Chances are that most of your communications with employers at this point are your submitting applications and their not responding. If you’re lucky, you may get a rejection letter… or even an invitation for an interview. Eventually it will get better and your communications will lead to the acceptance of a job offer. From there it will get boring–stuff like health insurance enrollment and reminders to clean up after yourself in the communal kitchen. While employee communications are often mundane, they’re an extremely important part of running a business. GuideSpark is a Menlo Park, CA based company that has built a “robust employee communications platform” that “allows HR executives to toss out the stacks of pamphlets and eliminate time-consuming seminars, and offers a new way to educate employees on complex HR topics like benefits, health care reform, and compensation programs.”
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If you’ve been looking for a job for any amount of time, you’ve probably interacted with dozens of applicant tracking systems. In case you’re not aware, they’re the software that companies use to post jobs and… track applicants. A lot of them suck for the end user (you), but a few offer pretty good experiences. One of the better ones is The Resumator. They’re a Pittsburgh, PA and San Francisco, CA based company that helps “great people build great companies” by bringing “talented professionals and compelling companies together.”
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One of the most amazing things about the surge in popularity of crowdfunding is that it has allowed many businesses to get off the ground with zero inventory. Instead of having to guess at how many of something you should make, they can pre-sell the product and it deliver it at some undetermined date in the future. While this is totally awesome for those who are able to take advantage of it, the large majority of businesses still have to hold inventory if they ever want to sell anything. The goal is to get “the right product in the right place at the right time at the right price,” but that often doesn’t go as planned. Optoro offers a fix. They are a Washington, DC based company that “unleashes hidden revenue for retailers and creates value for shoppers” by helping businesses with “reverse logistics.”
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inventory control,
Logistics,
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recruiting,
user experience,
Washington DC
As I mentioned earlier in the week, media and advertising are all about demographics. Unless you have the targeting capabilities of a Facebook or Google, it’s almost always better to build your properties targeted at a specific group. For SheKnows it’s all about women. They are a Scottsdale, AZ based company that has built a “women’s lifestyle media platform” that “allows brands to distribute authentic content and integrated advertising at scale.” What kind of scale? 40 million unique visitors per month. That’s a lot.
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Arizona,
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interactive media,
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media,
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social media,
strategy,
video,
writing
School’s out! You probably don’t want to think about tests and finals right now, but it might be worth bringing back the painful memories. Good study materials are one of the keys to excelling in school. Unfortunately, I hated taking notes, highlighting my reading materials, and making review guides. It wasn’t laziness–I felt that these activities interfered with real learning. Luckily most of my friends were more concerned with getting good grades, so I’d generally find a way to bring enough value during review sessions to piggyback off of them. Today technology has removed the need for making friends in your classes thanks to Course Hero. It’s a Redwood City, CA based company that “was founded in 2008 by a Cornell University student who missed a class and realized there had to be a better way to get caught up than awkwardly asking a stranger for notes.” Luckily this guy skipped straight past abusing friendships and instead built a platform that “provides a suite of digital educational resources that help you learn as efficiently and effectively as possible.”
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If you need to make a decision about something that you don’t know a lot about, your best bet is to consult an expert. That’s why friends usually come to me for all of their meat related questions. Since text messaging a buddy won’t always get you the right answer–especially in the business world–there need to be other ways to find expertise fast. AlphaSights is a New York, NY based company that provides “today’s investors, deal-makers and corporate strategists with access to the knowledge they need to succeed.” Unlike consulting firms, they don’t actually provide the knowledge. Instead they play the role of “knowledge brokers.”
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United Arab Emirates,
united kingdom,
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Raise your hand if you’ve come to the realization that college didn’t prepare you for the job market. I see a lot of hands. I’m not knocking college, but the skills that I’ve developed from starting a business are way more marketable than the ones that I developed in the classroom. So what do you do if you realize that you don’t have what employers want (or you want to start your own business)? You can hustle and develop the skills on your own, or you can speed up the process by enrolling at General Assembly. They are a New York, NY based company that is “creating a global community of individuals empowered to pursue work they love, by offering full-time immersive programs, long-form courses, and classes and workshops on the most relevant skills of the 21st century.”
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Washington DC
For me entrepreneurship is about starting something brand new and building it. For others it could be buying an existing business or becoming a franchisee. Today we’re going to talk about the latter. Odds are that you patronize quite a few franchises. Franchising is a cool model because it gives local businesspeople the opportunity to tap into an already successful network and brand. The only issue is that strong communication between the franchise and its franchisees is essential to the health of the brand. FranConnect is a Reston, VA based company that offers Franchise Management Systems. These are software solutions that “allow franchise organizations to manage all aspects of their operations including Sales, Marketing, Financial Data Collection and Analysis, Royalty Invoicing and Automated Funds Transfer” and much much more.
