One Day, One Job » blogging

Internet Brands

Willy Franzen — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:07:03 +0000

In case you missed our e-mail from last week, Kembrel loved the response from our post about them so they’re offering a free VIP card (usually 20 bucks) to all ODOJ readers and $5 in store credit. Sign up here.

On Monday we took a look at Vertive, a company that builds internet properties to help people save money. Today we’re going to look at a company with a similar model of building and buying websites, but a much broader approach. Internet Brands is based in El Segundo, CA and started as CarsDirect.com in 1998. It was a successful brand for them, but in 2005 they realized that the platform they had built could be applied to other verticals. Now Internet Brands operates more than 100 websites that reach over a billion visitors every year. Amazingly, they’ve been able to generate almost all of this traffic organically (without buying advertising). This is all because of the platform that they’ve developed and the ability to share resources across brands. Internet Brands is a case study of how economies of scale can work on the web.

Get Branded

The best way to get a better feel for Internet Brands is to explore their… brands. There are a lot of them, but they typically fit into one of nine verticals: Automotive, Careers, Health, Home, Legal, Licensing, Money, Shopping, and Travel. Chances are that most of the brands will be new to you, but I found a few that I was familiar with. Unlike Vertive, Internet Brands doesn’t shed much light on how they operate. Even the Internet Brands Careers page is filled with mostly generic stuff like “Do you have energy, drive and ambition?” and “Do you have a strong sense of where you are going and how to get there?” Would any job seeker answer no to those rhetorical questions? At least Internet Brands makes up for it with a ton of job postings. Here are the ones that look well suited for an entry level job seeker:

That’s a lot of jobs. Hopefully a few of them will catch your interest.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Internet Brands?

Brafton

Willy Franzen — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:10:35 +0000

There’s a reason that web startups with no semblance of a business plan but heaps of traffic continue to get venture capital funding. Consistently driving high quality traffic to a web property is extremely difficult, and almost all businesses need attention to succeed. Quality content is the cornerstone of driving traffic (that’s why I looked for writers when I was hiring interns), and content generation is not a core competency for most businesses. It is for Brafton. They’re a Boston, MA based “online news and content agency that offers integrated content marketing services.” They don’t brag about who their clients are like some other types of agencies (you can request live client samples), which makes sense since clients typically want people to think the content is coming straight from them.

Be Content at Brafton

I doubt any writers from Brafton will be winning Pulitzer Prizes, but I’m sure that’s ok with them. Their goal is to help their clients reach more customers by developing content that grabs attention and performs well on search engines and in social media. Brafton has a section of their website that is devoted to their business model, so I highly recommend that you read through that–including their case study–so that you can get a better sense of how they operate. They also provide information on their different teams, so you’ll probably want to read up on Account Management, Content Writing, and Social and E-mail. If you’d like to join one of those teams, you’re in luck because Brafton’s Careers page shows a ton of entry level opportunities. These include:

Graphic Resource Coordinator (Boston, MA)
Blog and Content Writer (Boston, MA)
Market Research Executive (Boston, MA)
German News and Content Writer (Remote)
News and Content Writer (Chicago, IL)
Inside Sales Representative (Boston, MA)
News and Content Writer (Boston, MA)
Jr. Web Developer (Boston, MA)
Business Development Executive (Boston, MA)
Business Development Executive (Scottsdale, AZ)
Content Marketing Specialist (San Francisco, CA)

You won’t be writing the next great novel at Brafton, but I’m sure you’ll learn a ton about developing content for the Internet with a focus on ROI. That’s insanely valuable these days.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Brafton?

Benzinga

Willy Franzen — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:20:45 +0000

I have a simple investment strategy: Buy AAPL. I’ve had a few other winners, but Apple is the reason that my portfolio is up over the past 5 years. I’m not much of a trader, so I typically buy a stock and hold it indefinitely. If I took a different approach to investing, I might want to spend time on Benzinga. It’s “an innovative news and analysis service that focuses on global markets” and is intended for developing “actionable trading ideas.” Benzinga has offices in Chicago, IL and Dover, DE, but it’s very clear from their Careers page that everything important happens in the Southfield, MI office… very clear. There’s something about Benzinga’s site that reminds me of a social gaming site, which I guess is appropriate since stock trading is the ultimate social game.

Zing!

Benzinga has its own editorial and research team, so they’re not just aggregating financial news and spitting it back to you. They actually focus on three key areas: real-time news, actionable trading ideas and insightful commentary.” It’s hard for me to judge how good the content is considering that I’m not a trader, but Benzinga seems to have generated a good amount of buzz in the finance community. I’m pretty sure that I had heard of Benzinga before, but yesterday someone from their team reached out to me to tell me about some of their positions for new grads. I took a look at their Careers page (which is all about Michigan), and saw some great entry level positions. Their current openings include:

Developer/Programmer Ninja
User Interface / User Experience Expert
News Desk
Talented Writers
Business Developer
Public Relations Guru

There are some great opportunities here to dive in deep early in your career. Take a look at the positions and see if Benzinga’s offer of Faygo (why not Vernors?), Bigby Coffee, Moosejaw tees, and U of M or MSU football tickets is enough to woo you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you checked out Benzinga?

Flavorpill

Willy Franzen — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:30:54 +0000

It often seems that I don’t hear about cool events until after they’ve happened. I’ll spend a Friday night reorganizing my fishing closet, and on Saturday I’ll realize that there’s something really fun that I missed out on. I’m sure you’ve faced the same problem. But how do you keep up with what’s going on in your city? Flavorpill is one answer. They provide an online culture guide, and they will send you personalized e-mails that cover both events and news. I first heard about Flavorpill because one of their writers was interviewing me (the story ended up being published elsewhere), but I think they were a bit more news focused then. They say that they cover “cultural events, art, books, music, and world news,” though it seems that Flavorpill, which is headquartered in New York, NY, now leans very strongly towards the events side.

Flavorpill in Your Ear

Flavorpill currently has editions in New York, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Miami, Las Vegas, Dallas, and Seattle. I don’t know if there are any new locations on the horizon, but you’d think that they’d continue to grow the brand by adding new editions. There isn’t much info on the business behind Flavorpill, but it’s pretty obviously ad-supported. The Flavorpill Media Kit is probably the best way to get an inside look at how the company makes money. If you consider yourself culturally literate and want to to help others be like you, then a job at Flavorpill might be worth considering. Right now they have two Jobs pages. One is linked to from their site and the other is the first Google result for “Flavorpill internships.” My guess is that the former is the one to go by, but it’s hard to say for sure. Flavorpill’s current postings on that page include Designer, Front-end Developer, Product Manager, and Web Developer, and on the other page they include Editorial Partner (Las Vegas) and Advertising Sales Manager. Take a look at the job postings and see which ones best suit you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read Flavorpill?

