Posts from Listings

One of my portfolio companies is looking for an experienced and energetic CFO to join its senior management team. The company is located in New York City.

The CFO will report to the CEO and will be responsible for all aspects of finance, corporate affairs and office administration.  Some specific duties include: working with a Big Four accounting firm to complete annual audit and tax returns; managing HR; preparation of all financial reports and Board meeting materials; creation of sales commission plans; and managing the employee stock option plan.  The company is a well-established, rapidly growing, and serves financial institutions and professional services firms globally.

If you are interested in the position, send an email to [email protected]

People talk about Pandora and Last.fm as if they are the holy grail of music discovery.

Bob Lefsetz moans the loss of FM radio and drives around in his car listening to XM play 20 year old music and thinks XM is where it’s at in digital music.

XM and Pandora are for the over 40 crowd who like their music spoon fed to them. They aren’t anywhere near where it’s at in music discovery.

If you want to know where it’s at in music discovery these days, you have to be on the mp3 blogs. Because that is where the next big act is going to be launched. Hell it has already happened. Take my beloved Arctic Monkeys who I found on the mp3 blogs last year. That’s where the people who really love new music do their thing.

And there’s a couple of hundred
Think they’re Christopher Columbus

That’s all it takes, a couple of a hundred blogs, to discover cool music. They post it and we discover it. And all we have to do is click on the link and hear the music. None of that bs 30 second sample stuff. You get the whole song on the mp3 blogs and you get it as much as you want.

And better yet, there’s an aggregator out there called The Hype Machine which culls all the mp3 blogs and serves up an aggregated playlist. It’s like delicious (link density matters) and you can get recent or popular or just one act or just one blog. And Hype Machine has its own player so you can do the spoon feed thing if you want.

I find so much great music on the mp3 blogs and the hype machine. Just last week I found a great band called TV on the Radio. I’ve been listening to them on Rhapsody and am going to buy the record.

What mp3 blogs do is combine the best of radio, music magazines, and the web into one ecosystem that works to surface interesting new music. If you want to dive into mp3 blogs, start with the HypeMachine and start listening and clicking on the links. You’ll be entering the future of music discovery.

TACODA (a Union Square Ventures portfolio company) is seeking a VP Corporate Development. TACODA is a rising star in the world of online advertising and a very interesting company to work for.

Here is a description of the position:

The Vice President for Corporate Development will be responsible for
o    understanding the competitive dynamics in the field of interactive advertising,
o    recognizing new opportunities and developing new business initiatives, and
o    implementing corporate and business level strategies for the company.

This position will report to the Chief Financial Officer and will work with senior management, directors and other stakeholders to build ventures that are successful and results-driven.   

Responsibilities:

•    Work with executive team to develop corporate and business level strategies and to communicate key positioning and performance metrics to financial and strategic constituencies
•    Serve as interface to development of international markets
•    Develop new market initiatives, assess new markets and analyze business opportunities
•    Conduct financial feasibility studies and develop proposals for new business opportunities
•    Negotiate corporate and business development transactions including partnerships, licenses and M&A
•    Monitor interactive advertising trends to drive company strategy, development and positioning
•    Establish relationships and partnerships within the interactive media industry
•    Develop financial forecasts and budgets for assigned areas of responsibility
•    Track and review actual results versus plan and forecast for monitoring business performance and compliance
•    Conduct due diligence on corporate capabilities, distribution/marketing channels, and strengths and weaknesses to provide strategic insights and recommendations
•    Build financial models to validate the costs/benefits of new initiatives, considering budget, organizational impact and financial reward
•    Synthesize and articulate key findings as appropriate for sales, operations, finance, product development and executive audiences
•    Use sound financial and market analysis to build a case and make a recommendation for taking a strategic position

Requirements:

•    B.A./B.S. (finance, economics), MBA or advanced degree preferred
•    8-10 years of experience in business development, financial analysis and strategic planning
•    Proven experience negotiating and closing strategic partnerships
•    Excellent applications experience (MS Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
•    Ability to negotiate contracts and work with attorneys to close contracts
•    Solid understanding of the internet media and advertising space
•    Strong quantitative and qualitative analytical abilities
•    Strong problem solving and communication skills

If you are interested in the position, please send your resume with a cover letter and salary requirements to [email protected] with the job title in the subject line.

We are working with a very interesting company here in NYC that is looking to hire skilled developers that have experience with java, ruby, and eclipse. I promise you that you will find what they are doing both novel and very interesting.  If you fit the bill and want to learn more, send an email to [email protected].

One of our portfolio companies is looking to make two senior hires; a VP Marketing and a Director of Business Development.  Both positions are in the NYC metro area.  I don’t want to say which company it is, but I will say that it’s web service was selected as one of the "50 Coolest Websites 2005" by Time Magazine.

Here are the specifics of each position:

VP Marketing – Do you have the creativity and drive to build a new web service into a leading consumer brand? Are you attracted to a culture of rapid innovation?  This company is looking for a savvy marketing leader to develop and execute its marketing strategy. The perfect candidate will be a seasoned and versatile professional, with the creativity to develop out-of-the-box marketing ideas and the attention-to-detail to execute metrics-based marketing campaigns.

Director of Business Development – Have you closed deals with top-tier internet companies? Do you relish the idea of doing this for an early-stage company that is redefining a major online category?  This company is looking for a seasoned business development professional who will develop and execute its strategy to integrate its innovative new web service into major online properties. The perfect candidate will have the energy and enthusiasm to forge extensive relationships as well as the savvy and attention-to-detail to structure, negotiate and close business development partnerships.

If you are interested in either one of these exciting opportunities, please send me an email at [email protected].

Back in April, I posted an exciting e-commerce job opportunity on this blog.  It was the first time I had used this blog to help fill a position in one of my portfolio companies.

It worked like a charm.

A bunch of people read the post and contacted me.

And then Indeed crawled my blog, picked up the job in their index, and a bunch of people clicked through from Indeed job searches and contacted me.

One of them was the perfect fit, he accepted the job, and has been doing a great job for our company.

So with that success in mind, I am giving it another try.

We have a very exciting product management opportunity in one of our portfolio companies.

The details are as follows:

Vice President, Product
Management

As a member of the Company’s senior management
team, the Vice President of Product Management will be responsible for managing
existing products and services as well as new product development.  Managing a
team of four product managers, will develop road maps for the improvement of
existing products based on input from clients and the sales/customer support
departments. 

Strong Product Management leadership experience in
web-based (ASP) products and services

· Ability to manage multiple projects
simultaneously

· Ability to work with multiple functional departments
within the organization as well as work directly with customers

· Excellent communication and presentations and
comfort in sales settings

· Act as senior sales/product management liaison with
the development team

· Establish strategic vision for product development
efforts related to all offerings

· Ability to recognize opportunities and create new
products/features

· Contribute product and functional thought
leadership

The opportunity is in NYC and the compensation is attractive with an equity upside.

If you are interested or know someone we should be talking to, send me an email to [email protected].

All correspondence regarding this opportunity will be held in complete and total confidence.