How would you like to lead the scaling efforts of a website that is currently serving 17mm unique visitors a month and growing 40-50% per quarter?
That website is Tumblr and here are the stats I just mentioned. Quantcast has it as the 329th most visited website in the US and at the rate it is growing, it may well be top 100 in the not too distant future.
I believe this is one of the most interesting web service scaling challenges in NYC right now and should be a great opportunity for the right person.
Here is the job description/job spec and it includes a link to submit a resume if you think this job is for you. And if the job is not for you, but you know someone who you think is ideally suited to this challenge, please send me an email (click on the contact link on the upper right of this blog).
Alacra, a company I've been an investor in and board member of for a decade, is hiring an editor to help them curate and organize business content in their Pulse product line. Alacra is a great company that is constantly coming up with new and innovative business services.
a talented engineer with extensive experience; hopefully you have made
one or more sites that clearly illustrate your capabilities. You should
be a technical generalist, meaning you are comfortable and eager to
work on what is needed and learn what is necessary,in a fast-moving, dynamic environment.
Our portfolio company outside.in announced on their blog yesterday that traffic is up 400% ytd and scaling, performance, and reliability are becoming key concerns for them. And so they also announced they are looking for a CTO who can help them manage to these new priorities.
Outside.in scans the web for local news and information, geotags the content, and serves it up in three places; the outside.in web site, blogs (see the story map on my sidebar), and neighborhood pages on its media partners websites. Basically outside.in organizes the hyperlocal web. It’s a great business and a great opportunity for someone with experience scaling large web services.
Outside.in’s CEO Mark Josephson has more detail on this position, which is in Brookyn (Dumbo), on the outside.in blog. If you are interested, and I sure hope you are, please email to [email protected] with your resume or LinkedIn profile.
Our portfolio company Targetspot helps internet radio services make money. They’ve built “adwords for streaming music” and they’ve got many of the top radio stations in the country using their service.
They are growing rapidly and are looking for a crack web developer to join the team. The Company is located in midtown NYC and is a great place to work. Here’s the job spec if you are interested in learning more.
There are some companies that are just different, special, and doing something important. Etsy sort of defines that kind of company to me. They are trying to make it possible for creative people to make a living off of the things they make. And in the process, they have built a market where you can find amazing one of kind items that make great gifts or things you can wear with a smile on your face.
Etsy has grown a lot in the past three years and they are in the process of adding a few members of the team to help them deal with all of that growth. Maria Thomas joined earlier this year and is now the CEO. Rob Kalin, founder and the initial CEO, is now Chief Creative Officer. Chad Dickerson recently left Yahoo! and is Etsy’s new CTO.
That’s a killer team. And they have a few more slots on it. The next one up to fill is VP Product. Here’s the job spec.
I am telling you that this is a special company, a fantastic team, and an amazing job. If you are a world class product manager, think hard about doing this. If you want to take the next step, send your resume/CV/linkedin profile to [email protected].
Greg Yardley, founder/CEO of our portfolio company Pinch Media tells the following story about graduating from college and facing the career question:
When I finished school, I had a MA in Russian history and absolutely no idea what to do with myself – I started working as a customer support rep at an Internet startup because they were the first ones to offer me a job. (If the startup was a week later with the job offer, I’d probably be a 911 emergency operator today. Sometimes life can lead you to unexpected places.) I was surprised to stumble across a field that I loved – soon I became a product manager, and now I’m the co-founder of a company. You never know – maybe there’s a career here for you that you’ve never considered.
And so he’s going back to his roots to get some help. Greg’s looking to hire a couple of NYC-based college students who can spend up to 20 hours a week at Pinch Media. Here’s the details:
Pinch Media is a small, early-stage startup working on tools for iPhone application developers. Right now it’s just me and a team of developers – the developers do the programming, and I do everything else. I can’t do everything I’d like to do right now, so I’m looking for some help. The work will involve pretty much everything besides programming – you’ll be doing some administrative tasks, some marketing work, some basic product & project management, some customer support, some research – you name it, you’ll have an opportunity to do it.
I’m looking for one or two interns to work around twenty hours a week each. Our offices are at 20th & Broadway, in the middle of the Flatiron District. The hours are relatively flexible and can be structured around a college schedule. These are paid positions, although the pay is low – we’re a capital-efficient company, and trying to do a lot with a little. Relevant experience is always appreciated, but isn’t strictly necessary for this job – the primary things I’m looking for are raw intelligence, enthusiasm, strong communications skills, and the ability to learn quickly.
We’re happy to consider everybody, but for personal reasons I’d especially like to talk to students who’ve never considered working at a dot-com, because they believed their academic backgrounds weren’t suitable.
After your internship with Pinch Media, you’ll know what it’s like to work at an early-stage start-up, you’ll have relevant experience in a variety of functional roles, and you’ll be well-positioned for a full-time, entry-level role in the Internet industry. (You’ll also have developed a number of strong connections, with ourselves and with our investors, which come in handy when looking for that first position.) If you’re interested, send your resume and a personal note to [email protected].
I had the opportunity to visit with the entire Covestor team on Weds morning in London. It’s a great bunch of people and a fantastic culture. If you are a fit for this position, I strongly encourage you to go meet them.
Are you a developer who blogs actively (and comments on other blogs)? Do you love presenting at a conference as much as writing code? Have you meaningfully contributed to an open source project? Do you like meeting new people? Do you relish explaining how something works and why it’s the coolest thing since sliced bread? Do you enjoy traveling around the country (the world)?
If you can answer yes to all of the above then we have a great opportunity for you at one of our portfolio companies. You will be responsible for connecting a fantastic team working on some extraordinary technology with developers around the world. The software will be open source and you will be in charge of facilitating the growth of a community.
We can’t say (quite yet) which company it is, but the job will be based in New York. If you are interested please write to [email protected] and make sure to include some evidence for all the questions above.
One of our portfolio companies, Covestor, is looking for a key senior level hire, responsible for all product management and development of the Covestor.com service.
Lead Product Manager
– 8+ years online product management experience – Demonstrated success defining and launching web products – Experience initiating and managing a product development process – Web community/data rich web marketplace experience – Management experience – Passion and Drive