QuinStreet

Willy Franzen — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:03:36 +0000

In March of 2009 I got an e-mail that looked a lot like the spam you typically see when you’re a webmaster with a publicly listed e-mail address. When someone refers to my site as onedayonejob.com, it gives me the hint that the e-mail was probably automated and that I should send it to my Junk folder. But I was still intrigued by the following sentence: “I am reaching out to see if you will be interested in selling your site and would like to discuss potential acquisition opportunities with us,” so I followed up. Over the next few months I traded e-mails with a guy who works at QuinStreet about potentially selling the site, but we never even made it to the offer stage. The reason that the Foster City, CA based company was interested in One Day One Job is that they’re one of the leaders in vertical marketing and online media. They have tons of online properties, and they use them to market and generate leads for other businesses. They’ve been at it since 1999, so they’ve been around the block a time or two.

Take a Ride Down QuinStreet

QuinStreet’s main areas of focus are in Education and Financial Services (two extremely lucrative markets for lead generation), but they also work in Home Services, B2B, Medicine/Health, and Premium Brand Advertising. You won’t see QuinStreet promote their properties on their home page like some other online media companies do, and you won’t get too many details about what they actually do. Online lead generation is extremely competitive, so secrecy is really important. They do have a What We Do, but it’s extremely limited in its explanation of QuinStreet’s business (you’ll find a little more on their How We Do It page). If you really want to learn more about QuinStreet’s business, their Investor Relations site is probably the place to go. What might even give you a better sense of what they’re working is their Jobs page. By investigating the positions they’re hiring for, I’ll bet you’ll get even more insight into the business. You’ll also see some great opportunities for new or recent grads including:

Employee Benefits and Compliance Assistant
Client Strategy & Development Associate
Data Services Associate (Reno, NV)
Inside Sales Rep
Inside Sales Rep – Home Services (Portland, OR)
Jr. Java Developer
Jr. Vertical Manager (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Jr. Web Producer (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Marketing Analyst
PPC Media Associate
SEM/PPC Media Associate (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Media Associate
Media Associate – Home Services
PHP Developer
Vertical Manager – Online Marketing
Web Designer

If you’re interested in online marketing, QuinStreet would be a great place to learn, so give these positions a look and see what appeals to you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about QuinStreet?

Hotel Tonight

Willy Franzen — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:03:26 +0000

Want to try Hotel Tonight? Use this link to get $25 off your first booking.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I either book hotel rooms way in advance or the day of. When I reserve a room in advance, I’m usually looking for more than just a place to sleep. Price is still important, but it’s not the most important thing. But when I need a room for tonight, I want a place that meets my minimum standards for the lowest price. As long as I can get a good night’s sleep without being bitten by bedbugs or woken up by a domestic dispute, I’m happy. It’s the latter situation that can be frustrating for bargain hunters. You know that the hotel is at 12% capacity, but they still won’t give you anything better than the AAA rate. As long as they can cover the cost of cleaning the room, they should be willing to take you. Hotel Tonight is a San Francisco, CA based company that is making it easy to get rooms for up to 70% off at the last-minute.

Job Today?

At least for now, Hotel Tonight is completely app based. You can’t even search for a hotel on their website. They want you to whip out your phone (Android or iPhone) when you need a room and book from there. Every day they launch new deals at noon local time, so that’s the best time to check the app (some stuff does sell out). I spent a little time playing around with the app, and the deals look good, but they’re not mind blowing. If you stay somewhere expensive you can save a few hundred bucks, but a more basic hotel room might only come with $10-$20 in savings. Still, Hotel Tonight will help you find a good deal with almost no hassle, and it provides a great yield management tool for hotel owners. If you’re interested in the intersection of technology and hospitality management, then take a look at Hotel Tonight’s Jobs page. Right now they have some great opportunities available including:

Take a look at the jobs. Hopefully one of them will be a good fit.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite hotel?

Best Made Company

Willy Franzen — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:53:56 +0000

Last night as I was falling asleep, I kept thinking about chopping wood. It’s something that I really enjoy doing because it’s mentally relaxing, yet physically exhausting. Then I started thinking about these awesome axes that I saw on Gilt Groupe and how I wish I had bought one, but I realized that the fact that I live in downtown Chicago means that I’d be more likely to use the ax for home defense than for chopping wood. This morning I decided to look those axes up, and I ended up on the Best Made Company site. They’re a New York, NY based company that “is dedicated to equipping customers with quality tools and dependable information that they can use and pass down for generations.”

Tools to Empower & Inspire

The best way that I’ve come up with to describe Best Made Company is as a curator. They don’t appear to actually do the manufacturing, but they find amazing vendors and either buy from them or partner with them for a custom run of products. Their current collection includes steel cups, hunting knives, first aid kits, books, maps, and all kinds of other stuff that I want in addition to their unbelievably awesome collection of axes. If you’re loving Best Made Company’s stuff as much as I am, then you should take a look at their Jobs page. Its name is a bit deceptive in that it only includes internships (unpaid and in Workshop, Projects, and Community), but I think it’s worth reaching out to Best Made Company and inquiring about full-time positions. You may also want to read up on their Outposts, as they have a team of “Guides” who report back on topics like Urban Expeditions, River Rafting, Fly Fishing, Field Photography, Cycle Touring, Wandering, Food & Foraging, Urban Homesteading, Cartography, and Aviation.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you bought anything from Best Made Company?

Grist

Willy Franzen — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:50:30 +0000

So far our survey says that you find the job search frustrating. Tell us more so that we can help.

When I was in Ann Arbor, MI last weekend, I noticed that there’s a tremendous amount of interest in the environment there. Maybe it’s because two of the friends I was visiting got Master’s degrees from University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment, but it was also the LED street lights and the students who I met who were asking about green careers. That’s why I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a lot of subscribers to Grist in the Ann Arbor area. Grist is a Seattle, WA based magazine that “has been dishing out environmental news and commentary with a wry twist since 1999.” They’re a non-profit organization, so they’re “funded by foundation grants, user contributions, and advertising.”

Get the Grist of Things

A fair criticism of most of the environmentalist movement is that it lacks a sense of humor. It’s hard to have a laugh when you’re constantly screaming “the sky is falling.” Grist is certainly an exception, as their about page starts with:

Laugh now — or the planet gets it.

You know how some people make lemonade out of lemons? At Grist, we’re making lemonade out of looming climate apocalypse.

It’s more fun than it sounds, trust us!

The sense of humor comes through in articles like Live Your Tiny House Fantasies by Renting One on AirBnB, but there are also plenty of more serious ones like Making Federal Buildings Green Cuts Costs by a Fifth. If you’re digging Grists’s approach, then you may want to consider working for them. Their Jobs page shows that they’re looking for a Web Developer and Idealist shows that they’re looking for an Office Assistant. If neither of those positions sound right for you, you may want to take a look at Grist’s Writer’s Guidelines. There are both paid and unpaid opportunities for writers.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read Grist?

