emptyspaceads blog

Yes this job-post has gone live.  But we also wanted to include it on our blog so we can point to it from other places.  If you are this person or if you know them, please introduce us!

emptyspaceads, a funded, growing Seattle-based online advertising startup, is looking for a sales professional to be part of our Work to Hire program.  This person will help us build up our beta (first customers) program. We are looking for someone who has the guts to make cold calls and do demos. You will start out as an independent contractor who gets a stipend + commission but there is a very real opportunity of this turning into a full time job.

Overview: Our product is in beta, and we want a seasoned salesperson to go get customers who will try us out! We know who needs our help, we just don’t have the resources to go after them. Your job will be easier because our product is FREE during the beta. You will own building up our beta panel to our desired size.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the startup scene is that you get to meet some incredible mentors and coaches. Michael Schutzler is one such guy (his latest book, Inspiring Excellence, just hit the shelves, we got an autographed copy!) Mike provided some great advice, which we would like to share with other entrepreneurs.

These days, David and I are building our Hero Panel (a beta panel with perks), and we told Mike that we found the long sales cycle a little frustrating: there’s a delay of up to a week between identifying a potential customer, reaching out by phone or email, and getting them running emptyspaceads on their site. David and I are impatient, so we started spending hours every day pulling leads ourselves.

Mike’s advice was simple: “watch where you spend your ergs“. An erg is a unit of energy. Every day, an entrepreneur has to decide where he or she will spend that day’s ergs. Do you spend your ergs on making a list of customers and cold calling them? Or do you do something smarter, like hire someone else who can do the same job, but cheaper? We’re leaning towards the latter, so our CEO can be freed up to concentrate on product vision.

Mike also inspired us to get interns! Yes, emptyspaceads is hiring interns for the summer. We are looking for two highly motivated, “can-do” people to take the lead on marketing and software QA / test. Previous experience is not necessary, but the test intern needs to be very comfortable with programming. The positions are unpaid, but you will gain excellent experience, work on real-world projects and get to go to startup networking events, meet our VCs etc (we’ll treat you like a full time employee!) If you have referrals, please send them our way.

Craigslist postings: marketing intern and test intern

Things are warming up in Seattle - the sun’s out, water’s getting warmer, and the action is heating up here at emptyspaceads.com. After spending the last few months making our product better in too many ways to count, we are now building a panel of beta users which we are calling our Hero Panel. Why hero? Because we feel that these users are the most important users we will ever get - they are our heroes!

We literally hang on to every word they say, and track their feedback religiously in our effort to build a better product.

If you are a startup, here are some tips on how to build out your own beta panel:

• Pick candidates carefully. You want to pick a set of users that are representative of the ‘real world’, but also throw in some wildcard users who you may provide valuable, left-field feedback
• Get feedback on your plan from seasoned veterans. A cup of coffee will buy you invaluable advice!
• Be hardcore about contacting candidates - even if you hear a ‘no’, follow up with the candidate and ask them why they do not want to be on your beta. Often, candidates say know because you did not properly explain the value prop or terms of the beta
• Offer risk mitigation. If you are asking the customer to use a beta product, be prepared to offer up ways to mitigate their risks. At emptyspaceads.com, we give customers our personal phone numbers and a free pass for support - anytime, anywhere, anyhow!

We can’t wait to share the results of the Hero Panel on this blog!

When my partner David offered me a position at Empty Space Ads, our hot hot startup :), my first reaction was excitement mixed with dread - was it really possible to balance taking this great product to its logical conclusion (read: world dominance) while changing diapers and dealing with all the fun stuff that comes with a 9-month old baby boy, including (but not limited to): ear infections, stomach bugs, crawling, screaming, crying, weeping, …. you get the picture!

Since it has only been one week since I started working with David, it’s premature to draw conclusions. However, I can share these lessons with other parents who are interested in doing a startup:

• Make sure your spouse has your back: My wife has been incredibly supportive of my joining a startup. We realized quickly that it’s really important to share the same goals, which, for us, are: make the startup successful and keep our family happy and together. Also, we have promised to be flexible with each other - on days when she has meetings, I will pick up the baby from daycare and stay up later at night to finish my work. Similarly, on days when I have important meetings or have to fix that pesky bug, she will take off early from work. Some people say marriage is a series of compromises, but nothing tests this like a startup
• Make sure your partner is onboard: Of course, promising your spouse that you will have flexible work hours doesn’t mean anything if your partner wants you to work crazy hours! In this case, I’m also lucky because my partner is very supportive of my work-life balance. In fact, he commutes to my house twice a week! This sort of flexibility builds trusts in parents who are doing startups, and makes them feel welcome.
• Redefine productivity: If you have a kid, you may already be used to working fewer, but more productive hours. Since I joined Empty Space Ads, I have become hyper-aware of what I get done during a day. Most importantly, I consciously set achievable goals for each day and do not equate effectiveness with number of hours spent at work. I have also learned to prioritize my day more effectively, making daily choices about whether I need to attend that networking event or make that code checkin.

Do you have any tips you would like to share with other parents who are doing startups? I would love to hear them!

~Bilal

Bilal Aslam is our new VP of Engineering and to be honest I haven’t stopped grinning since I started working with him. Bilal’s primary responsibilities are helping me take out our trash and keeping our office clean.  But he’s also working on some very covert intiatiaves.   You’re going to see his impact very soon.  I asked Bilal to say a few words about his background.  Here’s are his words:

Bilal is really excited to join the Empty Space Ads team. Previously, he worked at Microsoft on Windows Vista and Windows 7. He worked in  deployment and migration, and later on media, first boot and home networking experiences. Bilal’s last stint at Microsoft was in the MSN Mobile Experiences team, where he was the business intelligence guy, where he drove reporting and data mining.

Likes: cooking, sunshine, innovation
Dislikes: complete senten

TODO: Insert a silly photo of Bilal here. We now insert not one, but two silly photos: