FreelanceCTO.com

Check out the live broadcast of the Streamy awards:
Free live streaming by Ustream

My new company, ultralivetv, is looking for an experienced Ruby on Rails developer with top-notch software design and coding skills to lead our development efforts. Our stack includes Ruby, Rails, Cassandra/hbase/Riak, Varnish, nginx, Flash, and HTML/jquery. This position will also be responsible for assisting in the design, implementation, and ongoing care of the company’s infrastructure in both Staging and Production.

Who we are:
ultralivetv is an angel-funded, Los Angeles-based startup. We are building a distributed contextual entertainment business that revolutionizes the community viewing experience by integrating predictive games and social interaction into live video and on-demand viewing. If you know what Convergence means to the set-top box, then you have an idea on what we are trying to do.

Who you are:

• You like internet startups and building Entertainment-oriented companies
• You like learning and exploring new technologies
• You have a passion for software development
• You want to work on software that will make a difference
• You value working on small teams

Responsibilities:

• Act as the lead developer
• Validate the technical architecture
• Build our 1.0 product offering with us
• Build, test and refine new products and services
• Develop and expand infrastructure to process many millions of page views and transactions with fault-tolerance and predictability
• Tackle a wide variety of coding problems throughout the stack – we all work on everything
• Brainstorm and prototype new concepts and approaches fast. Turn prototypes into real things
• Maintain a high level of flexibility with regards to job responsibilities

Required Skills:

• Strong knowledge of Ruby on Rails and strength in all the Rails fundamentals
• Demonstrable track record building distributed, clustered, high-throughput applications that can really scale
• Background in building highly scalable applications designing for n+1 clustering with zero downtime
• Ambitious, driven, and talented individual who wants to work on significant, game-changing problems
• Able to design and write well-structured, easily maintainable, well-documented code
• Demonstrable knowledge of Javascript and CSS (preferably leveraging jQuery)
• Solid SQL skills, preferable with MySQL
• Experience with Cassandra/hbase/Riak strongly preferred
• Ability to create well-designed API’s
• Experience with user-centered interaction design
• Familiarity with Amazon Web Services (EC2, S3, EBS, etc.) preferred

This is a contract position with the opportunity for permanent employment in the future. You will report to the CTO. We strongly prefer candidates reside in the Los Angeles region.

Please send your resume, LinkedIn profile, ancode samples to technology@ultralivetv.com.

Greetings,

Tony Karrer and I have been discussing ways in which we can get the community more engaged with the rest of Los Angeles. As part of that effort, I have put together a list of suggested networking events and why they might be of interest to you. This list is by no means complete, and has a definite Los Angeles slant to it, so please point out any interesting events that we may have missed

Here is the list of interesting technology-related events in Los Angeles for the month of April:

Digital LA – Digital Drinks @ La Vida – 4/6/2010 (Tuesday)
7-10pm Hollywood
If you are into video and entertainment, this could be good. Digital LA has a rep for being more marketing oriented, so be prepared.

LA Tech April Meetup – 4/6/2010 (1st Tuesday of month)
7pm Location TBD
It’s like a miniature, regular TechCrunch50 or Twiistup.

http://newtech.meetup.com/25/calendar/12765900/

Thursday Lunch on the Promenade – 4/8/2010
12-1:30pm Santa Monica
This is a fantastic meetup. Informal gathering of some super smart people. Highly recommended.

OCTANe/FIRSTY – OC Networking Event – 4/8/2010 (Thursday)
5:30 – 7:30pm Aliso Viejo
OC members, don’t miss it! Though I’ve never been…this event sounds great…especially as this is the big kick-off for the merger of 2 big OC networking groups.

http://www.octaneoc.org/calendar/view_event.asp?CalendarID=659

DigitalLA – Digital Music Panel: Artists Go Social – 4/12/2010 (Monday)
7-10pm Beverly Center
If you or your company are into music and social media, this looks to be good.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=377946387339

Los Angeles High Scalability Group April Meetup – 4/13/2010 (Tuesday)
7pm in Santa Monica
Also known as “the hadoop meetup”. High signal to noise ratio. Highly recommended.

http://www.meetup.com/scalela/

Los Angeles PHP Developers – 4/13/2010
7pm @ CoLoft in Santa Monica
Check out the new co-working space at CoLoft. I haven’t been, but Oleg is a new member to the group, and I have heard good things. Recommended.

Social Media Club LA – 4/14/2010 (Wednesday)
Left, Right and Twitter: Social Media and Its Impact on Politics
7-9pm Santa Monica
Network with the Social Media crowd. Be warned: saying you are a technologist is like throwing chum in shark infested waters. I like this event, have gotten work out of it, but you have to have some good people filters to make it a good use of time.

http://www.socialmediaclub.la/

Copyrights and Design Patents – Filling the Gaps in Your IP Strategy – 4/13/2010 (Tuesday)
7:30-9:30am San Diego
Purely educational.

http://www.commnexus.org/programs/special-interest-groups/event_20100315.php

Mindshare – 4/15/2010 (Thursday)
7pm+
Where art meets science. I still haven’t been…but this is #1 on my list of new events to attend.

http://www.mindshare.la/

CalTech/MIT Enterprise Forum – 4/17/2010 (Friday)
8am – noon Pasadena
The Business of Social Attraction and Aggregation – How Do Fast Growth and Fads Become Successful Ventures?
Still haven’t been yet (Pasadena, eh?), but the CalTech/MIT forum is great.

http://www.entforum.caltech.edu/

LAMPsig – 4/17/2010 (Saturday)
1-3pm mid-Wilshire
Haven’t been. Any feedback from the group?

http://lampsig.org/new/

LA C# – 4/20/2010 (Tuesday)
7-9pm Manhattan Beach
Haven’t been. Any feedback from the group?

http://lacsharp.org/

Los Angeles Web Application Developers – 4/20/2010 (Tuesday)
7pm Location TBD
Will Jessup’s meetup. Very popular. Haven’t been yet, but will check it out soon. Any feedback from the group?

http://web.meetup.com/34/

From CTO to CEO – 4/22/2010 (Tuesday)
Irvine
Self-explanatory!

http://www.tcvn.org

StartUp Venture Summit – 4/22/2010 (Thursday)
9-5pm Los Angeles
For Entrepreneurs and Investors to Grow a Successful Venture. Tech Supper Club/Tech Cost Angels – $195

http://techsupperclub.com/Startup_Venture_Home.html

LA Flash Users Group – 4/22/2010 (Tuesday)
7-9pm
Haven’t been. Any feedback from the group?

http://laflash.org

LA Games Conference – 4/29/2010 (Thursday)
9-5pm Hollywood
A conference on gaming…pretty obvious choice for gaming companies and technologists. I may be there.

http://www.lagamesconference.com/

LA CTO Forum – 4/9/2010 (Friday)
8-10am Santa Monica
Content Categorization

http://lactoforum.org/

The Israel Conference – 6/3/2010 (Thursday)
9-5pm Los Angeles
This is a couple months away, but I went last year and it was a great event. Currently $180, soon to $210 ($295 at door)

http://www.theisraelconference.org/

Here are a couple other events with no confirmed dates for April or May. These are fantastic events that I look forward to going back to.

Startups Uncensored – http://www.jasonnazar.com/
Dorkbot – http://dorkbot.org/
LA Web/Mobile Software Entrepreneurs – http://lawebmo.com

Happy networking!

-=John

Fast Company has a great article on why you should start a company in Los Angeles.

Since 1994, I have spent about half of my time in the Bay Area and the other half in Los Angeles. LA beats the Bay for a lot of reasons, but the biggest reason is that Los Angeles focuses on building viable businesses, whereas the Bay Area largely focuses solely on technology…for the sake of technology. Los Angeles has a lot more opportunities in a number of very large-scale verticals, which means a wider variety of work and types of work for tech workers than the Bay Area. Speaking of industry verticals – Entertainment, Advertising, Automotive, and Lead Generation (to name a mere few) are all based in the Southern California area. And of course, there is the weather!