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Every once in a while I go back and watch cartoons that I watched when I was a kid. I’m not talking about G.I. Joe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles–I mean the the random video tapes with cartoons from the 1920s and 1930s. It’s amazing how effectively stories can be told with simple animations, so you would think they can be told even better with not-so-simple animations. That’s what Laika does. They are a Hillsboro and Portland, OR based “animation company specializing in feature films, commercials and short films.” They’ve been nominated for an Oscar, which tells you how exceptional their ability to “handcraft and transform everyday materials into living creatures infused with dimension and soul” is.
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Every company and organization in the world is looking for better talent. The problem is that the quest for talent is typically a zero-sum game for employers. The world’s most talent people are typically employed, so the only way to hire them is to steal them from someone else; however, there are some exceptions. The Center for Talent Innovation is a non-profit think tank that focuses on these exceptions. They’re based in New York, NY and have a two-fold mission: “to drive ground-breaking research that leverages talent across the divides of gender, generation, geography and culture; and to create a community of senior executives united by an understanding that full utilization of the global talent pool is at the heart of competitive success.”
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Much of what we do on social media sites is completely frivolous, but we all know how powerful they can be when directed in the right way. Whether it’s raising money, awareness, or a volunteer force, there’s no better medium than the Internet for pushing a specific cause. Causes is a San Francisco, CA based company that wants to be the place that people go to when they want to “discover, support and organize campaigns, fundraisers, and petitions around the issues” that matter to them and their communities.
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social networking,
software development,
web development
Early in the wedding planning process I proposed that we try to do as much online as possible. I quickly lost that battle, and I must say that our custom designed paper goods turned out amazingly well. I’m just glad that I wasn’t paying for them. If only there was a way to get beautiful, custom designed paper goods for a reasonable price. That’s exactly what Minted offers. They are a San Francisco, CA based company that aims “to find exceptional artists and designers all over the world and bring their work to consumers who appreciate great design.” They were early to the crowdsourcing model in 2008, and since then they’ve grown into a place where consumers can find great designers and great designers can get exposure that will help them build their careers.
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Education is a lot like compound interest. You do way better if you get a good start (and vice versa). Apparently some states “use third grade academic performance data to predict the number of prison beds they will need in the following decade.” That’s depressing, but it makes sense and tells us a lot about how important the first few years of school are. If children are already behind at such an early age, how will they ever catch up? BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) is a Boston, MA based non-profit that has some answers. They aim “to transform the academic achievements, self-confidence, and life trajectories of children living in under-resourced, urban communities.” This is done through after-school and summer educational experiences that are designed to help kids catch up during the time that they’re not in school (apparently the lack of summer learning opportunities explains “2/3 of the academic achievement gap between children from low-income communities and their higher-income peers”).
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I try to avoid going to the doctor at all costs. While I’m not one of those people who constantly self-diagnoses via WebMD, I do try to use the Internet to inform my decision on whether an office visit is necessary (it usually isn’t). Most younger people are like me, they turn to the web first when they have a health issue. Patient Conversation Media is a company that aims to be found when people make those initial searches. They are based in Austin, TX, and they publish “doctor-reviewed health-related content online for consumers” and use that influx of traffic to connect “patients to [their] network of physicians and other health care providers.” Patient Conversation Media came it at #22 on the Inc. 5000 with 8,782% three-year growth to $9.8 million in annual revenue.
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writing
My wife’s first job was as a management consultant. It came with lots of travel and a serious expense account. When you’re running thousands of dollars in expenses through your credit card on a weekly basis, you need to be savvy about how you do it. Not only will it help you keep your credit clean, but you can earn all kinds of rewards and perks, so opening a business bank account and a personal one will help you with your finance. Luckily for Amy, she worked with a bunch of huge nerds. They had already put in the hours to figure out the optimal decisions for a typical consultant, and they put together documents detailing the pros and cons of every possible option (which credit cards to get, which loyalty programs to use, where to stay, and much more). While your situation probably won’t be as extreme, it’s still important to make the right personal finance decisions. If you don’t have nerdy co-workers, you can go to NerdWallet. They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that “empowers consumers to make better decisions about their personal finances, travel plans, health bills, or higher education.” NerdWallet does all of the research, and you just have to make the choices that best fit your lifestyle
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From the beginning One Day One Job has been built on top of WordPress. To many it’s simple blogging software, but it’s amazing how far you can take it with a little bit of tweaking. The problem with self-hosted WordPress (as opposed to WordPress.com) is that it requires running your own server. You can find a host that makes it easy to get started, but as soon as your site starts to grow, you’ll run into problem after problem. I used to spend at least a week’s worth of workdays every year worrying about server stuff (downtime, optimization, security, and all kinds of other details). That all changed when I moved my sites to WP Engine. They are an Austin, TX based company that “host tens of thousands of the 75 million WordPress sites and apps on Earth.” I’ve had almost zero downtime since I switched, but more importantly, I no longer worry about my server configuration (and I’m even paying less than I used to for hosting).
