Archive for January, 2015
VP of Marketing at Wildcard
At Wildcard we build product very fast, and we release new stuff almost every week. The good part about that, is that if you dream it and if our users want it, we can build it…in fact, there isn’t a single thing you can contemplate that we can’t design and build…the bad part of that is that with so much product, keeping a unified message across our products and audiences, and getting the correct message to the correct audience, can be a little exhausting. We have product for consumers, and product for publishers, and soon product for app developers…all oriented around the same fundamental pain point…which is that webpages suck on your phone. We have a belief that webpages will not be how you interact with the internet on your phone 5 years from now, and that a technology and design movement known as “cards” or “native cards” is replacing the legacy web. We are a design and engineering driven group of 23 people who are ready to become a “design and engineering and marketing driven group of 24 people.” This is not your typical startup marketing opportunity, where an app wants distribution, so they hire someone to go get them installs, and that’s the gig. This is a leadership opportunity where your first and most important goal is to infuse marketing DNA and thinking into our entire team. We believe that chemistry between disciplines is essential to success. If you come here you will be expected to learn and appreciate everyone’s individual crafts, whether those be data science or mobile design, and in turn, find a way to communicate your craft to all of us.
With that as a baseline, step two is to be the smartest marketing mind in New York City, independent of what medium and channels are available to us today, tomorrow, or 12 months from now. You might have apprenticed under a master at Kayak, or Venmo, or Squarespace and this is your chance to run the show…or you might have been the master and this is your chance to change the internet. Either way, you are literally coming into a company with zero marketing/growth infrastructure in place. So there is an element of roll up your sleeves, figure this shit out with us, teach us what best in class means in your discipline, and then layer in the right people on your team to execute well. We’re an incredibly curious and fast learning group, and we’re ready to develop as marketing and growth thinkers. We have world class leadership in every discipline we practice…our leadership and team have all successfully started and sold companies in the past, and we’ve chosen to come together to tackle a very ambitious, very amazing problem. I don’t think we have an “easy” or “clear cut” marketing challenge with many analogs and known solutions…I think this is a gig that will require extreme creativity, self-confidence, and persistence…but for the right person, I can assure you it will be fascinating, and you will get to join a wonderful ride, build a brand, and grow a company with a very special group of people.
What does success look like? If you crush it, Wildcard will be a household name. 8 out of 10 people you meet will know that it’s the best way to access the web on your phone. 8 out of 10 Apps will know it’s an obvious replacement to the Safari webview, and 8 out of 10 web publishers will know cards are the best way to natively reach users who haven’t yet installed their apps.
Requirements:
1) You built and grew a brand that we know…we know it because of your effort.
2) You are a good person
3) You want to replace Safari and Chrome with the world’s first “native browser” and you’re not afraid to try to message that to people who don’t know what “native” is or even what a “browser” is
Comp: Extremely competitive comp, meaningful equity, great benefits
Start: whenever you’re ready
Contact: jordan.cooper@gmail.com
Relevant Links
Install our browser: http://wcd.io/wildcardapp
Publisher facing materials: http://www.trywildcard.com/partners
Developer facing materials: http://www.trywildcard.com/developers
A bit of launch Press:
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )New School Thinkers, Where Are you at?
Getting old is an interesting thing in startup land. I realized this a few days ago when Forbes 30 under 30 came out and I could finally tweet my hatred of lists like this without any suggestion of my exclusion as the source…because…well…I am not even eligible anymore. In fact, I haven’t been eligible for 2 years at this point. 32 years old is not grey beard territory, but there is now a very defined generation of founders and thinkers in our community that is after mine…that think and behave differently…that make some of my context and assumptions about the world antiquated and non-contemporary. I am certainly a student of technology and social behavior, and I invest quite a bit in staying up on how things are changing, but it doesn’t change the fact, that I now fall more into the category of experienced and biased, than youthful and “temporally native”…if that phrase makes sense.
Anyway, this post is not really about me getting older…it’s actually about my network (that word sort of makes me puke…especially as a verb) getting older. Networks age…and there are some amazing things about this reality, and some shitty things about this reality. The amazing thing about my now-aging network, is that the “kids” i grew up with in startupland, continue to accrue more and more responsibility, more and more influence, and it’s good to be friends and close with people who are leading meaningful companies or initiatives within those companies…my network has many more “decision makers” at increasingly important places than it did when I was 24 and just beginning in this world. The down side of my aging network is that it is harder to find quality thought coming from a super contemporary place…originating in fresh data that is not biased by historical events or previous knowledge. Said another way…most of my “go to” people that I’ll grab a coffee with just to talk about the world and what’s interesting don’t reside within the 22-26 year old, “temporally native” crowd. We have a great little pocket of folks like this here at Wildcard…Max, and Ryan, and Connor (the Wild Kids if you will) remind me a lot of myself when I started out in startupland…and their thinking inspires and influences me daily…but lately I’ve been feeling like I’d like to invest more heavily in extending my network into this age group…
In my old age, i’ve become very protective of my time…I won’t take or request a meeting with someone new…ever…if there isn’t an explicit purpose for doing so. When I was 24 and someone interesting on twitter says “hey, want to grab a coffee” I think more often then not the answer was yes…and I’d similarly claw to get as many coffees with people who I thought were impressive…with no specific agenda other than “i want to know this person.”
I mentioned previously that my mantra for 2015 is “Effort,” and that mantra I think applies to many different realms…one of which I’ve decided is “building closer relationships with the new kids on the block.” I’m going to try to hang with a few folks from the 22-26 year old crowd every week…no agenda…just talk about the world and what’s happening…and develop some new thought partners to round out my “go to” group. I don’t know that I have a ton to offer…I don’t really want this to be “career advice” or “business pitch” or “job interview” type stuff…I guess I just offer my genuine interest and ideas and willingness to learn and explore any area that matters with anyone smart who wants to spend an hour doing so.
So if you’re part of this “temporally native” crowd and would like to waste an hour with me, I’ve carved out time and would love to do it. Just send me an email to jordan.cooper@gmail.com with a link to your online presence so I can do a little research and figure out if we are going to think about interesting things together…
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Jordan Cooper's Blog: startups, venture capital, etc... 