One Day, One Job » personal finance

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?

WePay

Willy Franzen — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:17:15 +0000

Like us on Facebook and follow me on Twitter. Better yet, tell two friends about us today.

You know what’s a pain in the butt? Collecting money from people. Maybe you’re the captain of your intramural team and need to collect entry fees from your teammates (my volleyball league starts on Sunday!) or your group of friends want to do the “pitch in” and buy The Drake a big-screen tv (yes, that’s a Seinfeld reference). Maybe you want to easily collect donations or collect money from your 9 deadbeat roommates who never pay the cable bill. (Or maybe you’re collecting money for an NCAA Tournament bracket that may or may not be violating gambling laws.) You can collect cash, checks, or try to use PayPal. No matter what you do, it’s probably going to be frustrating. WePay is a Palo Alto, CA based company that wants to change that. They’ve built the “best way to collect money from other people.” Their site allows you to “send bills, sell tickets, and accept donations” while easily tracking payments and managing money. It’s essentially a group bank account (you can even get a debit card for it)

I Pay, You Pay, We All Pay on WePay

This is where I announce that I’m now going to start using WePay to charge you for these daily e-mails. Just kidding (but if you feel like paying, I can definitely set up a WePay account). I’m a prankster, just like the team at WePay, except they’re way better than me at pulling gags. Like the time that they dropped $100 bills frozen in a 600 pound ice block in front of PayPal’s developer conference. Why would they do such a thing? To take a jab at PayPal for constantly freezing people’s accounts. WePay is extremely focused on making group payments simple and pain-free. They know that they face stiff competition from entrenched competitors that have more reputability (which is important when it’s money related), so they’re constantly working to generate awareness about how much better their product is. If you’re a fan of what WePay is doing, then you’ll want to give their Jobs page a look. They’re currently hiring a Designer, an Operations Associate, a Web Developer, and Campus Champions. The company is strongly focused on the college market because group payments are pretty common for twenty-somethings, so it’d be a great place to start your career after graduation.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used WePay for any group payments?

Cardlytics

Willy Franzen — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:48:03 +0000

Just yesterday I had a few people complaining to me that they weren’t having any success finding interesting, non-scammy jobs on job boards. That’s like complaining that you can’t find any healthy options at Cinnabon. You’re missing the point. The best way to go about the job search is to seek out interesting companies that appear to be growing, regardless of whether or not they have jobs posted that match up with your qualifications. It’s not easy, and it can often feel like a waste of time, but when it pays off, it pays off big. A perfect example is Cardlytics. Their name has popped up in a couple of articles that I’ve read recently including this one from The Washington Post. They’re an Atlanta, GA based company that has developed a “Transaction Marketing System” that “integrates into a financial institution to deliver relevant offers to consumers based on their everyday purchases.” I know it sounds really creepy, but it’s happening, and you’re probably going to be better off because of it.

Swipe These Jobs

The ways Cardlytics works from a consumer standpoint is pretty simple. You keep using your credit or debit card as you normally would. When you look at your statement, there are targeted advertisements and offers. If you accept one of the offers, you can get a discount on future purchases with the company. The really cool thing is that the discount is automatically applied to your statement—no coupon necessary. This is obviously a new idea, so Cardlytics is working hard to partner with both advertisers and financial institutions. Plenty of privacy advocates will be up in arms about this, but Cardlytics does not collect or transmit any personally identifiable information. Everything is automated—so you get personalized offers without having the advertisers actually now who you are. Now, you may want to consider sending some personally identifiable information to Cardlytics if you want to work for them. Their Careers page only lists more experienced positions, but don’t let that stop you. They’re a growing company with a great idea and seemingly excellent implementation. Reach out to them and see how you can be a part of it—you may want to take a look at their LinkedIn company profile to see what kind of positions they currently have.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you use Cardlytics?

