Anthony Bontrager, president of 1Cast.

Before MSNBC, the 38-year-old McElfresh worked in the Xbox marketing and product group at Microsoft.

MSNBC.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal. In a statement, MSNBC.com president Charlie Tillinghast said they are sorry to see McElfresh leave.

"While I am sorry to see Travis leave, I understand the step he wishes to take in the pursuit of his career goals.  We will first be evaluating internal candidates to replace Travis and, if necessary, open the position to external candidates in a few weeks," he said.