We Like Hiring Entrepreneurs (and letting them be…)

We hire really, really great people.  Smart, funny, visionary, all of that.  From the executive level to the front desk to our newest fresh grad hire, they’re all likely to start their own companies - fact is, at least 3 of our people have left in the past year to do just that (among them, Viximo and Bizo).  We’re still close to all of them, and work closely with at least one of their new ventures.

A lot of places would hate that.  Losing a star perfomer can be a drag, but the fact is that these types are the employees who do amazing work no matter what they’re doing, create tremendous energy and excitement, and are generally just kinda awesome to be around.  We’ve bought into that idea, and actually get excited during the recruiting process when we find out that somebody’s chock-full-of-ideas.

I know, I know - “every company claims that, and nobody means it.”  Oh, ye of little faith.  Forbes recently published a profile of our own Sam Tharp, who’s got his own side-business (Otrib).  The full article’s here.  Meantime, why don’t I serve you up a slice of it - a quote from our President, Bryan Burdick:

At ZoomInfo, Otrib founder Tharp told his boss, Bryan Burdick, about his on-line funeral planning venture when he was interviewing in 2007. “Sam was very up front about it and obviously very passionate,” says Burdick. He adds that over the past two years at least three ZoomInfo staffers have left to start their own companies. “It’s important to make sure that everyone’s objectives are clear, and to say ‘This is what success means for you here,’” says Burdick. “As long as they meet those goals, I don’t care what they’re doing in their off hours.”

ZIPI!!! (or, ultra-cool, free Outlook plug-in)

Shameless use of my blog, but also alrtuistic.  We’ve (we being the collective mad genius/ oddballness/ general awesomeness that is ZoomInfo) just launched Zipi.  It’s cool - it’s really cool, actually.  The idea was to provide quick and easy access to our database of professionals (which means 15 million additional email contacts - just a little tick up from your contact list).  Doesn’t take over your personal address book, just provides you a way to search our database from your send line, or through a search bar in your in-box.

So easy, even this guy could use it…

Want to expand your contact list exponentially?  How about having access to millions of professionals, many of them decision makers (ie, hiring managers)?  Annnnd… want it to be easy, intuitive, and free?  Too bad, that’ll cost - wait, no, it actually is free.  And easy.  Did I mention free?  So: if you use Outlook, get Zipi.  All it does is give you more access.  Access to people you can work with and for, sell and market to, and generally chat up.

Here’s the link to the beta - we’ll have a more polished one up later today, but I didn’t want to sit on this: http://www.zoominfo.com/About/signup/signup_zipi.aspx?elq=A3CAFCF26B21401CA3CCC28E08EBDFA3

ZoomInfo Spins Off Bizo (yup - we made another company!)

ZoomInfo Bizographic Advertising Unit Forms New Company 

Bizo, Inc. Will Deliver First Online Ad Network Targeting Business People

Waltham, Mass. - May 20, 2008 - ZoomInfo^TM, the premiere provider of business information, has spun off its bizographic advertising business unit into a new company, Bizo, Inc., based in San Francisco. Former ZoomInfo GM and SVP Russell Glass will lead Bizo as its CEO. The Bizo spinoff is wholly funded by ZoomInfo. As a result, existing ZoomInfo investors, including Venrock, Flagship and Vulcan, are significant shareholders in the new company.

“ZoomInfo’s profitability gave us the freedom to experiment with our technology in new and creative ways,” said Jonathan Stern, CEO, chief scientist and founder of ZoomInfo, and cofounder of Bizo. “We quickly realized that our business information index allowed marketers to deliver targeted online ads at a level never before seen. Establishing Bizo as its own company allows Russell and his team to focus on building the largest targeted B2B advertising platform in the world to penetrate the multi-billion dollar online advertising market.”

In October 2007, ZoomInfo first unveiled plans to launch the industry’s first bizographic advertising platform - an advertising targeting platform based on people’s “business demographics.” Since then, Bizo has been operating in stealth mode, building its technology platform and signing partnership agreements with multiple advertisers and publishers. 

“As a marketer myself, I know that B2B marketers don’t have many options for effective advertising online today,” said Glass. “Giving them the ability to reach precise business audiences across the web brings an exciting new toolkit to the B2B marketing space.” 

“ZoomInfo had a fantastic 2007, profitably exceeding $16 million in sales,” said Bryan Burdick, ZoomInfo’s president. “Our plan for 2008 is to continue our growth and maximize opportunities in new markets. While B2B advertising is complimentary to ZoomInfo’s business, the market has been starved for the ability to target business professionals online. Creating a new business in order to meet that need was an ideal solution for us. ZoomInfo will continue to focus on building the most accurate and up-to-date database of business information, and will provide a competitive advantage for Bizo’s success.”

Bizo will continue to leverage ZoomInfo’s understanding of business people and companies to allow marketers to target business users based on thousands of segmenting possibilities, including combinations of title, company, industry, functional area, company size, education, location, etc. The company expects to publicly launch its bizographic advertising platform later in 2008 with over 20 million targetable business users in its network.

About ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo is a business information search engine used to quickly find information about industries, companies, people, products and services. ZoomInfo is used by sales and marketing professionals to identify business opportunities, by recruiters to locate talent, and by anyone conducting in-depth research about products, services and businesses. ZoomInfo’s semantic search engine continually crawls the Business Web - the millions of company Websites, news feeds and other online sources - to identify company and people information which is then organized into fresh, comprehensive and objective profiles. ZoomInfo currently has profiles on nearly 40 million people and over 4 million companies, and its search engine adds more than 20,000 new profiles every day.

According to Nielson/NetRatings, in April 2007 ZoomInfo was the fastest growing network in the country, with 276% annual growth. More than 6 million people search http://www.zoominfo.com/ every month. In addition, nearly 3,000 customers, including Yahoo!, Microsoft, Oracle, PepsiCo and 20% of the Fortune 500, use ZoomInfo’s patented search tools. ZoomInfo is privately held and based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

PR Manager for ZoomInfo

Shameless use of my blog, but so be it.  We’re looking for a PR rock star, to join our team of, well, rock stars.  If you - or someone you know - happens to fit the bill (see below), it’s worth reaching on out (’cuz, if you can’t tell, I love this place….)

El Position
Good at run-of-the-mill PR? Love taking the safe approach? Good for you - there are plenty of companies that would love you. We’re just not the one for you.

That said: bit of a risk taker? Not afraid of making mistakes? Easily frustrated by bureaucracy? Same here - we should talk. We’re looking for an intelligent innovator in PR - somebody who gets how social media is changing how we communicate, but who gets that building a PR site on Second Life might be a little too geeky….

We’d love it if you have at least 5 years of experience in Public Relations or Corporate Communications, and a degree in a related field. Experience with B2B high-tech companies a plus. Position reports to the Director of Marketing Communications (she’s kind of a big deal).

Responsibilities include:
• Support Marketing Communications by PR and AR goals, objectives.
• Write and edit press releases including regular (creative!) company communications, technology launches, customer case studies, newsletters, etc.
• Work internally with spokespeople and contributors including executive-level team, technologists, and product management/marketing team members.
• Letting stress run off your shoulders like water off a duck’s back (just don’t quack while it’s happening - that’s unsettling).
• Write and edit bylined articles about relevant technology topics.
• Track competitive developments and craft responses as needed.
• Build and maintain relationships with technology, trade, bloggers, podcasters and business reporters in print, broadcast and on-line media.
• Make us laugh - and, laugh with (not at!) us. Well, you can laugh at our Recruiting Manager - that’s become kind of a rite of passage around here.
• Write compelling pitches to reach a variety of key media audiences.
• Manage incoming media requests and conduct/staff interviews.

Send your info here, por favor: 20474-CS-572@zoominfo.hrmdirect.com

How to Get Noticed (or, “giant aspirins! flip-flops! tattoo cd’s!! oh, my…”)

So, I’ve been in the corporate recruiting gig for what, almost 2 years now?  I used to sit on the other side of the fence, with some agencies.  I have my share of war stories from those days (ask me about Fish Jacket someday).  That said, things are weirder from this side of the phone.

I started a folder, called “little folder of horrors”, shortly after I got here, where I’d toss the most bizarre applications and atrocious cover letters.  Like, the one from the guy who wrote his in texting format (”if U R interested, plz…”).  But, once I started receiving packages, it became “little box of horrors”.  Now, it’s “big cabinet”.  Oi, freaking, vey.

So, wanted to draw your attention to a fine line - the one between “hey, clever approach!”, and “what the f - call animal control, i think this thing’s still alive!”.

Last week, I got flip flops.  I didn’t buy ‘em, and they weren’t from a female friend.  Nope, some guy decided that the best way to apply for our not open (filled in October of ‘07 by this rock star), Director of MarComm position was to mail in some footwear.  Not just any footwear, but brown, Target brand flip flops, size 10.  (I take a 12, if you’re thinking of sending me shoes - and, I’d prefer Thom Browne, or Cole Haan.  Just sayin’)

So, why flip-flops? Personally I think they were a re-gift.  Somebody gave him a crappy pair of shoes, and he thought “hey, I can try and twist this into a clever way to get a job at ZoomInfo!”  Here’s his copy:

Here’s a pair of flip-flops.  Put them on. Take a deep breath. (if I’d put them on, it would have been more like an inhale of pain, but I digress) Think of blah blah blah…  Your search for a VP of Marketing ends here (really?? I thought we were looking for a Director?  And, I think the search ended 7 months ago, buddy?)

This is a very in-your-face approach (sure, that’s one way to spin mailing footwear) but one that got your attention and provided me an opportunity to present my case.  Isn’t that what marketing is all about - creating an opportunity? (Yup!  An opportunity to go to the very top of the Little Cabinet of Horrors - lucky you!!)

Later, he says:In the past I got bored easily so I changed jobs a lot . Oh, that’s not good…

In any event, this guy didn’t get a call.  But… this guy (heretofore known as Aspirin Boy) did.  In fact, he got 2 rounds, and it was a tough call on our end not to hire him.

One day, I got a box.  It wasn’t ticking, swathed in duct tape, from my wife, or snarling, so I figured it was safe.  When I opened it, there was a giant aspirin (about a half foot across and a 1 inch deep) made out of some kind of ceramic, along with a cover letter.  It was from this kid, who wanted to move out of his first job and was interested in us.  Here’s a sample:

Hello Martin

You’re probably wondering why you just received a giant aspirin in the mail.

Over the past few months I’ve been debating whether or not to take the next step in my career path.  During that time I’ve been able to read quite a few of your blog posts.  This giant aspirin, in particular, is for the next poorly put together cover letter and resume that comes across your desk.  I hope mine isn’t one of them.

So, you’re asking, what the hell’s the difference?  Simple - Flip Flopper had _years_ of marketing experience (at, not to mention, a lot of companies).  Apirin Boy was barely out of college, and still had better approach.   He displayed great marketing instinct (despite the fact that  he approached us for a sales role).  Strong enough that even though we had just filled out last sales role, we brought him in to talk to him about a product marketing position we were toying with.  In the end, the role was revised, and we couldn’t hire him, but we wanted to.  If he’d just sent in a generic cover letter with resume, I would have let him know that the sales hiring was on hold - but, he put himself out there and got a chance.  I still stay in touch with him - he’s a great, great guy - and last I heard, he was looking into more product marketing or straight marketing roles thanks to this little interaction.

That’s all for now - just had to vent about the flip flops….