Josephson Institute for Ethics

Willy Franzen — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 16:51:54 +0000

The job search is a vulnerable time for most people, and that results in a lot of people trying to take advantage of those who are looking for work. This makes me very angry, which is why I always do my best to stick my neck out for job seekers. I won’t hesitate to turn down sponsors who seem even a little sketchy, and I’ve put a lot of effort into exposing job scams and pushing for employers to pay their interns. I guess you could call these the ethical duties of my job, and I take them extremely seriously. Josephson Institute for Ethics is a Los Angeles, CA based non-profit organization that also takes ethics extremely seriously (in case you couldn’t tell by their name). Their mission is to “improve the ethical quality of society by changing personal and organizational decision making and behavior.”

An Ethical Choice

Josephson Institute for Ethics focuses on five core areas: Youth, Sports, Business, Public Service, and Policing. The Institute was founded by a lawyer named Michael Josephson in 1987 in honor of his parents, and it does its work by developing and delivering “services and materials to increase ethical commitment, competence, and practice in all segments of society.” Josephson Institute is a bit unique as a non-profit in that they raise money by actually selling stuff (the aforementioned services and materials). Of course they also take donations and grants to allow them to work much more broadly than for their clients (it’s kind of weird to see a non-profit’s client list, right?). One of the projects from Josephson Institute that I find most interesting is the Ethics of American Youth Survey, which shows widespread problems with “lying, cheating, bullying, and other high-risk behavior in high school students.” If you find project like this one interesting, then you should definitely take a look at Josephson Institute for Ethics’ Jobs page on Idealist (it’s way more up to date than their actual Jobs page). Right now they’re looking for a Research Assistant, an Associate Web Producer/Writer, a Program Assistant – Character Counts, and a Marketing Project Manager. These look like really interesting jobs, so check them out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you had any ethical dilemmas in your job search?

Refinery29

Willy Franzen — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:38:05 +0000

Keeping up with fashion isn’t a priority for me, but I still like to dress well. That’s why I trust Bonobos and Gilt Groupe to do the curation for me, and then I just buy what I like from them (it also helps that I’ve accrued a lot of credits from both of them). I know that a lot of people are far more active in keeping up with fashion, which is probably why Refinery29 is growing so quickly. The New York, NY based company is aiming to be “the cornerstone of fashion, beauty, and shopping for a new generation” as they offer “the only 360-degree source for shopping, exclusive deals, trends, beauty news, local hot-spots, and at-home sneak-peeks of fashion’s finest.” That’s ridiculously ambitious, but the results so far indicate that they’re pretty much killing it.

Show Your Refinement

I learned about Refinery29 from a blog post by my friend Charlie O’Donnell. The post touches on something really cool that Refinery29 is doing that I think more companies should do. They started out by focusing on editorial and grabbing attention to sell to advertisers. That’s what most companies in this space do, and it works, but why not take the extra step? Refinery29 has built it’s own e-commerce product called Reserve, and it’s essentially built on the daily deal model. It’s smart because it allows Refinery29 to capture even more value from their users than they do by selling advertising. I think we’ll see more and more companies do this–build media products as channels to promote their own products (I guess it’s nothing new considering the same idea is where Soap Operas got their start). I highly recommend that you dig into Refinery29′s content and get a better feel for who they are. If you like what you see, then you should probably check out their Careers page. They have a bunch of cool opportunities that might appeal to new or recent grads including:

Account Manager
Miami Editor (Miami, FL)
Los Angeles Editor (Los Angeles, CA)
Marketing Data Analyst
UX + Interaction Designer

There are a bunch of other positions, but they generally have more significant experience requirements. Hopefully something at Refinery29 will catch your eye and be a great fit.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Refinery29?

Spartz Media

Willy Franzen — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:28:29 +0000

Life isn’t nearly as exciting with no new Harry Potter books or movies coming out. I’m pretty bummed about it, but probably not nearly as bummed as the people who hang out on MuggleNet. In case you’ve never heard of it, MuggleNet is “the world’s #1 Harry Potter site.” It was started by Emerson Spartz when he was 12 years old, and it quickly started generating a ton of traffic. And with that traffic came some serious revenue opportunities. As MuggleNet turned into a real business, Emerson rolled it into a company called Spartz Media and started launching new entertainment focused sites. Some of the bigger names include OMG Facts, Gives Me Hope, and SmartphOWNED. Spartz Media is located in Chicago, IL (about 3 blocks from me), and they’re reaching more than 8.5 million people every month through their web properties. They’ve been at it since 2009, though MuggleNet has actually been around since 1999.

OMG Jobs

I actually learned about Spartz Media from a guy I occasionally play volleyball with who works there (though I’d heard of MuggleNet before that). He made it sound like a pretty cool place to work, and how can it not be when your business is all about making websites that entertain people? You can check out all of Spartz Media’s brand here, just make sure that you don’t end up wasting a few hours. What’s cool about Spartz Media is that it’s not all fun and games–there’s a science to what they do. Whether you want to be part of the fun, the science, or both, you should take a look at Spartz Media’s jobs. Right now they’re looking for a Business Analyst and a PHP Developer, and if you look at their Team page you’ll see that there may be other potential opportunities in Design, Web Development, Project Management, Editorial, Community Management, Business Intelligence, Analytics, and more. If you do end up applying, be sure to let them know that we sent you (and if you want an intro to my fried, just e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com). It’s a really young company, so I bet it’s a great place for new grads.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Spartz Media’s sites is your favorite?

Cvent

Willy Franzen — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:30:27 +0000

Yesterday we told you about Blue Chip Career, so here’s another reminder to check them out. They offer personalized guidance from seasoned executives to help you overcome your biggest job search challenges. Get paired with one of their experts and receive the inside scoop on how to land the job of your dreams.

My girlfriend and I are having a housewarming/birthday party this weekend. We invited people by e-mail, and we’re keeping of track of who is coming through a Google doc. That’s about as simple as it gets in terms of using software for event management. I don’t think our solution would cut it for companies like Verizon, Yahoo!, Walmart, and Oracle. They need something a little more… industrial strength. That’s what Cvent offers. They’re a McLean, VA based company that offers comprehensive event, survey, and eMarketing software solutions–exactly what large companies need to make sure that every little detail is taken care of when they put on an event.

Have a Cventful Job Search

The best way to get a feel for the scale that Cvent operates on, you need to look at some of their key statistics. They were founded in 1999, and since then their software has managed more than 275,000 events, sent 850 million e-mail invitations, and managed 30 million event registrations and survey responses. You can learn more about what those solutions look like here. You may also want to dig into some of the Resources that they provide–it’ll give you a better sense of the kinds of problems that they solve for their clients. If you like what you see, then you’ll want to check out Cvent’s Careers page. You’ll see some great openings that seem suitable for new or recent grads including Blogger/Social Media Associate, Business Development Associate, Information Security Analyst, Mobile Application Developer, Product Consultant, Quality Engineer, Sales Associate, Software Engineer, Systems Analyst, Systems Programmer, Systems Support Engineer, and Technical Support Engineer. There are lots of options, so hopefully at least one will intrigue you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Cvent?