The Financial Clinic

Willy Franzen — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:50:30 +0000

When I have a personal finance question, curiosity, or problem, I look to Ramit Sethi for help. His book I Will Teach You To Be Rich and blog by the same name are amazing resources for anyone regardless of financial standing or background. Although people love to blame Wall Street and other societal causes for their own financial misfortune, the truth is that a little education can go a long way in helping people achieve financial success. While Ramit provides educational resources for individuals, The Financial Clinic, a New York City based non-profit, provides a more hands-on approach to promoting economic progress. They call it “a Peace Corps for financial stability.” The truth is that most college students and new grads have enough of their own financial struggles, but if you’re the type of person who has a plan and a system, then The Financial Clinic might be worth taking a closer look at.

Walk in to the Clinic

The Financial Clinic was founded in 2005 to help “build working poor families and individuals’ financial security by addressing their immediate financial challenges and helping them create trajectories for long-term goals and financial mobility.” If you replace “working poor families” with “new grads” and “financial” with “career,” then it kind of sounds kind of like what I’m doing. Anyway, The Clinic focuses on five distinct practice areas, which are Assets, Banking, Credit, Debt, and Taxes. They have a ton of resources and partnerships to help them focus programs on each of these areas, but the key to getting the work done on the ground is their Fellowship Program. You can find the full rundown here, but the basic gist of it is that recruits “devote a year to counseling individuals and families through immediate crises such as consumer debt, home foreclosure and tax difficulties.” It sounds like an amazing program, so take a look and see if it fits you. I had trouble with the application link, so you may want to use the contact information posted on Idealist.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you financially literate?

Financial Engines

Willy Franzen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:52:21 +0000

Believe it or not, I started thinking about retirement right after I graduated college. No, I didn’t win the lottery or have a big entrepreneurial success. I started investing and contributing to my IRA. It was a good way to stay productive and get ready to be an adult. If you start thinking about retirement in your early or mid 20s, you’re likely going to be in great shape 40 years down the line. Unfortunately, many people don’t plan that far ahead, so they end up needing help much later in life—and often they don’t have access to good advice once they realize that they need it. Financial Engines is trying to change that. It all started with Bill Sharpe, who won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. By combining “Bill’s pioneering investment methodology with proprietary technology” Fiancial Engines is able “to provide all investors with cost-effective, expert advice and management—the kind previously available only to the world’s largest institutional investors.” Financial Engines, which is based in Palo Alto, CA with offices in Boston, MA and Phoenix, AZ, partners with both retirement plan providers and large employers to offer their services and change the way that people get retirement help.

Start Your Financial Engines

In doing my research on Financial Engines, I came across an excellent writeup about the company on Seeking Alpha. It goes into a ton of detail about the business, and it’s definitely worth a read. The general gist of it is that Financial Engines automates a lot of retirement advising through software as a service. Face to face advising often isn’t economical, and sometimes it’s not even better than what a computer can spit out. Financial Engines took the brilliance of Bill Sharpe, and put it into their computer models—so Financial Engines clients really do get the best. If you’re intrigued by what Financial Engines is doing, you should check out their Careers page. Nothing screams entry level on their job postings, but there is the option to apply for an unlisted position. They offer a number of internships, so it’s not like they aren’t interested in young talent.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Financial Engines?

Swipely

Willy Franzen — Wed, 12 May 2010 15:35:22 +0000

Social networking sites have a serious TMI (too much information) problem. Never has it been easier for our friends to tell us stuff that we really didn’t want to know. And now it’s getting even easier with websites that share where we’ve most recently swiped our credit cards. Take for example my girlfriend, if she used Swipely, you’d know that the last place that she swiped her credit card was in the toilet of her office. No, she doesn’t work for Ryanair and have to pay to use the toilet. She just had a little a mishap when her credit card fell out of her back pocket. Yuck. Ok, that’s not exactly how Providence, RI based (yes, a startup based in Rhode Island) Swipely works, but it gives you an idea. We already discussed the idea of social networks for spending a few months ago when I wrote a post about Blippy, and now it’s a hot topic again because Swipely just launched in conjunction with securing a $7.5 million round of financing. We’re starting to see location based social networks take off, and it’s only a matter of time before we share our purchases too (although Blippy’s data leak from a few weeks ago might have set the timetable back a bit). Facebook is already abusing the hell out of your data, so you might as well give in and start sharing everything on your terms before Facebook does it without your permission.