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Texas
One of the best parts about having a significant other is discovering embarrassing moments from his or her past. While my greatest find is the Cosmo cover with my wife’s 4 year old, lipstick smeared face and the headline “How to Attract Men Like Crazy,” a close runner up is the recruiting video that she sent to college volleyball coaches. Her mom shot it with the family camcorder, and it starts with a cheesy opening like “Hi, my name is Amy Gordon, and I want to play volleyball for your team (thumbs up).” It’s priceless, though I shouldn’t make fun considering that this video helped her get recruited to Cornell’s volleyball team–and that’s how we met. College sports recruiting has come a long way, and now most of it happens online. National Collegiate Scouting Association is a Chicago, IL based company that “was founded in 2000 to help student athletes and their families navigate the cutthroat, competitive, and often confusing world of college recruiting.” While they may sound like a non-profit, NCSA is a for-profit business that has seen tremendous growth over the last decade.
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web development
Yesterday we took a look at View The Space and how they’re changing the commercial real estate business. Today we’re going to talk about the kind of real estate that you’re more familiar with: residential real estate. While I was looking for a new apartment, I did most of my searching online (though walking around the neighborhood that you want to live and looking for For Rent signs is an underrated tactic). While Zillow was my preferred searching tool, I ended up on Trulia a lot. In case you’ve never used it, Trulia is a site that “displays more than 4.5 million real estate and rental listings nationwide.” The company is based in San Francisco, CA and also has offices in New York, NY and Denver, CO. They’re only about 9 years old, but they’ve grown to nearly 500 employees and are already publicly traded.
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As a job or internship seeker, you’re constantly being assessed. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in an interview or meeting someone new in an informal setting–when you identify yourself as someone who is looking for a position, people start sizing you up. The problem is that most people (even the ones who make hiring decisions) aren’t all that great at parsing the information that you give them. It’s almost comforting to be evaluated in a more formal process (like school). That’s what PeopleAnswers offers employers. They’re a Dallas, TX based company that has developed a “web-based assessment tool [based on] proven and validated Industrial Psychology principles to extract the Behavioral DNA® from both job applicants and existing employees to provide an unprecedented level of insight into their future on-the-job capabilities.”
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As an online publisher I understand how difficult it is to balance ads and content. I’m lucky in that the job search space allows a little more flexibility–most job postings are technically ads, so people don’t really differentiate between “editorial” and paid placement (though I still try to). The toughest part for most publishers is that ads perform best when they blend in with the content. This is really hard to do in an honest and unobtrusive way, but that’s exactly what Vibrant Media tries to do. They are based in New York, NY, and they are “the world’s leading provider of in-content contextual technology that gets brand content and advertising discovered across platforms.” With a network of more than 6,000 publishers they are able to reach upwards of 300,000,000 unique visitors every month.
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One of my favorite episodes of The Office is when Michael Scott tells his employees to pack a swimsuit for a leadership training trip, and then takes them on a “booze cruise” on Lake Wallenpaupack in January. The staff are obviously pissed at Michael, but for the most part end up having a good time. I’ve been on a few evening cruises, and I’ve always had a great time. I guess that is why Entertainment Cruises is doing so well. They’re a company with “26 vessels serving eight cities with six unique cruise products.” Entertainment Cruises’ offerings range from fine dining and dancing to speedboat tours, with a lot in between. They currently operate fleets in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, New Jersey, New York, Norfolk, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.
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restaurants,
sales,
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transportation,
travel,
Virginia,
Washington DC
I was way ahead on the flash sales and members only shopping thing. I did a writeup on Gilt Groupe almost five years ago just as the business model was catching on. While there isn’t nearly as much excitement about the space as there used to be, it’s still a great way to sell stuff (time constraints and sales both have amazing psychological effects on people). And that’s why I think it’s worth taking a look at Rue La La. They’re a Boston, MA and New York, NY based company that curates “Boutiques filled with the best of the best in women’s and men’s fashion, home, travel, kids, and more.” Each sale lasts 48 hours and is limited to members only (though becoming a member is about as easy as signing up).