Curse

Willy Franzen — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:27:54 +0000

A lot of people think of gamers as anti-social, but that’s pretty far from the truth. Some of the most vibrant online communities are focused on video games. The great thing about these communities is that they’re much easier to monetize than other communities since gamers are a great group to advertise to. Curse is one of these communities. They’re a company based on San Francisco, CA and Huntsville, AL that “offers editorial features, video, databases, wikis, forums, add-ons, and a desktop applications that helps gamers find and install gaming plug-ins.” They’re yet another Inc. 5000 company, and they’ve seen 839% three-year growth to $5.4 million in revenue. Guess they’ve figured out how to monetize their 14 million monthly unique visitors across the 31 video game related websites that they own.

Curse Your Job Search

Curse focuses on all kinds of games. Some of the big names that they cover are World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. If you want to get a feel for the kind of content that Curse offers, just head over to Curse.com and start browsing around. You won’t find much info on Curse itself, but if you’re a gamer, you should be able to read between the lines and start to understand more about the company. If you dig their content, then you should head over to their Jobs page. There a bunch of Web Development positions in the Huntsville office, and there are Design, Web Development, Customer Service, and Editorial positions open in the San Francisco office. Check them out and see if anything is a good fit. Being a gamer who is active in online communities will be a huge help (tell that to your parents!).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you visit any of Curse’s properties?

Likeable Media

Willy Franzen — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:16:17 +0000

A lot of people don’t realize how important being likable is in the job search. Yes, the most important thing is to be able to demonstrate to a company that you have the skills to help them make more money and grow their business, but getting the hiring manager to like you is probably the second most important thing. If they’re going to see your mug every single morning, it better create some sort of positive association. Likeable Media is a company that uses this same premise when they do social media and word of mouth marketing for their clients. Likeable Media (alternate spelling and all) is based in New York, NY with an office in Boston, MA, and they aim “to create more transparent, responsive likeable companies, organizations and governments.” They came in at #118 on the Inc. 5000 and they’ve seen 2,333% three-year revenue growth along with growth from 4 to 28 employees (though their Jobs page says they have a team of 50+).

Are You Likeable?

Likeable Media calls their employees “Buzz Builders.” Why? That’s what they do. Likeable Media calls itself a full-service social agency, which means that they can do everything from creating and implementing a social media strategy to doing the actual dirty work of producing content, updating social media profiles, and running social advertising campaigns. They’re working with names like 1-800-flowers, Omaha Steaks, Neutrogena, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and Cumberland Farms, and if you’d like to take a look at the kind of work they produce, you can check out their case studies. If you think you’re likable and have it in you to be a Buzz Builder, then you should check out Likeable Media’s Jobs page. They have an open call for talent, but they don’t post positions on their own Jobs page. However, it does appear that Likable Media posts some openings across the web, so you can also check out all of their current job postings by using our job search engine.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Likeable Media?

Intergi

Willy Franzen — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:12:16 +0000

A few years ago during the beginning of the recession, I featured a bunch of jobs in the video games industry. All those people who lost their jobs were buying video games, and business was booming. Things have slowed since. I’m not sure if it has to do with the economy, but I do know that gaming on phones and tablets is really biting into video game industry sales. One video game related company that is continuing to grow is Intergi. They’re a Deerfield Beach, FL based company that “partners with the foremost gaming web publishers to provide advertisers with targeted ad placements.” They’re another Inc. 5000 company, and they’ve seen 2,383% three-year growth from $253,818 in revenue to $6.3 million in revenue.

Game On

Intergi is in the business of “site representation,” but a better explanation might be that they monetize gaming related traffic. They’ve built out a significant network of publishers and advertisers that enables them to offer a ton of value to both sides. You can read about their offerings for publishers here and their offering for advertisers here. Integri not only works with publishers, but they also are a publisher. GameZone.com is their major property, but I suspect that there might be a few more sites. I couldn’t find a list of Intergi’s publishers, but they do have a Client List. If you’re interested in the video game media business, then Intergi would be a great place to work. They’ve bee growing their headcount, and they have a bunch of entry level jobs posted on their Careers page. These include Online Editor, Web Designer, Book Keeper, Junior Account Executive, and Account Coordinator. The weird thing is that I can’t figure out how you’re supposed to apply for these positions. There’s no link, button, or e-mail address. WHOOPS! I guess you should use their Contact page to apply.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a gamer?

Complex Media Network

Willy Franzen — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:22:09 +0000

I like to consider myself an “influential 20-something male consumer,” but maybe I’m wrong. I don’t read Complex.com or visit any of the sites in the Complex Media Network, and they say that they are “the premier online destination for the most influential 20-something male consumers.” They’re getting nearly a million unique visitors a day across their network, so they’re certainly influential, and I have to think their audience is too. Complex, which is based in New York, NY caters to an audience that is “driven by style, sports, music, games, gear and girls,” and they’re experts at creating content for and delivering advertising to this audience. Complex.com is their main property, but the network extends to dozens of sites that zero in on niches within the niches.

It’s Complex

I had heard about Complex before from some internship postings that I came across, but I only really took another look at them after a reader e-mailed me to tell me that he had landed an internship with Complex Media Network. After taking a closer look, I realized that Complex has done something really impressive. They took a magazine (which always has two covers–one male celebrity and one female celebrity) that was started in Mark Ecko in 2002 and used it to launch a much larger network. By getting publishers who cover similar topics to join they’re network, they’re able to sell advertising on a much larger scale while still staying true to their target demographic. Here are some case studies to give you a better idea of how Complex Media actually leverages their network. If you’re a true “influential 20-something male consumer” or you want work in a business that focuses them, check out jobs at Complex Media Network. While they don’t have any positions posted for new grads, I’ve heard that both applying through their General Inquiries form and tweeting at Complex employees can deliver good results.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read Complex?

beRecruited

Willy Franzen — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:48:53 +0000

Interested in international relief and development? Take a look at Samaritan’s Purse’s jobs. They’re our sponsor this week, and they have some amazing opportunities for new and recent grads including Japanese Interpreter, Marketing/Metrics Analyst, and Social Media/Marketing Specialist.

There’s a VHS tape that I’ve been trying to get my hands on for a while. It’s my girlfriend’s recruiting video that she sent to colleges when she was in high school (she ended up playing volleyball for Cornell and winning three Ivy League Championships!). It’s the ultimate blackmail material. College athletic recruiting has come a long way since then. Much of the communication between coaches and prospective athletes happens over the Internet, but managing those communications can be a tall task for parents and students that haven’t been through the process before. beRecruited is a site that has been connecting high school athletes with college coaches since 2000. The site has over 1 million registered members, and apparently 68% of college coaches have signed up for the site. beRecruited appears to be located in both Atlanta, GA and San Francisco, CA.