Swipe This Job

Where Swipely differs from Blippy is in their approach. Blippy is all about sharing a feed of financial transactions; whereas, Swipely aims to enable you to share what you want to share. It’s not about how much you spent, but where you shopped and why you made the purchase. Apparently their goal is to “add value to every swipe,” although I don’t think that they’ve gone far enough with this yet. I see how powerful referral marketing has been for both Gilt Groupe and Bonobos, and I want to see Swipely take that idea and make it profitable for me to share my transactions with friends. That would be a serious value add. If you’re still not quite sure how Swipely works, you can watch the video below (RSS and e-mail readers click through to view).

Like what you see? You should check out jobs at Swipely. With the $7.5 million in financing they’re looking to add fresh talent to their team of industry veterans. Right now they’re looking for new college grads with a background in Computer Science. Additionally there’s a Front-End Developer position that might be suitable for new grads. For an early-ish stage startup, Swipely is extremely polished, and it shows on their Jobs page. They’re serious about recruiting top talent—even if they’re not located in Silicon Valley.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you going to use Swipely?

Blippy

Willy Franzen — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:27:42 +0000

We all have that friend who shares way too much information on social networks, and in many cases we are that friend. The problem with status updates is that most of them aren’t very interesting. Lately, we’ve been moving in a much more interesting, but also much creepier, direction. Now we have services that tie into our Twitter and Facebook accounts that can tell people where we are, whom we’re with, and even what we’re buying. It’s that last one that we’re going to talk about today. Blippy is a Palo Alto, CA based startup that lets you and your friends share and discuss recent purchases. It may seem a little weird at first, but it makes sense. Why go to review sites to get reactions from people you don’t know or trust, when you can see what your friends have bought and what they have to say about it?

More Than Just a Blip

Blippy has partnered with a number of online retailers to make it easy to share purchases, while they also allow you to input your credit card info to share those transactions. Right now they’re working with companies like Amazon, iTunes, Zappos, Groupon, Woot!, and StubHub, so you can see what books your friends are reading, what apps they’re downloading, and what events they’re going to. I realize that most of you aren’t ready for this yet, and I’m not sure that I am, but it is the future. 5 years ago most people were scared to use their real names online, and look how that has changed. Blippy has built a really cool platform, and I imagine that the opportunities to monetize it are endless. If I were them, I’d run all of the links to product pages through affiliate programs, then split the cut with the users who post their purchases. That way you could make money by sharing your purchases and referring friends to products that you actually bought. Blippy is still in its early stages, so they aren’t very specific on their Jobs page. In fact, it just consists of a rotating set of photos and “If you’re interested in working at Blippy, say hello at jobs@blippy.com.” They don’t get specific about what they’re looking for, but that gives you an opportunity to tell them where you’ll add value. They’re most likely looking for software developers, but don’t be afraid to apply if you can bring something else to the table.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Will you sign up for Blippy?

BillShrink

Willy Franzen — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:55:32 +0000

We’re officially in the Christmas season, and that means lots of good things. One thing that isn’t so good is all of the spending that comes with buying people gifts (whether you enjoy the consumerist aspects of the holidays or not). It feels great to be generous, but only until you look at your credit card statement at the end of the month. Cutting back on gifts or making your own is one idea, but it’s a lot easier said than done. Your best bet is probably to find some other ways to save money so that you can buy everyone what you want to buy them. A great way to do that is BillShrink. They’re a Redwood City, CA based startup that offers “a free, personalized savings tool that helps you save money on your everyday bills.” If you can cut your cell phone, credit card, and gas bills, then you’ll be able to buy me (or someone you actually know) more gifts.