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Internships,
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Read our latest article that uncovers a potential internship scam.
I often tell people that I don’t like sandwiches. The truth is that I don’t like bad sandwiches, so most sandwich chains are out for me. The only one that I’ll somewhat regularly eat at is Potbelly Sandwich Shop. It’s hard to beat one of their Meatball sandwiches with an Oreo milkshake. I’d never heard of Potbelly until I moved to Chicago, IL, which is both where they’re headquartered and where they got their start. The first store opened in 1977, but it wasn’t until 1996 when Bryant Keil bought the store that they started expanding the business.
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retail
As you’ve probably noticed, we cover non-profit internships on the weekends. Occasionally I come across a company that feels like it should be on the weekend, but rules are rules (even if I’ve created them arbitrarily). Social Impact is one of those companies. They’re an Arlington, VA based management consulting firm and “global social enterprise dedicated to helping international agencies, civil society and governments become more effective agents of positive social and economic change.” Social Impact was founded in 1996 has grown to serve five regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia & Pacific, Latin America & Caribbean, Europ & Central Aisa, and Middle East & North Africa.
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In elementary school I had a kid in my class whose dad played Major League Baseball. He was a pretty good player, but by no means a star. I was still completely in awe of him. The day I found out that he was my basketball coach was pretty much the best day of my elementary school life. Everybody wants to be around professional athletes, and now you can be… for a price. Thuzio is a New York, NY based company that “provides an online platform that connects the public with professional athletes who have achieved the highest levels of excellence in their profession.” The company was started by Tiki Barber (of NFL fame) and Mark Gerson of Gerson Lehrman Group. If you know anything about GLG, the combination of co-founders makes perfect sense.
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Yesterday I heard that Y Combinator is funding its first non-profit. It’s pretty cool to see a for-profit incubator dipping its toes into the non-profit world, but there have been non-profit incubators around for a long time. One of them is Earth Island Institute. They’re a Berkeley, CA based organization that acts as a “hub for grassroots campaigns dedicated to conserving, preserving, and restoring the ecosystems on which our civilization depends.” So far they have incubated over 100 startup environmental projects and helped them get off the ground by providing administrative and financial resources that are essential for early stage non-profits.
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publishing,
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unpaid,
writing
Before I discovered Bonobos, I used to actually buy clothes in retail stores. I guess you could say my style was preppy (and probably still is) considering the fact that I haven’t owned a pair of jeans since 7th grade. Back when I was still buying clothes in stores, J. Crew was the definition of preppy (barring Brooks Brothers of course), so that’s where I shopped. They seem to be making their image more “hipster” these days, but I’ll guess that’s based more on a change in fashion than a change in their target demographics. Anyway, J. Crew is a New York, NY based company that started with a catalog in 1983 and opened their first store in 1989. They’ve grown into an amazingly recognizable brand, and recently they’ve started growing another brand called Madewell.
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flash,
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Internships,
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investment,
Logistics,
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nationwide,
New York,
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Virginia
I haven’t had someone read a book to me in years. The last time that I can remember was my Senior year in high school. We had our annual K-12 holiday assembly, and one of the school’s most beloved teachers read us ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. That’s a great story to be read no matter how old you are. In fact, “reading aloud with children is the single most important activity for helping them become successful readers.” That’s why when you read with a child… Everybody Wins!. Everybody Wins! is a Wellesley, MA based non-profit (with affiliates all across the country) that is aiming to “help bridge the literacy gap.”
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A lot of people bounce their business or product ideas off of me. It’s fun, but it can also be frustrating because most people can’t see the obvious holes in their thinking. The one thing that I push everybody to do is to validate their ideas. That means talking to customers and getting them to either tell you what they think or, preferably, to actually commit to buying your product. Validation isn’t an easy process whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or a billion dollar brand. Finding potential customers and getting them to give honest feedback is almost never easy. Qualvu is a Lakewood, CO based company that solves this problem (I found out about them from a reader who landed a job with them). They connect “you with your truth, anywhere, at any time, through the power of web and mobile video.” In other words, they’ve developed an online platform that makes the focus group way more flexible, powerful, and affordable.
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I did a lot of my most valuable learning outside of school. I attended plenty of camps and after school activities, but I also dug holes in my backyard searching for historical artifacts and learned to build websites on my own. Not only were the out of school activities more fun, but many of them helped me develop skills that I still use today. School shouldn’t be the only educational outlet for children, which is why non-profits like Edventure More are so important. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and they “inspire the playful pursuit of enrichment for the next generation” through summer camps, enrichment programming, motivational tutoring, and mentoring.
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