Be Recruited by beRecruited

beRecruited has a pretty sweet infographic on their About page that gives you a broad look at the size and reach of their network. After you check that out, you’ll want to take their Product Tour. You’ll see how beRecruited allows you to build a profile, upload multimedia, find schools, and “send customized and personalized letters of interest to almost any coach in the country.” The site also allows coaches to find student athletes, so it really can be a game changer for kids who aren’t able to get exposure in other ways. If you’re excited about what beRecruited is doing, check out their Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Systems Administrator in San Francisco, CA and a Marketing & Customer Service Intern in Atlanta, GA. The Internship is more like a part-time job, so don’t look past it because it’s called an internship. They also say, “Don’t see a position for you? Email us at jobs AT beRecruited DOT com and tell us why you’d be a fit.” You know what that means!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Were you a college athlete?

BankSimple

Willy Franzen — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:11:29 +0000

Samaritan’s Purse is this week’s sponsor. They’re an international aid and development organization that has a bunch of jobs for new and recent grads.

When I was job searching after graduating from college, one of my big projects was getting my finances in order. I opened accounts, closed accounts, cashed out savings bonds, started investing, and made sure that I knew where all my money was. I also started using Mint to track everything. It worked well until my bank updated their online banking software and killed Mint integration. It eventually got fixed, but there was no way to merge my old Mint data with my new Mint data (I essentially had to set up another bank account in Mint). This was pretty minor in terms of banking nightmares, but it was still a huge pain. Otherwise, I’m happy enough with my current bank, but I’d love to have a bank that is focused on delivering a superb online experience. BankSimple (also known as the Simple Finance Technology Corp.) wants to be that bank. They’re based in New York, NY and they’re all about customer service and user experience.

WorkSimple

Some people may be skeptical about a startup bank, but the 50,000+ people on BankSimple’s wait list likely realize that it can’t get much worse than all of the hassles, fees, and rudeness that you get from today’s big banks. It’s unbelievable that we actually trust some of these companies with our money. BankSimple is starting from scratch, so they fully intend to earn their customer’s trust by first launching an amazing product and then living up to their promises of simple banking and stellar service. You can learn more about what they’re promising on BankSimple’s Home page–they pretty much put all of their information on there. BankSimple may not have launched yet, but they have rolled out bank cards to some of their employees. Hopefully this is the start of some big changes in the banking industry.

I’ve been watching BankSimple’s Jobs page for a while, and it seems that they’re starting to pick up steam in terms of hiring. They have a few new positions posted: Analytics Engineer (Brooklyn, NY), Backend Engineer (Portland, OR), and Support Systems Engineer (Brooklyn, NY). None of these are really entry level, but there is a paid Writing position that they call an internship, but that could be a good way to get your foot in the door. Additionally, they introduced a class of interns, despite the fact that I never saw the internships posted. That means that you should definitely reach out to them about potential jobs, even if nothing listed matches up with your qualifications.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Will you try BankSimple?

Curbed Network

Willy Franzen — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:43:46 +0000

There’s a lot more to getting a job than being able to provide for essential needs like food, clothing, and shelter, but that’s a pretty big part of it–especially when you’re just starting out. It won’t take a lot in terms of wages to be able to pay for your basic expenses, but chances are that you’ll want to enjoy what you eat, what you wear, and where you live. If you’re all about that, then you should be reading the blogs from Curbed Network. They provide essential reads on how to get maximum enjoyment out of your essential needs. They’re based in New York, NY, and they run the blogs Curbed (real estate), Eater (food), Racked (clothes, style, and fashion), and the completely non-essential Gridskipper (travel). They don’t have a blog about air yet, but I hear that’s coming. The Curbed Network properties are very clearly built for yuppies with disposable incomes (what we all aspire to be, right?). 87% of the Curbed Network audience has a college degree, and 46% of them have a household income over $100k. Those are great stats for selling ads, which is what a business like Curbed Network is built on.

Kick Yourself to the Curbed

The best way to get a better feel for Curbed Network is pretty obvious–start reading their blogs. You’ll also want to check out the About pages for Curbed, Eater, Racked, and Gridskipper. You’ll get a rundown of how their audiences differ, who their advertisers are, what’s being said about them, and more. If you really want to dig into the stats on the Curbed Network audience, take a look at the Curbed Network Media Kit. It’s intended for potential advertisers, but you should learn a ton about them. Two stats that really stood out to me were that they get over 2 million monthly unique visitors and have over 170,000 e-mail subscribers. That’s quite a reach. If you’re digging what Curbed Network is all about, visit their Jobs page, which is centralized for all of the properties. They have a bunch of cool positions posted right now including Account Executive, Marketing & Events Coordinator, Designer, and a number of Editorial positions. Remember that a lot of Curbed Network’s properties are focused on locales, so there are job opportunities in these locales in addition to the ones located in NYC.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read any of the Curbed Network blogs?

GigaOm

Willy Franzen — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 16:28:21 +0000

I’m a complete Apple fanboy. I have been since since I first touched an Apple IIe in 1990. Today is the keynote of Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference, so I’m all sorts of excited. I’ve come to accept that they almost certainly won’t be announcing the iPhone 5 today, but I’m still pumped to hear about all of the software stuff that they’ve been working on. This means that I’ve been anxiously (and irrationally) reading all of the major online tech sites so that I can uselessly speculate about what kind of cool things my phone will be able to do after the next software update. A lot of interesting businesses have been built in the tech news space, which is why we’ve already profiled companies like Engadget, Gawker (Gizmodo), TechCrunch, and gdgt. Today we’re going to look at GigaOm, a San Francisco, CA based company that does the whole tech news thing, but also has a research arm that is growing extremely quickly.

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmm

GigaOm was founded by Om Malik, a guy who “has more than 15 years of experience as a journalist covering technology and business news.” He helped launched Forbes.com as a Senior Editor back in the day, and he continues to lead the GigaOm Editorial Team. Despite doing a great job of covering tech news, GigaOm doesn’t appear to get anywhere near the traffic that some of the sites I mentioned earlier do. That would usually present a problem for a business that is built on covering news to attract eyeballs for advertising, but GigaOm has a slightly different model. They have a paid content section called GigaOm Pro that provides market research and analysis for a fee. This part of the business is doing really well, and must be a major reason for the $40 million valuation that GigaOm just got in their most recent round of investment ($6 million).

By building trust through their free content, GigaOm is able to generate leads for their paid section. It’s a smart idea, and it seems to be working really well. GigaOm intends to spend a big portion of that new capital on hiring to expand GigaOm Pro, so now is the time to start thinking about a career with them. Right now 10 of 41 GigaOm employees do research full-time. Maybe you can help be part of the expected growth in that number. The only position posted right now on the GigaOm Jobs page is for a Webmaster/ Jr. Developer, but that should change soon. You might as well just reach out to the folks at GigaOm now and let them know how you could help with the growth of GigaOm Pro. It’s worth a shot.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read GigaOm?

Network Communications, Inc.

Willy Franzen — Thu, 26 May 2011 16:45:22 +0000

If you had to think of two industries that were hit hardest by the recession, what would they be? Mine would probably be publishing and real estate. (Finance may have been hit harder, but they bounced back almost immediately.) Since I firmly believe that great opportunity lies in taking on difficult challenges, I’m going to tell you about a company in the real estate publishing industry. Their name is Network Communications, Inc. (which tells you nothing about what they do), and they’re located in Lawrenceville, GA (a suburb of Atlanta). They produce a wide range of publications that focus on three specific areas: Home Sales, Rental & Leasing, and Home Improvement & Design. Some of their titles include The Real Estate Book, Apartment Finder, and Mountain Living. They break things down both by vertical and regional, and they’re just as active on the web as they are with print publications.

Making Publishing Real

The real estate publishing business model is pretty simple. The goal is to create content and distribute to anyone who might have a remote interest in buying, renting, or improving property. Then you sell ads alongside that content to help businesses like real estate agents, architects, contractors, and many others reach potential customers. This is a model that lends itself particularly well to the Internet where it’s easy to track lead generation. Based on the numbers, it looks like Network Communications, Inc. excels in every area of this business. Here are some stats on them:

They “distribute more than 13 million magazines each month.”
They serve “500 markets in the U.S. and Canada.”
They work with more than 45,000 advertisers.
Their websites get 10 million unique visitors who view 500 million listings annually.
They have “a proprietary network of over 320,000 distribution points around the country.”

It seems to me that they’ve overcome many of the problems that plague publishing companies by moving quickly to adopt new technology, and now they just need the real estate market to thaw a little bit more. It’s tough when your core advertisers are scared to spend money (believe me, I know). If you’re interested in working at the intersection of media and real estate, then check out jobs at Network Communications, Inc. Right now they have a few entry level positions including Junior Account Executive (Sacramento, CA), Online Product Manager (Lawrenceville, GA), and Sales Coordinator (St. Louis, MO). I imagine there will be a lot more opening up as soon as the real estate market picks up (whenever that may be), and some of them could be pretty cool–think editorial, social media, etc.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about NCI?

Tablet Hotels

Willy Franzen — Mon, 23 May 2011 15:59:38 +0000

Travel search engines are great. You can find the best rates for a place to stay in almost any location. The only problem is that the results can be a bit overwhelming. You have to do some serious research to make sure that the hotel that you picked isn’t a fleabag (or do we call them bedbug bags now?). And since it’s not uncommon to find a room in a luxury hotel for a price that is comparable to the price of a room in a lower tier chain, you might as well stay somewhere interesting and unique. So why not just limit your search to a curated list of luxury properties? That’s exactly what Tablet Hotels does. They’re a hotel booking site that offers access to great rates at a “tightly edited selection” of hotels. The company is located in New York, NY, and they’ve been around since 2000, so they’re experts when it comes to booking rooms at an affordable rate at some of the nicest hotels in the world.

Get Tabbed

Obviously the online travel booking business is extremely competitive, so Tablet Hotels can’t just stand out by having a small list of cool hotels that you can book. That’s just not enough. They’re doing a few things to make them stand out. The first is the Tablet Hotels Price Guarantee, which pretty much explains itself. The next is their review system, the Tablets Hotel Meter, which “is a running average of the ratings given to a hotel by registered Tablet Hotels users who have actually stayed at the hotel.” That means that nobody is gaming the reviews. Finally, there’s Tablet Guides and the other editorial content that Tablet Hotels puts out. By making the travel booking experience fun and interesting, Tablet Hotels ensures that customers keep coming back to them. I first heard about Tablet Hotels from a former reader who is now working there. She e-mailed me to tell me about a paid internship that they’re offering, but I noticed that the company’s Contact page mentions that you should contact them at jobs@tablethotels.com if you’re interested in a job. Since there aren’t any listings, you should use LinkedIn to figure out where you might fit in, and then pitch them on it.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used Tablet Hotels?

Gogobot

Willy Franzen — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:13:31 +0000

There’s a good chance that you’re going to spend some time traveling after you graduate. It’s a pretty common thing to do, especially when the job market isn’t completely rocking. (Just remember not to brag about it in your interviews–the guy who spends half of his 14 vacation days visiting his in-laws in Florida isn’t going to be too psyched about hearing every detail of your 3-month trek through Central America.) One of the best parts about traveling is planning: figuring out where to go, what to do, whom to see, and more. Many people rely on friends for recommendations, while many others scour the Internet for travel review sites. Gogobot is a Menlo Park, CA based company that is bringing those together. The people at Gogobot “believe passionately that planning your trips and sharing your travel experiences should be fun, easy and social.” I completely agree. My only issue is that I don’t like coming off as a braggart. Gogobot seems like the kind of place where it’s ok to show off a little when it comes to travel.

Gogo Get a Job

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch has called Gogobot “Yelp for travel” and “one of [his] favorite startups of 2010.” That’s pretty strong praise coming from someone whose job it is to critique startups. Until you actually start searching for travel reviews and information on destinations, you don’t realize how bad the websites that serve those purposes are. You never know if the review that you’re reading was written by the owner of the hotel or someone with totally poor taste. Gogobot is all about sharing experiences with your friends and other people who have built up trust by consistently posting quality content. No need to be skeptical of what you read online (unless you don’t trust a friend’s taste.) As Gogobot works to pull in data from other social networks like Facebook and Foursquare, their product is only to get more and more compelling. Gogobot already has done a great job developing a high quality user experience, and they’ve picked a market that is pretty easy to monetize. Now it’s all about growing and getting more and more people to participate on the site.

If you want to go along for the ride, check out Gogobot’s Jobs page. Right now they have a few senior level software development positions, and a paid Travel Writing and Editorial Internship. Neither is exactly what most new grads are looking for, but they’re still worth a look (especially the Internship since it’s $15/hour). You can also reach out them at jobs@gogobot.com and let them know where you think you’d be able to add something, even if there isn’t a relevant job posted. They’re still pretty early stage, so it’s well worth trying. (And don’t worry about going into great detail about your latest vacation if you do land an interview.)

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Where have you gone lately?