Last Friday, the LA CTO Forum hosted a discussion on the various metrics used to measure ourselves and our companies. I was asked to participate, and eagerly dug into my archives. I found a bunch of old examples, sanitized them, and was struck by how much metrics evolve over the lifecycle of a company. I was inspired enough to put together a diagram that describes how the metrics for a product or startup company evolve over time. My files are here:

• The Evolution of Metrics
  
• Examples of Metrics for Startups
  

Here is a basic description of the contents of each report:

• Definitions – definitions of metrics
• Dashboard – dashboard view of key metrics
• Executive Summary – summary of key metrics
• BizDev Funnel Lite – early stage business development funnel
• BizDev Funnel – later stage business development funnel
• Marketing Funnel – early costs/revenue numbers
• Member Funnel – tracking and monetizing users
• Customer Satisfaction – customer satisfaction by product
• Customer Support Triage – large product defects, customer support in triage mode
• Customer Support Daily Recap – daily metric for support
• Customer Support Steady – later stage monitoring of support
• Operations – some simple operational metrics
• Engineering Triage – crisis-based tracking of engineering errors
• Human Resources – some basic hiring metrics
• Revenue – an early set of of metrics for revenue

You may have a different interpretation of how to measure things, so please feel free to change the parameters to suit your needs. Let me know what you think.

-=John

REGARD Ventures Solutions start-up portfolio company KooDooZ.com has an immediate opening for KDZ Project Manager. Candidate must first and foremost have a passion for youth and entrepreneurship!

The primary job responsible will be to fully understand the off-line requirements of the business and assure the online product planning functionally supports the business model from the website. Further, execution throughout the product lifecycle, including: gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, capturing and defining the product vision, managing offshore development of the product, and working
closely with engineering, sales, marketing and support to ensure revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met. Testing and regression testing of requirements against delivery from offshore team will be critical to the
success of this position and the KooDooZ business as a whole!

The Project Manager’s job also includes ensuring that the product supportsthe company’s overall strategy and goals.

The Project Manager is expected to:

1. Along with the CEO, to define the product strategy and roadmap.
2. Deliver simple PRDs with prioritized features and corresponding justification
3. Manage offshore development team in India via corresponding Project Manager in India
4. Manage the feature specification process
5. Manage the quality of the offshore team’s deliverables
6. Manage User Acceptance Testing
7. Stay abreast of company competition
8. Take the vision and be a leader within the company

Required experience and knowledge

1. Minimum of 2 years experience as a Project Manager
2. Must have offshore/remote group management experience.
3. Demonstrated success defining and launching excellent products
4. Demonstrated understanding of SEO tactic and the ability to leverage those skills with available tools
5. 2+ years of experience in a job in the technology market
6. Excellent written and verbal communication skills
7. Bachelor’s degree (MBA preferred)
8. Technical background, with experience in Microsoft, web and/or mobile technologies
9. Excellent teamwork skills
10. Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without formal authority
11. Examples and at least one sample of an effective document delivered in the past
12. Solid references

KooDooZ.com is a youth empowerment website designed as a “virtual meets
virtuous world” to gives kids a safe place online to channel their passions
into actions for social change.

Our mission is two-fold:

1. Empower kids (ages 9 thru 15) to couple their passions with service learning, volunteerism and personal growth opportunities.
2. Enable non-profits and brands to engage families through collaborative real-world events and social impact campaigns for the purpose of driving higher awareness to the causes they support and the communities they serve.

In consideration of the first goal, KooDooZ became a Certifying Organization for President Obama’s Volunteer Service Award, a national program recognizing Americans who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to volunteer service. Additionally, KooDooZ debuted a program of youth social-entrepreneurship, teaching students ways to address issues in their local and global communities.

For the benefit of our non-profit and corporate partners, KooDooZ serves as strategists, co-creating and co-marketing signature cause programs (and KDZ challenges) to nurture new engagements and build brand trust in local and national markets.

At a time when most youth properties dumb-it down with cartoon caricatures, KooDooZ empowers kids to build character, have fun and get rewarded for turning everyday challenges into real-world achievements.

Tony Karrer has a great article on When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication. If you have any questions about which companies to connect your authentication system to or how to choose which ones to work with, this is a must read.

My friend Patrick has made *substantial* progress on his startup Neerg this year. I am excited to let people that know that he needs a technology lead and partner to help him knock the business concept out of the park.

NEERG: Head of Product and Engineering

We are looking for an individual to lead product and engineering.

