Prototyping Social Capital

It's official, and then some

I am absolutely thrilled to share that Michael Idinopulos has taken over for me at Socialtext to run the Professional Services business. We looked far and wide to find someone of his strong caliber and we were very fortunate for all the timing to work out. Michael comes to Socialtext from running knowledge technology globally for McKinsey & Company. We met almost two years ago, initially through a private technology conference Jerry Michalski produced, then over subsequent conversations about the interesting work they're doing inside the firm. Proserv at ST is part customer & organizational insight and part teaching collaboration, both of which Michael is uniquely qualified to do. He's going to do great.

The news isn't exactly breaking. We've been planning the transition since the Summer and Michael and I worked together throughout September while I had already begun work on my newco. Though some time has elapsed what hasn't is my great appreciation for the team at Socialtext. The company has been fortunate to attract a very talented team -- engineering, marketing, sales, customer service, proserv are all top percentile performers.  I know I gained much personally through the relentlessly honest and sharp conversations that are happening constantly.

In my particular sphere I want to especially thank Kirsten Jones, Chris Dent and Casey West for their engineering prowess and general human mojo. It was a delight to pair with Brandon Noard on any customer operations matter. Kris Duggan and Paul Wescott are expertly powering excellent growth. And I give a gracious bow and high five to the stalwart entrepreneurs Ross Mayfield, Pete Kaminski and Adina Levin with whom I spent countless hours, all of them always focused on how to do well by the customer and improve the company. Their energy is limitless, spidey sense strong and they've got soul. I owe special thanks to Ross for unapologetically dragging me into social software in 2002. If I end up with a fraction of the vision or start-up ninja that Ross possesses I will be a lucky kid. It was really great to pair with you guys.

So even though I'll still be working with Paul from time to time on business development, I'm full throttle into a newco that's been a long time in gestation. The kernel and approach were developed in the Spring of 2005. Over the past few months the meat has been going on the bones. More to share soon, but in short I want people to do what they love.

Do you love your job?

This went around back in June, but it's so good it's worth raising again. The crew at Connected Ventures made a video that, while it was very well orchestrated, shows clearly the fun they've created in working there. If your job is fun on a spring afternoon it doesn't mean you'll love it the rest of the year. But if you look into what they pulled off -- organizing a group to try something new without being too self-conscious about it -- it shows they're doing more than just having fun. They're pulling together that group in a shared experience (which will help them work together on other gigs), promoting their company (Vimeo, one of their companies, hosts online video with a high degree of varying privacy control for customers) and along the way created a force of a recruiting video. Big respect to them for creating a culture to experiment. I have no doubt they're working hard to make CollegeHumor, BustedTees and Vimeo come together each day, but isn't life at work much better when there's a little fun?

Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo.