Some of you have already know that I’ve been hard at work, the last 18 months or more, on an interesting new startup.
It is now about to launch a new and very distinctive type of social networking internet service, and some of you have already volunteered to be beta testers – thank you (and if you’d like to also test it, by all means let me know). Unlike most startups, we’re a bunch of older guys – ‘been there and done that’ people (including at least one name you’d surely recognize), and also unlike most startups, we have a solid down-to-earth product that offers true value and benefits to people joining.
We’re also very lightly funded. We’re being careful with ‘other people’s money’ and raising the minimum necessary to get us off the ground, so as to concentrate the maximum value in our shareholders and avoid the rapacious clutches of venture capitalists.
So, we’re a bit different from normal – hopefully in a good way; and in turn, we’re seeking someone who is also a bit different from normal, and also hopefully in a good way. Please keep reading….
In addition to direct promotion and possibly viral growth for our new service, we wish to ally with membership organizations and jointly promote our product to their members. Perhaps we offer it at a discounted rate to their members, perhaps we share the membership fee we charge with the organization, perhaps we private label it – anything and everything is possible, as long as it fairly creates a mutual win-win-win for the partner organization, their members, and us too.
That is where you’d come in. Reaching out to membership organizations across the country – these could be credit card issuers, frequent flier/guest programs, ex-military organizations, churches, sports associations, unions and professional groups, AARP, AAA, anything and everything, and working with them to come up with ways we can get our service into their members’ hands.
We can’t afford to pay you the salary you’d otherwise be able to command, so we’ll generously pay you commission from the sales you make and the income that comes from them. If you succeed, and bring value in to the company, we’ll make sure you get a good return yourself, and if you stay on past a trial period, we could consider offering you some shares on a vesting plan, too. We’re not promising to be the next Facebook, but, well – you never know what could happen, with your help! Yes, this is indeed a chance to get in on the very ground floor of a startup that – we hope – has an enormous amount of exciting upside to it.
We’re flexible as to where you’re located (and if you’re in a primarily English speaking other country, we’re happy to have you developing that market too). You could work flexible hours as you wished. Just so long as the business opportunities you start are assiduously developed and followed up on in a timely manner, the details don’t matter so much.
We expect some travel would be required. We’re keen to minimize that, but there are times when face-to-face meetings are essential/unavoidable. Our service has no limits and sees no borders, so in the future, if there were bona fide reasons for doing so, you might have occasional opportunities for international as well as domestic travel.
This overall position might mean that it appeals to someone recently retired and who doesn’t need a regular steady income, or someone who has found that ‘agism’ makes it difficult to get a good job due to being ‘over-qualified’ and ‘over-experienced’. Ideally you have sufficient business experience and knowledge, so you can relate to senior level executives in the organizations we approach, and have an air of accomplished competence about yourself. We’re open as to the specifics of what you’ve done before, education, etc, but we would expect you could point to a positive career history in some form or another.
Of course, computer familiarity/competence is important these days, as always is a high level of written/oral expression, an ability to strategize, plan, and lead the sales process rather than reactively chase after it, a high level of energy, careful attention to detail, and the ability to be ‘self contained’ and productively work without a host of support resources – these are all important things that you should be able to demonstrate.
We call this a ‘marketing manager’ type position – because you can work with us and potential partners to develop suitable product mixes – you must be able to sell. You must be able to cold call and you must be able to follow up, follow through, ask for the order, and close.
It is hard to describe, but we’d like someone with a slight element of ‘edginess’ or ‘outside the box’ to them. Someone who can see novel and new opportunities where others see challenges. Someone who likes to win.
If this has interested you, please get in touch. We don’t use a computerized system to pre-process (and reject!) resumes. So write us a ‘real’ note, send us a ‘real’ resume, and we’ll likewise reply in person back to you, quickly and courteously.
