We are seeking 1-3 volunteer interns (graduate or undergraduate) who would like to be part of the founding team for an Internet startup. This is an ideal project for a current or recently graduated student who is interested in learning more about social media, Web 2.0 technologies, and how to build a startup. The role is part-time (5-10 hours/week), you can be located anywhere, and your hours are flexible.

The research is led by David Teten, a New York-based investment banker ( http://www.Teten.com ), advisor to venture capital funds, serial entrepreneur, Harvard MBA, and author of The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online. David has founded 3 companies and sold 2. He has also served as a guest speaker at Columbia Business School, NYU Stern, Yale SOM, Wharton, and Princeton. You can see slides from some of his presentations to BAs and MBAs at http://teten.com/speaker . We have strong testimonials from interns who have worked with us in the past.

BENEFITS

You will have ownership of your own projects and manage these projects from start to finish during the course of your internship.

+ Hours/work location: Flexible. Work at your convenience and your preferred hours from home, anywhere in the world. Typically 5-10 hours per week.

+ Class credit (if you have a professor who approves your participation, and/or if you can recycle this work for a class)

+ Interact with venture capitalists and other thought leaders.

+ Learn about blogs, social network sites, and other Web 2.0 technologies.

+ Learn about social media and social network analysis.

+ Get to know the New York startup community.

+ Significant creative input and flexibility.

+ Very positive references (if merited).

+ We have a strong track record of helping past interns win full-time roles at top firms, including in the past McKinsey, JP Morgan, Lazard, and UBS.

COMPENSATION

+ Cash compensation: None

Please note that we are a growing company which will be hiring people in the future, but we cannot guarantee any possibility of employment.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

Analyses you may work on include:

+ Competitive profiling

+ Pricing options analysis

+ Business/financial model research

+ Process improvement consulting

+ Research on regulatory environment

+ Financial model background research

+ Industry trend analysis

+ Business plan research

+ Other strategic initiatives

QUALIFICATIONS

+ Passion about our startup’s vision.

+ Strong analytical skills. High attention to detail.

+ Highly motivated self-starter who has a track record of continuous self-improvement, high achievement, and aggressiveness.

+ Strong interpersonal communication skills.

+ Poised, professional demeanor.

+ Prefer strong writing experience. Particularly value a high GPA in writing-dependent courses.

+ Prefer familiarity with Edward Tufte’s work.

+ Strong computer science/web development background valuable but not required

HOW TO APPLY

Contact via e-mail only; do not call. Save your resume in Microsoft Word format with the name "Last Name-First Name-Year.doc", e.g., "Clinton-Bill-2010.doc".

Include with your detailed resume:

+ Dates/hours of availability during Spring-Summer 2010. Include travel schedule.

+ Writing sample (from work or school)

+ Physical location. You can do all of the work on this project remotely. However, if you are in the New York area, that is preferable.

Please make sure that you include all of the information that we request above, or we will not be able to consider your application. Please send resume and cover letter to Careers(at)Teten.com with "Research Assistant" in the subject line.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinmiller/1491494366/

I won’t quote you a zillion studies – let’s just accept it as fact that for most businesses, referrals are both the least expensive and most effective source of new business. Referrals are also the best source of leads for job seekers and employers. There are customers and jobs and employees out there – referrals dramatically accelerate the matching process.

With that in mind, last year my friend John Jantsch created Make A Referral Week, a week-long event designed to educate people on making and encouraging effective referrals, and to drive people to action by making 1,000 referrals during the week.

There are several ways you can participate:

1. Free webinar Wednesday, 3/10, at 1pm EST with John Jantsch hosting a panel with Ivan Misner, founder of BNI and author Masters of Networking, Bob Burg, author ofEndless Referrals and the Go-Givers Sell More, Ben McConnell, author of Creating Customer Evangelists. Register here.
2. Make a referral (or two or three) and post it on the MARW Referral Counter.
3. Read guest posts from a long list of referral/networking/word-of-mouth experts all week at the Duct Tape Marketing Blog. Posts are already up by David Meerman Scott on The Referral Multiplier Effect and a podcast with Andy Sernovitz on Word-of-Mouth Marketing.
4. Join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #marw.
5. Keep up with the goings-on at the MARW blog.

I’ve contributed a guest post for later in the week on “selfish networking” – I’ll link when it’s up.

Let’s make our own economic stimulus package!

I attended tonight’s Social Recruiting Meetup, and heard a talk by venture capitalist Fred Wilson on "Recruiting with Social Media" .  This was a highly condensed version of his presentation at the Social Recruiting Summit (video available on that site). 

My brief notes:

Social web has vastly connected the number of people you can connect with every day. 

I got into VC in the mid 80s.

At the time we would seek out investments by going to conferences, walking halls, collecting business cards, and then work the phones.  We would talk to a dozen people a day.

Then with email we could talk to 10x as many people.

Then with social media we can talk to another 10x as many people.  My blog AVC.com reaches thousands of people every day. 

One of our regular portfolio questions: how do we hire great engineers?   This presentation summarizes my answer.

I tell recruiters to go to Meetup.com, e.g., the PHP Meetup. 

One of the event attendees runs Jibe (spelling), a new service that shows you jobs with which you have a social connection. 

StackOverflow is a great place to get quality engineers, and evaluate their reputation. 

Q: Do you use social media for sourcing deals?

A: One of my best leads are the comments on my blog posts.  I have a rule: when I hear about a company 2x I write it down.  When I hear about it 3x, I write the CEO.  We use social media for due diligence.  We contact influencers to get their opinions. 

Q: How do you recommend introductions to people?

A: I believe in the ‘double opt-in intro’.  I ask both parties if they want to be introduced.  I do this because that’s how I want other people to introduce me, because i get introduced to too many people to whom I don’t want to be introduced. 