Metromix

Willy Franzen — Fri, 13 May 2011 11:22:43 +0000

My two biggest problems in life are figuring out what to wear and where to go. Since we covered the former yesterday, today it’s time to cover the latter. Ok, those aren’t really my two biggest problems in life, but I sometimes get frustrated that I live in a city the size of Chicago and feel like I can’t come up with a good idea of what I should do on a given weekend. There are a million opportunities out there, but figuring out what’s worth your time is difficult. That’s why Metromix was started as a joint-venture between newspaper behemoths Tribune Co. and Gannett Co. Metromix covers 60 different geographic areas (each individually) and offers a “guide to local restaurants, bars and clubs, events, concerts and movies.” While sites like Yelp have been built off the backs of their users, Metromix has an editorial staff generating content for each of their sites along with some user-generated content; however, smaller cities seem to get less original content. I must admit that Metromix isn’t my go to for what’s happening in Chicago, IL (which is where Metromix is located), but they seem to generate a ton of traffic and they have the resources of two major publishing/ad sales businesses behind them.

Get in the Mix

It’s kind of tough to get a full read on Metromix as a company. Once you’ve gone to one of their local sites, like the Austin, TX one you get redirected there whenever you try to go to Metromix.com. I guess this makes sense for a normal use case, but it means that you can’t really find any general information about Metromix beyond their Wikipedia page. The world of local publishing can often be a bit decentralized, and that certainly seems to be the case with Metromix. They don’t even make it easy to find where they’re headquartered (I had to check their LinkedIn company profile). If you start looking through their staff on LinkedIn, you see a lot of Chicago, but you also see a lot of other cities. My guess is that they hire a lot of freelancers to hone in on local markets. Metromix directs job seekers to their Careerbuilder page, which shows an even more decentralized approach to hiring. Most of the jobs that appear are posted from local tv stations or newspapers. I guess Metromix farms out some work like ad sales and marketing to other affiliated businesses. I don’t quite get it, but the opportunities are worth checking out, especially the Metromix Marketing & Promotion Coordinator position in Denver, CO and a couple of Account Management positions in Cincinnati, OH. If you’re looking for something else, you might find it difficult to track down the right person to contact, but it could be worth it.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Metromix?

Shecky’s

Willy Franzen — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:30:35 +0000

I like writing about companies that I find interesting, which isn’t hard because I have very broad interests. However, I occasionally come across a company that I know is interesting, but it just doesn’t resonate with me. That’s definitely the case with Shecky’s. They’re a New York, NY based company that makes it their “mission to create social experiences that empower and reward women to discover and socialize with their girlfriends.” I think you can understand why that doesn’t resonate with me, but you’ll impressed to learn that Shecky’s was actually founded in 1998 by a Wall Street executive named Chris Hoffman. Despite the potentially ambiguous first name, Chris is a man who is apparently very in touch with “what women want.” He started by publishing the 1st Shecky’s Bar, Club & Lounge Guide in 1998, and then moved on to hosting hosts the “1st Girls Night Out” in New York City in 2001. In 2002 Chris found Claudia Chan and made her president after merging her company into Shecky’s. The business has continued to grow with a focus on improving the interactions that women have with their girlfriends, and I’m sure having a woman at the helm who understands the market better than any man ever could is a big reason for that.

Who’s Shecky?

One of the biggest pieces of the Shecky’s business is Girls Night Out. They hold these events in cities across the country, and they provide an opportunity for women to “discover unique designers, sip our delectable drinks, and cap your night with some pretty pampering and glorious Goodie Bags.” It appears that Shecky’s has finally moved away from the guidebook business, and has instead decided to put far more focus on their digital properties. I’ll bet that is turning out to be a really smart move. With the events and the website, Shecky’s is a marketer’s dream. It should be no surprise that advertising and sponsorships are big parts of Shecky’s business. If Shecky’s resonates with you and you know the importance of having a strong group of girlfriends, then take a look at jobs at Shecky’s. Right now they’re looking for a Sales Account Executive and a Customer Service Rep. Additionally, they often hire freelancers for their events in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Hamptons, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Washington, DC. These positions include Photography, Event Staff, Writing/Reporting, and Administrative Assistant opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you familiar with Shecky’s?

Opening Ceremony

Willy Franzen — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:35:41 +0000

MATCH Public Charter School has been sponsoring One Day, One Job for the past week. They offer amazing entry level opportunities for new grads in Boston, MA, and you should check them out now.

Fast Company’s list of The 2011 Most Innovative Companies has a great mix of familiar and unfamiliar names. One of the companies on the list that I’m only recently familiar with is Opening Ceremony. They call themselves “a multifaceted retail environment comprised of shops, showroom, and private label collection that establishes a new, international creative forum in downtown Manhattan.” I first heard about Opening Ceremony because they’ve been collaborating on a line with Pendleton (a brand that I love). As I’d put it, Opening Ceremony is a New York, NY based fashion retailer/designer/curator. They’re all about bringing together things that are different—new and old, exotic and local. It’s based on the premise behind the original Olympics in 1896—”creatively merging sports, business, and global participation.” But it’s fashion instead of sports.

Join the Ceremony

To really get a feel for Opening Ceremony, you need to walk into one of their stores in New York City, Los Angeles, or Tokyo. If you can’t do that, their website is the next best alternative. Opening Ceremony’s goal is to recreate “a shopping excursion based on four different perspectives–established designer (designers that best exemplify the country), emerging designer, one of a kind vintage pieces and select items from the open-air markets.” They work with some of the biggest names in fashion, and they’re constantly adding new stuff; in fact, they focus on “the unique commercial and cultural character of a [different] visiting city” ever year. It’s a really unique take on fashion, and it’s one that I can’t effectively sum up. If you love what Opening Ceremony is doing, then you need to check out their Jobs page. They don’t post specific positions, but they invite you to “mail your cover letter, resume and 3 references to jobs@openingceremony.us.” They also ask you to mention what type of position you’re interested, and they provide the following suggestions: “Retail – LA/Tokyo/NYC/Ace, Showroom, Buying, Design, Graphic Design, Ecommerce, Online Marketing, Blog, Production, etc.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own anything from Opening Ceremony?

Sandbox Industries

Willy Franzen — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:51:25 +0000

99% of the graduating classes from 2004-2010 at MATCH Public Charter School in Boston, MA were accepted to four-year colleges. That’s an astounding result considering most students were performing well below grade level when they started at the school. Find out how you can be part of these success stories as a teacher or tutor.

Since I moved to Chicago in October of 2008, I’ve been getting more and more involved with the local startup scene. I’ve met a lot of cool people ranging from founders of some of the city’s most successful startups to the awesome people at Jelly Chicago (it’s a co-working group, and you should join us). One of the better events that I’ve been to was midVentures Launch. I even got to introduce myself to the guy who makes me feel bad every time I go to the gym because he a) always seems to be there no matter when I go b) is always doing ridiculously difficult workouts. That may seem completely irrelevant, but it turns out that he’s a Project Manager at Sandbox Industries, which is a Chicago, IL based venture capital firm. They have three distinct areas of focus: their incubator, the Sandbox Venture Fund, and the BlueCross BlueShield Venture Fund. As I was doing my daily browsing for interesting opportunities, I came across some postings from Sandbox Industries, so I figured that it was time to take a closer look at them.

