Chicago Beta

I haven’t been blogging much lately, but I finally have something to announce after a couple months of radio silence. : ) I’m excited to share that I have an opening for a Senior Ruby on Rails Developer to help my new company, 42 Friends, grow!

—If you know anyone who may be interested in this position, please forward this post on—

Over the past few months 42 Friends has become one of the leading companies on the Facebook platform. Growing Gifts and Hatching Eggs are our top two applications. We have over 10 million installs and serve tens of millions of visitors every month!

What is most unique about this opportunity is that you get the excitement of being an early team member (you’ll be #4)–and you get the satisfaction of working on applications already used by millions. You will not be spending months working on code that may or may not go anywhere. We have a captive audience ready to try out everything we launch next. And being #6 you have the potential to have a significant influence on the future of the company

In this role you will report directly to me. Although I’m an experienced software developer, my biggest passion is application concept and managing project details. I’m looking for a counter-part who I can work closely with on a daily basis to quickly bring new ideas to fruition. I need someone who can hack a working prototype together incredibly quickly, but is able to recognize its scaling limitations and architect it right when the time comes.

You must have a minimum of 5 years experience as a professional software developer focused on web apps. I’m looking for someone who has a passion for launching things quickly and iterating frequently. However, in this role programming experience is not enough, you must also have prior experience hiring and leading a technical team.

Compensation will be commensurate with experience: package will include base salary plus bonus, options, and health insurance.

Ideally you are located in Chicago, but I am open to candidates that reside anywhere. We are a Chicago-based company but have team members located all over the world.

To apply for this position send an e-mail to programmer@42friends.com with “Senior Software Developer” in the subject. Include a resume, elaborate on your relevant past experience, and tell us why this role interests you. Also, please include your salary requirements and a link to your Facebook profile.

You can check out our top applications here:

http://apps.facebook.com/growing/
http://apps.facebook.com/hatching/

I remember when I was a kid someone presented me with this idea: if you could collect 1 penny from everyone in America, you’d be a rich man.  At that time, it was probably a little more than 2 million bucks, today it would be a cool 3 million.

The obvious problem is that it would cost you more than 1 cent of effort to collect each of those pennies.

My previous two companies always focused on offering high value (read, “expensive”) products or services and selling them to a relatively small number of people.  It’s not until I’ve started to get traction with my Facebook apps that I’m truely appreciating the power of the reverse. My current Facebook application Grow-a-Gift has been used by more than 3 million installs and about 300,000 people use it on a daily. It allows you to send a virtual flower from one user to another with a private message attached.

To most people this application doesn’t offer that much value. In fact, I bet a majority of the users wouldn’t even go through a standard website registration process to accept the flower they have received, I would be asking them to spend 3 cents (of their time) to get 1 cent worth of value. But Facebook makes the customer acquisition process so incredibly efficient, it’s literally a 2 click install, you don’t even have to type your name!  Just like that, Facebook has made it efficient for me to collect millions of pennies (read, “users”).

The most common criticism I hear of these new Facebook applications is that poking, free gifts, funny pictures–these things are too un-serious to build a real business around them. But you should never forget, if you collect enough pennies you’ll be a rich man!

Two upcoming tech events in Chicago:

Facebook Developer Meetup 

This weekend (8/18) a member of the Facebook Platform Team will be in Chicago to introduce the Platform and answer questions. Please join us to share ideas, troll for partners on your latest project, check out app demonstrations, seek developer support direct from Facebook Developers, or just socialize with people like you.

Members of the Facebook Platform Team will give an introduction to Platform, discuss best practices around product design & viral marketing techniques, and hold a technical Q&A. Plus other talks on monetizing FB apps, lessons learned, and more. Free snacks, lunch, and drinks/beer will be provided.

Details: www.facebookchicago.com

RSVP on Facebook

Silicon Prairie Social

A new tech event for the Chicago suburbs, more details here: www.siliconprairiesocial.com

A month ago I met someone at an event. We had a few minute conversation and just recently I received an e-mail from them asking for a recommendation to a friend of mine who has a job opening, because “employment is based on who you know” and she thought getting this recommendation would help her.

I don’t mean to single this person out, but I’ve run into this attitude a few too many times and I think it’s worth saying a couple words on it. On the surface, “Who you know” does seem to make a big difference in getting jobs, starting businesses, etc. And there is good reason for it. The world overwhelms you with options: hiring people, choosing vendors, picking a movie to see–there are tons of choice for each of these things and getting recommendations from people that you trust is a great filtering process. If a friend of yours that you trust has already done the thinking and evaluating, you can benefit from the result of their effort. It’s just division of labor applied to intellectual activity.

But the idea of trying to “collect” contacts, of “building your network,” and other such activities is misguided. Its reversing cause and effect. People are willing to refer you because you offered them some value in the past and they were impressed with your ability. You can’t just ask for people to refer you, you have to do something to make you worth referring. Just like you can’t ask for admiration, you have to do something that makes you worthy of being admired. People who wish for an effect have to enact the requisite cause.

My favorite instance of this realization: You have to pursue greatness not success. Achieve greatness and success will follow. Take that attitude in everything you do and you’ll never have to worry about “building your network” ever again.

Dick Costolo had a great post recently about companies’ customer service (Customer Service - Foundation over Platitude).

The airline’s website and official customer service language are all about lines like ‘the customer comes first’, ‘you are [airline name]’s most valuable asset’, etc. The hotel’s website and official customer service language are non-existent. I couldn’t find anything on the site that explicitly mentioned customer service. Of course, the actual customer service experience was first-rate at the hotel and miserable with the airline.

Dick talked about the importance of transparency. How even bad situations can be made significantly better by informing the customer of what the problem is, rather than just leaving them in the dark.

It reminded me of an experience I had the last time I visited IKEA. The principle of transparency can be used by companies, not only to right a wrong, but also as a competitive advantage–by explaining the reasons behind seemingly unacceptable behavior.

IKEA has built an amazing business by providing high quality products at incredibly low costs. I can attest, every time I go there I buy much more than I ever plan to because the products look fantastic and the prices are so unbelievably cheap. Trash cans, pictures, champaign glasses, “I know I don’t really need a new dish scrubbing brush, but this suction cup thing is so cool, and for 50 cents, what the hell.”

But saving money can require cutting corners, and cutting corners isn’t always acceptable to customers. On my last visit I noticed a number of signs posted around the store. (I couldn’t find pictures online, so these are from memory):

In the restaurant/cafeteria:

Please bus your own dishes. This allows us to have less staff on hand, and keeps our prices low for you.

Throughout the store:

Why s it hard to find help at the store?  Not having lots of staff, and not having commission sales people, allows us to keep our prices low. Look around for one of the information booths and someone will be happy to help you there.

In the loading area when you pick up the pieces of your furniture:

Why do you assemble furniture yourself? Having someone in a factory assemble furniture would make our prices more expensive. Although it can be difficult to assemble yourself, it means you get the furniture right away, and for less cost.

Etc…  The cafeteria one struck me the most. When I read it, as I was carrying my tray to the dish bin, it gave me a sense that I was participating in the business model. What would have normally been an unpleasant activity, gives the customer a small sense of pride.

In my own business, I make sure I don’t make the mistake of assuming things have to be a certain way. IKEA gave me evidence that customers will jump through a lot of hoops, and be happy about doing so, if you can give them something they really want. Don’t be too quick to assume, “But the customer wouldn’t like that…”

Roger Bannister was the first man to run a mile under 4 minutes. Records hovered around the 4 minute mark for years, never being broken. Many thought 4 minutes was a physical impossibility for the human body. Some speculated a man’s heart might even explode if he tried. Roger Bannister thought otherwise. Through systematic training and repeated attempts, in 1954 he broke it: 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. His achievement is amazing, but what’s fascinating is what happened after it. Within a month, John Landy broke his record. In the years following, so did hundreds of others. What prevented all these people from breaking 4 minutes in all the years before Bannister?

Think about it, how much easier is it to persevere when you know others have done what you’re trying to do. Law school, bar exam, medical school, all of these goals are challenging, but hundreds of thousands of people before you have done it. There is no question if it’s possible, you just have to put in the work.

But how often is the barrier to achievement an imagined obstacle? How many people would have argued that Wikipedia was impossible before seeing it done? If Jimmy Wales had presented the idea to you before launching, would you have argued that thousands of people would never contribute their time and energy to write those articles. Most people won’t even run the race if they’re not sure there is a finish line.

Once you’ve seen what’s possible, its much easier to imitate. This pattern is repeated time and time again. Peggy Fleming won the gold in Olympic figure skating with double jumps. Today, it’s expected that top figure skaters will do triples, or even quadruples.

It was inconceivable that a deaf and blind child could be taught language before Hellen Keller. I’m not sure if it’s commonplace now, but wow.

Edison tried thousands of different filaments for his light bulb before finding one that worked. Why didn’t he conclude after the first thousand that the material he was searching for may not exist?

The common thread in all these examples is that people persisted without any good evidence to think that what they were trying to do was even possible. They persisted in the face of perfectly reasonable doubt.

“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision.” - From “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand

…This thought is half-finished. I’ve been sitting on this post for a week and I’m honestly not sure what to conclude from these examples. But I’m throwing it out there anyway.

SitterCity (profile) is hiring a Director of Technology

Sittercity.com, one of TIME’s 50 Coolest Websites, is looking for a Director of Technology to oversee and drive development of our site and management of our internal development team.

LimitNone is hiring a Web Programmer (contract or permanent)

We are looking for a Web programmer (must know HTML, XML, Javascript and any programming language). Should be an energetic guy/gal who is interested in getting involved in some big opportunities around Google Gadgets and Google API’s.

Emmi Solutions (profile) is hiring a Java Web Developer

To develop and maintain Emmi Solutions J2EE-compliant Internet applications utilizing JSPs, Servlets, Design Patterns, …

CleverSafe (profile) is hiring a Senior Software Architect

To provide architectural and big picture oversight for new commercial open source products …

Mediafly is hiring looking for an “exceptional” Senior C#/ASP.NET Developer and “the best UI developer in Chicago“

Seth Godin has impressed me enough with his ideas that I’m willing to wake up at 6:30am to hear him speak. About 150 other people joined me at Maggiano’s this morning to hear about his new book, The Dip. I’ll recap:

If the goal that you’ve set for yourself is not one that you can be the best in the world at, stop wasting your time. Pick another goal.

Identify all the projects you have on your plate, and cancel all of them that aren’t getting any better. Free up your resources to pursue the one you can be the best at.

That’s my summary, not a quote. He said a lot of things that didn’t tie together coherently, but this point is valuable enough it’s worth highlighting (it’s articulated much better in the book Now, Discover Your Strengths).

The point for entrepreneurs: if your business cannot be #1 in the category you’re competing in, pick a new business OR re-define the category. The first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo: Charles Lindbergh. Who is the second? No one remembers. But the first woman to fly across the Atlantic solo: Amelia Earhart. That is an example from The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (cheesy title, but great book!)

The challenge is creating a category that is meaningful to your customers.

Remember five years ago when start-ups would pay their customers cash to use their product?  I admit, I signed up for PayPal because they paid me $5 and used some advertising-loaded browser bar because I got a check each month. To think I could be bought so cheaply… The technique worked to generate customers, but it was just expensive.

I’ve noticed a new trend which is equally as powerful, and much cheaper to execute: give away your traffic. These days, traffic is currency. Thanks to Google AdSense and all the other ad networks, if you have a website that receives traffic, however small, you can convert this traffic into cash. Sure CPM rates vary based on the type of traffic you get, where you place the ads, etc. But the fact that you can reliably convert traffic to cash makes traffic as good as money. Can you give your customers traffic for using your “product.”

The ultimate examples of this today are Digg and TechCrunch. Start-ups are climbing all over each other to get a mention on these sites, but how can you use this technique without turning your website into a news portal?

Justin Chen recently told me about a creative example of this:

Each time a foodie blog reviews a new restaurant, at the bottom of the blog post they put a widget that links to this restaurant’s homepage on Urban Spoon. Urban Spoon detects this incoming link and automatically adds the blog’s review to the restaurant’s page (scroll down to the section, “Blog Reviews of …”).

Despite the fact that Urban Spoon needs some work as a site, this idea is fantastic. It’s a huge incentive for all these foodie blogs to link in.

One more example. I see the MyBlogLog widget on almost every blog I go to these days. Apparently one of the reasons that bloggers add this, and keep this, on their site is because of the incoming traffic that it generates. If you click one of the faces, you’re taken to that person’s profile page and you see all the other sites they are reading… and you probably click one of the sites.

As soon as bloggers start to notice a lot of referring traffic coming to them from MyBlogLog, Urban Spoon, or your site,  you’ve probably hooked them for life.

A good friend gave me this piece of advice about choosing your next career move or business to start:

When you’re playing pool, there are always a number of shots you can sink on any given turn. To win, you have to not only pick a shot that you can sink, you have to pick the shot that puts you in the best position to sink the next shot.

Pick a job or a business by thinking about what you can do well and learn something from, but more importantly, think about where it’s going to lead you to.

I heard Jamie Dimon give essentially the same advice in a different context. He said:

Every time I took a new job, the first thing I did was identify who my replacement was going to be. I then proceeded to work myself out of that job and eliminate the need for myself.

I’ve thought a lot about the tradeoffs of starting an internet company in the Chicago vs the Bay Area. Of course I love living in Chicago, but I want to have a good understanding of what, if anything, I’m missing by not being in SF to know if it could ever justify moving there.

I just heard one of the most interesting answers to date. I was listening to an interview with Scott Rafer, CEO of Feedster and MyBlogLog. Toward the end he touched on what he thinks makes the bay area unique for entrepreneurs.

I’m paraphrasing from memory:

In San Francisco, social pressure is on your side. In other cities, if you are involved with a start-up, you’re a bit of an outcast. People often think your crazy before they even hear the business idea because the very concept of starting a company is out of the norm. In the Bay Area, on the other hand, there is an immense social pressure towards start-ups. Lots of people working for big companies are made to feel that they’re “missing out.” And when it’s the norm rather than the exception, people give you the benefit of the doubt. Nearly everyone has heard some business idea that sounded crazy and ended up making it big.

I think this really gets at the essence of the culture. It’s a great explanation as to why you see a lot of what you see out there. I have experienced this “culture” every time I visit, but I had not identified it and put the words to it. It’s this “benefit of the doubt” that makes it easier to convince others to join you, raise money at early stages, convince your spouse/parents/relatives that it’s okay for you to quite your great job and give this idea a chance, etc. It’s like your swimming downstream.

One caveat, I think this social pressure is a consequence rather than a cause of all the start-up activity over the years. There is something more fundamental about the geography or the culture that originated the phenomonen in the first place.

Paul Graham has a great essay on why Silicon Valley came to be.

Personally, I’m still not sold on SF over Chicago. Notice I’m still here. The jury is still out for me, I love Chicago.