Greek Complexity

Bizarre job interview -- my most successful Quora post ever

An answer I wrote to someone's question on Quora is currently racking up about 1,000 new views per day. Completely unexpected!

The question was: What is the most bizarre job interview you have ever been party to?

You're not a member of Quora yet? Ok, here's what I wrote:

Neither as interviewer nor as interviewee but thought I'd share a friend's experience.

My friend's office is small-ish and easily accessible, not a big office tower with security guards and receptionists.

So my friend, who was the CEO and founder of his company, was trying to fill a mid-level position and had a bunch of interviews set up one after another. Just as he was ushering in his next candidate, a golden retriever that had a collar but no leash walked in alongside the candidate.

He was naturally quite bemused but rolled with the punches like a true entrepreneur. Interview begins, dog saunters around, doesn't really bother anyone, lies down under the table for a bit and then leaves the room out the same door it entered.

The interview isn't over yet.

My friend can't take it any more. He likes the candidate and the interview was otherwise normal so now he bursts out, not angrily but very curiously, with, "Why did you think it was normal to bring your dog to an interview?"

The candidate's reply was, "My dog? I thought it was your dog! I wanted to ask you the same question!"

Turns out the dog had just been out for a loiter and decided on a whim to traipse in an opening door.

Some people liked the answer so much that they used their own Quora credits to promote the answer to others. It was even featured by the BBC last month!

One of my favourite things about the post was this really funny response: "I like that they were so courteous as to await the dog's exit before addressing his presence in the room."

:)

Taking enterprise social media to the next level

I am very pleased to announce that my firm has invested in Unmetric, a New York-headquartered company that is the leader in providing competitive intelligence on over 10,000 global brands that use social media. These three pieces contain further details.

We invested in Unmetric because of our answer to this question: how are large enterprises using social media within their broader marketing and customer service strategy?

In our view, the first stage of enterprises truly engaging with social media was when brands formally started listening to what customers were saying online, using such tools as, for example, Radian6 (bought by Salesforce for $326 million in 2011).

The second stage of brands rapidly coming to grips with social media was when enterprises began reaching out to customers to build relationships with them, Buddy Media being one of the tools used for this (also acquired by Salesforce for $689 million in 2012).

What Unmetric does is then the logical next step: benchmarking your brand against the competition and figuring out on a daily basis what, when and how to post online for your brand to achieve the best engagement. As far as a time-poor digital marketing manager or agency researcher is concerned, it's like having a super-human team of data scientists, market researchers and software engineers all working together to deliver key insights -- not just metrics -- in real time.

But let's not deal in abstractions. Here's a typical report prepared by Unmetric, this one analysing the US telecom industry. See slides 9 to 13 for examples of the kinds of insights Unmetric provides its customers.

The Telecom Industry on Social Media from Unmetric

 

Customers generally see insights like this not on static reports but on a personalised dynamically changing dashboard, on which they can click through for further details.

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Update: I forgot to mention that they're always on the lookout for smart and fun people to join the team. Please spread the word.

Following Your Bliss, Right Off the Cliff

Excerpt: "SO you want to be a writer. Or an artist. Or to open a cupcake shop. What you’ll hear, often, is that you should pursue your dream. Follow your passion. Quit your job and live the life you want."

More here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/your-money/the-painful-but-liberating-lessons-of-a-career-failure.html

This is an auto-generated post from my reading list courtesy IFTTT. See http://ifttt.com

Advice to young would-be entrepreneurs

Not from me, but from this guy. The question is, "Should I join Microsoft or a start-up?" His answer isn't the usual one you might expect to hear from a tech entrepreneur which might go along the lines of, "Of COURSE, you should join the start-up, why would you join a mammoth giant?" He says one-size-fits-all answers are:

Rubbish. It's possible to go in any direction as long as you are clear what your own goals are. In fact, there are distinct advantages of working for someone like Microsoft or Google first.

Correct. Note that he's not saying one shouldn't start one's own company. He himself is an entrepreneur now. What he is saying is that it's definitely possible to start one's own company a little later in one's career after having worked a few years at a larger firm. In many ways, this may actually optimize the chances of your start-up succeeding. This isn't true for ALL founders of ALL start-ups in ALL fields, but it's certainly true in many cases.

Do your homework and decide what works best in your case. Cookie-cutters work best for cutting cookies.

All I will add is, if you have or anyone else you know has the start-up bug, please nourish it, don't stamp it out :)

Job opportunities

Looking to hire technical writers (product documentation and some marketing material), QA and testing personnel, and pre-sales engineers for an established yet fast-growing software company in Singapore. Great opportunity for future entrepreneurs.

Leave me a comment here with contact info and a link to your Linkedin profile if interested.

Top 3 myths about immigration

Short and informative video about immigration:

This is about America not about Singapore but I can't imagine the conclusions would be that different for Singapore or anywhere else.

Hiring: venture capital associate

We are seeking to hire an associate to join our South Asia venture capital team. The actual title will depend on the profile of the candidate eventually chosen.

Job description:

• Entry-level investments role but with considerable responsibility, exposure to C-level executives and prospects for growth
• Work across the entire spectrum of investment activity including market analysis, evaluation of investment opportunities, preparing investment proposals, driving legal completion of transactions, reporting on portfolio companies and assisting on exits
• Report to the head of the South Asia team covering India and South-East Asia
• Based in Singapore with some travel

The ideal candidate:

• Undergrad or greater qualifications in engineering, science or related technical disciplines
• Good commercial awareness gained via work experience of 2-5 years
• Basic understanding of financial statements; MBA welcome but not necessary
• Strong cultural understanding of India
• Highly self-motivated, comfortable with ambiguity and exceptional at time management
• Good sense of humour!

Leave a comment on this post with your email address, phone number and a brief description of yourself. Your comment will be seen only by me and will not appear publicly.

No recruiters please.

Seeking telecom salesperson or channel partner

High-growth firm seeks salesperson with telecom background. Must be a self-starter with minimum ten years of experience and extensive contacts with telecom operators in Asia and/or other emerging markets. Channel partners will also be considered. Attractive upside offered including commissions and ESOP. No recruiters pls.

The life of a VC

For all my friends who've asked (and who seem to think I'm some kind of banker!), here's an article by Mohanjit Jolly, head of Draper Fisher Jurvetson India. He explains what the life of a VC is really like--it's no glamour job. Although I'm relatively new to venture capital, I'm fortunate to have a level of responsibility (but not the compensation!) approaching that of a more senior person due to a fortuitous confluence of circumstances, so I can personally identify with nearly everything in the article.

Remember, he's deliberately focusing on some of the more difficult aspects of the job. There are lots of ways the job brings great intellectual satisfaction as well. So don't ask me "why are you still doing this job?" after you read the article!

Great article! Why to Not Not Start a Startup, writes Paul Graham. Great read for anyone that earns a living, not just for entrepreneurs. Couple quotes:

If you're too inexperienced to start a startup, what you should do is start one.

and

To almost everyone except criminals, it seems an axiom that if you need money, you should get a job. Actually this tradition is not much more than a hundred years old. Before that, the default way to make a living was by farming. It's a bad plan to treat something only a hundred years old as an axiom.

Expressed unexpectedly like that, it does set one thinking.