Play in the Sandbox

From what I’ve seen, Sandbox Industries is extremely hands-on with their portfolio companies, so they’re not just looking to make smart investments. Sandbox Industries devotes significant resources towards ensuring that the companies in their portfolio become successful. They do this by “combining creativity with world-renowned managerial experience and an eite network of business contacts, resources, and expertise.” The best way to get a feel for Sandbox Industries’ investing philosophy is to take a look at their portfolio. Some of the standouts include: Marbles, a store that helps you improve brain fitness; FeeFighters, a company that helps other businesses lower payment fees; Phreesia, the national leader in patient check-in; and BookYap, a book discovery site. The investments may seem all over the place, but they’re actually based on a strict set of principles. If you’re intrigued by the world of venture capital, but you’re more interested in building businesses than buying pieces of businesses, then Sandbox Industries might be the place for you. Their Careers page shows that they’re looking for a Junior Ruby on Rails Developer, but I also found internships in Social Media Marketing and Content Writing. Looking at Sandbox Industries’ Team page might also help you identify other potential opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Sandbox Industries’ startups is most interesting to you?

Instructables

Willy Franzen — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:46:36 +0000

The other day I came across a video from a guy who built a remote control tri-copter strapped with fireworks to hunt hydrogen balloons. I love geeky projects like that—I just wish that I knew how to replicate them. Luckily, there’s a site built for exactly that (though they don’t have the exact how to video that I’m looking for). It’s called Instructables, and they offer a place “where passionate people share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with others.” The company got its start at the MIT Media Lab, but has since moved to San Francisco, CA. Instructables covers a range of topics that includes Food, Health, Living, Outside, Play, Solar, Technology, and Workshop, which means that they have a place for basically any kind of how to.

How To Get a Job

Whether you want to share your expertise or learn from others, Instructables is the place to do it. You can learn how to make delicious cinnamon rolls or teach people how to make their own thongs (I’m not kidding). Maybe you want to build an awesome paper airplane or a retro phone charging station—either way Instructables can show you how. Not only do they have an amazing breadth of content, but it’s deep, useful content too. That’s probably why Instructables gets so much traffic. If you take a look at their media kit, you’ll get a rundown of what their audience looks like on paper and how they’ve leveraged this audience to work with some top quality advertisers. The only complaint that I have about Instructables is that they have a ton of ads—some of which are kind of scammy looking. But they also have some content built out of partnerships that is relevant and useful. Overall, it looks like Instructables is doing an excellent job of monetizing their massive trove of content (they also offer a premium membership), which is probably why they’re hiring. Right now they’re looking for an Online Editor and Sales Managers in New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco. The jobs look pretty cool, so maybe you should make an instuctable on how to get a job at Instructables.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have yo used Instructables?

The Taunton Press

Willy Franzen — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:58:06 +0000

The world of publishing is a pretty crazy place right now. We hear about prestigious brand names struggling to stay afloat, while relative newcomers like Demand Media are IPO-ing. One of the key takeaways from all of the turmoil is that advertisers want results. That means that publishers need to be able to deliver targeted audiences that will respond to ads, whether it be through traditional outlets like magazines and newspapers or online. The Taunton Press is a publisher that has understood this for a long time. They’re based in Newtown, CT (a lovely town where I’ve done a lot of fishing), and they publish magazines, websites, and books for people who have a passion for creative activities. Their titles include Fine Woodworking, Fine Homebuilding, Fine Cooking, Fine Gardening, Threads, and more. Most of the publications come in both magazine form and an online version, so readers can consume the content however they feel comfortable.

The Finer Things

The Taunton Press reminds me a lot of Prime Publishing, another company that has found success by publishing content for niche markets. The Taunton Press seems a bit more brand focused, which is explained best by a quote on their About page:

We don’t run advertising that isn’t directly related to the subject matter of our magazines. We believe our ad pages serve as another vehicle for passing on educational information. It means our magazines might cost a little more at the newsstand. But it also means every page will be worth the price.

I love that! Advertising doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I often say that you can tell how intelligent your media consumption habits are by looking at the advertising that is targeted to you. If you’re seeing a lot of Shake Weight commercials, you might want to start worrying. Whether you have a specific interest in the topical areas that The Taunton Press covers or you are generally interested in media and publishing, The Taunton Press looks like a great place to start a career. Check out their Careers page and their job listings. Right now they have a couple of positions that might be suitable for a new grad: Assistant Editor – Threads Magazine and Chef’s Assistant. They also offer internships in Editorial, Media Sales, Publishing, and Web Publishing, so there’s the potential for more entry level opportunities in the future.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read any of The Taunton Press’ publications?

TastingTable

Willy Franzen — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 16:08:43 +0000

Since it’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, you may want to check out our post on The King Center from 2009. It also happens to be my anniversary with my girlfriend, which means that we’ll be going to a fancy dinner tonight. I try to stay up on the Chicago food scene as much as I can, and one way that I used to do that was by subscribing to TastingTable (though I must admit that I eventually unsubscribed even though the e-mails are really good). They send “a free daily email that delivers the best of food and drink culture to adventurous eaters everywhere.” The company is based in New York, NY, and beyond their national e-mail list, they also offer e-mail lists for New York City, New York Specials, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Chef’s Recipes with lists for Boston, Philadelphia, and Portland coming soon. In the national e-mail they send “one delicious idea about dining, wine, cocktails, cooking or restaurant personalities” every day, while in their local editions they’ll “alert you to a must-try dish at a forgotten restaurant, a hot new bar that deserves its buzz, under-appreciated cook shops and neighborhood food purveyors who may otherwise go unnoticed.”

A Tasteful Career Choice

I don’t know about the rest of you, but college was when I really started to appreciate decent food. After a couple of years of dining hall food (even at Cornell where it’s supposed to be good), pizza, wings, and other college staples, I started cooking on my own and trying some of the ethnic restaurants that I was previously too scared to try. I even found an online guide that gave me the inside scoop on Ithaca’s food scene. Since there has been a huge upswing in the amount of foodie-focused online media. TastingTable is a perfect example. They provide quality content for a very specific audience, and they’re able to monetize that content with ads targeted to a food-loving audience. (I know a lot about this business model.) You also have to like that Bob Pittman, “most successful investor in newsletter space,” is one of TastingTable’s backers (he also backed DailyCandy and Thrillist). If you like what you see at TastingTable, check out their Jobs page, which doesn’t seem to be linked from anywhere on their site. Right now they have a number of open positions that could be good fits for new grads including Editor, Food Editor, and Sales Account Manager. Don’t be scared off by the titles, the experience requirements are lower than you might expect. Right now all of the job seem to be based in NYC, but I imagine that they also sometimes have opportunities in their other cities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you subscribe to TastingTable?