Neerg is a specialized / niche ecommerce destination where producers of all sizes of green goods sell directly to consumers. A “marketplace”. Neerg does not participate in the transaction itself. Neerg will focus on driving traffic, engagement, and purchases through a modern and socially engaging interface while providing transparency and industry knowledge to consumers. In addition to ecommerce, neerg will have a strong editorial play by aggregating the best online and offline editorial content about the green space in one space.

The green and eco-friendly sector is a $200 billion dollar industry and growing rapidly. There is no current leading ecommerce site for the green space…until now.

We are currently located in Los Angeles.

The opportunity, depending on timing and availability, would first involve a ramp up period (can be located outside of LA) as the initial build is finalized and tested, which is being completed by an outside design and development shop, with a late December release. It would then require greater part-time involvement through beta and or full time once the site is in Alpha/Beta and the next round of financing is finalized (most likely require move to LA).

A substantial equity component will be offered along with the ability to be part of the original team to transition to salaried full-time positions.

The production and management to date has been done with a small amount of raised seed capital and funding provided by the founders. The founders have significant experience in operations, business development, and fundraising. Additional details can be provided.

The ideal candidate will have the following:

• Experience creating a product roadmap and build process, especially as it relates to building out a site with initial minimal features, but significant feature and expansion options going forward
• User interface and product integration experience
• Ability to manage a team of engineers and designers to build the site up from initial alpha launch. The Candidate would then be responsible for hiring a team to expand and manage the design, product and technical part of the site going forward
  o Programming experience, across common languages of LAMP, HTML/Javascript/CSS, and possibly open-source content management systems
  o Direct experience building web properties and expanding products on existing sites, including sites with robust content management systems
  o Front-end experience on projects relating to ecommerce, social networking and community, content, leading web 2.0 products
• Back-end experience on projects with custom and or sophisticated content management systems and API creation
• Ability to do analysis of technical operating costs (hosting, etc) upon launch and ongoing, including fixed and variable, along with ability to plan out and budget respective operating costs
• Information architecture and documentation
• Experience with ecommerce a huge plus and payment systems (credit cards and Paypal)
• Ability to analyze “build vs buy / outsource” decisions, including infrastructure buys and cloud computing
• Strong network of designers, programmers, and outside vendor relationships
• Strong communication skills and ability to meet deadlines
• Preferably, experience with offsite applications, such as Facebook, or the ability to manage an outside development firm and integrate into the site

Please email jobs@neerg.com a brief background of work experience, profile link to linkedin, or other pertinent information.

My friend and former boss Rich Rygg (yep, the two of us brought pop-up ads to the Internet) has a really cool startup in the works. He is looking for a producer and a developer. Drop me a line if you think you can help out.

Senior Game Producer

Our southern California based stealth start up is looking for a Senior Game Producer who can drive the creation and management of new web and mobile-based social, multi-player games. The Senior Game Producer will add creativity, talent, experience, leadership, direction, measurable performance, and magic to the game design process.

Responsibilities:

This Senior Game Producer will carry the ultimate responsibility for creating the story line, the list of features, and the overall game dynamic. This person will work both independently and in collaboration to provide a roadmap for the development, launch, and success of the games. The process should include designing, executing, and optimizing the game to meet membership, activity, and revenue goals.  They’ll own the outcome of the games by working with a talented team of in-house developers, and outside resources.

Required Skills:

• 5+ years of experience game development in consumer web or other multi-user games with proven success
• Passion for creating addictive, fun, social, and compelling user experiences
• A passion for games
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills with a passion for product specifications
• Strong organizational and analytical skills & attention to detail
• Ability to create wire-frames and give interface direction to UI team
• Performance-driven self-starter and team player
• Ability to evolve and improve UI design and features based on usage reports and feedback, and manage multivariate testing
• Experience managing web based applications
• Ability to drive strategy and gain consensus
• A talent for determining the optimal way to position products
• Previous start-up experience and/or new product launch experience
• Social networking experience is optimal
• Loves music
• BA/BS degree
• Special Opportunity

This is a special opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an exciting, groundbreaking line of social games with proven executives in a fun, rewarding start-up offering generous stock options with lots of responsibility.

Mark Suster has a great perspective on the use of social networks to connect with potential partners, peers, friends, and more. I must admit that I’m lazier than I should be, using the default network greetings. I’ll change! I swear it!