Shrinkage Is Good

The way that BillShrink works is pretty simple. You fill out a few forms and share some personal information with them (nothing too scary), and then they make recommendations that will save you money. Right now they focus mostly on credit card and cell phone bills, but they have plans to add more verticals in the future. The big question is: how does BillShrink pay their own bills? They have revenue sharing plans with their partners. That means that when they recommend that you change cell phone providers, they’re going to get some sort of payment for referring you. You’re still saving money, they’re making money, and their partner is also making money. The only loser is the company that was charging you too much. It’s a great business model, and it should continue to grow as people get more comfortable with using these kinds of services. If BillShrink sounds like something that you’d like to be a part of, you should check out their Jobs page. Although some of their internship offerings appear to be non-technical, the only entry level job they have right now is as a Front End Engineer. You can apply online and should also keep an eye out for other opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried BillShrink?

Wayne Hummer Wealth Management

Willy Franzen — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:03:39 +0000

Let’s be honest, as a new or recent college grad, you probably don’t have much wealth to manage. That’s why you’re looking for a job – so that you’ll be rich one day and have somebody else look after your finances. Wait! So, if wealthy people don’t manage their own money, then who does? Wealth management companies, of course. That means that you can get a job managing wealth without having any wealth of your own to manage. Ok, this is starting to sound like some too good to be true scam – my bad. Seriously, though, if you’re smart, have the drive, and are interested in all things financial, a career in wealth management could be worth a shot. Wealth managment is actually a pretty cool field – it pulls from a variety of disciplines that include banking, estate planning, tax advisory, investment management, legal advisory, and, of course, financial planning. If that sounds like something that you might like to do after graduation, then you should check out Wayne Hummer Wealth Management, a Chicago based firm that was founded in 1931.

Manage Your Way to Wealth

It’s hard to differentiate between wealth management firms when you don’t have much inside information to go on, so let’s jump right into entry level jobs with Wayne Hummer Wealth Management. Their Careers page includes a link to a PDF on their Wealth Manager Training and Development Program, which is targeted towards new grads. There’s a ton of information on what the program entails and what areas you’ll “rotate” into. There’s no need for me to repeat it, so check out their Training and Development Program, and if you like what you see, you can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to careers@whummer.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Wayne Hummer Wealth Management?

Thrive

Willy Franzen — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:49:49 +0000

Job searching is hard enough on it’s own. When you have to worry about not being able to feed yourself because you don’t have any income and your parents don’t want to support you anymore, the job search can become overwhelming. Obviously the best remedy is to get a job, but that’s easier said than done. No matter what, you can’t land a job in a single day unless you’re exceptionally lucky and good. What you can do to ease your financial fears is to start paying attention to personal finance (that’s a link to Ramit Sethi’s I Will Teach You To Be Rich, because he’s the go to guy for that kind of stuff). You can also start using Thrive, a website that “brings all your credit card, checking, savings, retirement, and investment accounts into one place so you can easily see what you have, what you owe, and where you can grow.” They’re based out of New York City, and as far as I can tell they’re offering a product that is extremely similar to Mint, which has been on my radar for well over a year now. Still, Thrive appears to have developed a great tool for monitoring your personal finances, and since they’re hiring, we thought we should take a look at them.

Thrive in Your First Job

Thrive is a start-up, but they’ve already secured funding and launched a product. Their team is small, but they seem keen on adding fresh talent to help them change the way 20 and 30-somethings manage their money. I’m already on board with the concept, but I have to admit that I’m using Mint (I love the iPhone app!). There’s a lot of competition in this space with Wesabe and Rudder also offering similar services. That means that differentiation and great features are going to be key to winning over users. Since Thrive’s Jobs page says that they’re looking for Junior and Senior Software Engineers, there’s a huge opportunity for you to help them build that point of differentiation. If you have a Software Development background and you’re fascinated by personal finance, this is a dream job for you. Right now all of the jobs at Thrive are on the software side, but you can check out their Team Bios to get a sense of what other types of jobs might be created as they grow. They do seem open to hearing from candidates who are interested in jobs that aren’t listed. Thrive lists two e-mail addresses on their site for people to apply to – jobs@justthrive.com and people@justthrive.com. We’ll guess that they both go to the same place, but you might want to send your resume and cover letter to both – just to be safe.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you using any online personal financial management tools like Thrive or Mint?