Teten: How should traditional high-end recruiters respond to social media taking away their competitive advantage of a candidate database?

A: i’ve come to believe that the cultural fit of the candidate within the small company is critical, so we prefer to recruit via the social web.  We go to the recruiters only after trying our own network. 

Q: What large companies are using social media well?

A: I cant point to any.  Maybe it just doesn’t scale.

Q: How do you get more followers?

A: You put value out , you get value back.

Q: What do you think of recruiting internationally on social media?

A: It should work.  I read Russians are greatest users of social media in the world?

Q: Are there tools like Radian6 or a Visible that you think are helpful for assessing sentiment?

A: I dont use any of those sophisticated tools, but I’m sure they’re very valuable. 

Q: Talk about how you use LinkedIn.

A: We use it heavily, but not the way LinkedIn would like.  We’ve never been a paying customer.  We’ll use it to find a certain profile.  We don’t ask for a reference list.  We just connect with people on LinkedIn and look for the shared connections. 

Q: Do you do searches for a portfolio company?

A: We don’t drive searches; the company does.  We recommend company hire an in-house recruiter when they get to 20-25 employees.  We’re a member of the hiring team. 

Great LinkedIn invitations? Are they really that big a deal? Sure, canned messages are lame, but inviting someone to connect via LinkedIn (or any other social networking site) is just a simple matter of record-keeping. What’s wrong with just, “Hey, let’s connect?”

That’s one way to look at it. But consider this: every communication you have with someone in your network is an opportunity to move that relationship forward, to make it stronger. It’s not that there’s anything “wrong” with treating a LinkedIn invitation as a simple mechanical action, but it’s a missed opportunity. A few extra seconds can transform it into a relationship-building activity.

There’s another reason your LinkedIn invitations matter: if too many (five or so, best guess – LinkedIn doesn’t publish the actual number) of your invitations are rejected (”I don’t know the sender”) by the recipient, your account may be temporarily suspended and you will lose the ability to invite people to connect without their email address.

One way to ensure having your LinkedIn invitations accepted is to email the person before sending them a LinkedIn invitation and ask them if they’d like to connect on LinkedIn. That’s not always possible, i.e., old friends/colleagues/classmates who you’ve lost touch with. I also don’t think I’d email somebody solely for that purpose. But if you’re having an email dialog with someone already, slipping it into one of your messages is a good way to grease the skids for an invitation.

Let’s look at the “stand-alone” invitation in three scenarios: 1) someone you know well, who you are confident will accept the invitation, 2) an acquaintance or colleague that may not immediately recognize your name, and 3) someone you don’t know personally, but are interested in connecting with.

The basic format is the same in all cases:

1. Establish context. This is the main thing that will vary between the different scenarios. More below.
2. Invite them to connect, in your own words.
3. Suggest a next action. Coffee. A phone call. Sending them a link. Making an introduction. If you’re particularly interested in developing this relationship, make a commitment and then keep it. Otherwise, you can put the ball in their court.

(more…)

Four days ago, a team of Wall Street veterans launched Track.com, a new marketplace for independent research providers.  I met with the management team today.  Ironically, they’re sharing offices with Tracked.com, another NY startup.  John Frankel, the Founder, said that the people at Tracked like the domain name Track so much that they bought Tracked.com.

Track.com offers independent research providers a platform to distribute their intellectual property.  Buyers pay subscriptions for access to the pool of content. Similar to Value Investors Club, the general public can get access to the content at no charge after a delay.

It looks like an institutional version of SeekingAlpha.  It also has components of the market for research that AQ Research tried to launch some time ago.  Eventually, I’m sure Track will build out internal discussion functionality similar to other collaborative investing startups.

I think their greatest obstacle is noise.  There is a deluge of opinions available on the markets in every possible medium, and for every possible view on the market you will find someone passionately defending that view. 

The most clever parts of their model are:

- the appeal to elitism, which has a proven appeal on Wall Street

- the recruiting of Wall Street alumni in transition, who want to keep their brand visible in the market.  Given my background working with executives in transition, I particularly liked this aspect of the model.

- the tiered display of research over time, in order to price discriminate. 

I look forward to following their progress.  FYI, they’re actively hiring developers.

Yup, the economic news for the new year isn’t what any of us had hoped. U.S. unemployment held at just under 10%, but only because 661,000 workers have “removed themselves from the workforce”, a euphemism meaning they’ve given up looking for a job because they believe none are available. The picture’s not particularly brighter in the rest of the world either.

This hits close to home. Odds are good that you personally know at least 10-20 people who are currently unemployed, or as is increasingly common, under-employed, i.e., they have some part-time work, freelance work, or a full-time position at significantly lower pay than they’re accustomed to.

Sue Connelly wants to do something about that. As founder of KIT List, “an email job posting service where employers and recruiters advertise permanent or consulting job opportunities to over 58,000 high-quality professionals,” she knows that the jobs are there – she sees them come across the list every day.

So what’s her big idea? Simple, really – a “pay it forward wave“, this week – a concentrated effort to be proactive about getting our friends back to work. Here are some suggestions she has for simple ways to help:

• Forward a job lead
• Write a LinkedIn recommendation
• Review a friend’s resume and give objective feedback
• Set a time to meet for coffee or a drink (heck, we all need one these days!). In-person meetings are important, it buoys spirits and sparks ideas and energy – plus it’s fun!
• Make some calls on a friend’s behalf
• Pass on a link to a good job site or a great article on job search
• Make an introduction to a friend in a company he/she is interested in
• Reach out to a colleague who has been laid off from your company to see how he/she is doing and offer to make connections for him/her
• Become a “Job Buddy” – commit to meet on a regular basis to set goals and provide gentle accountability (if you are both looking for jobs, there’s a double benefit)
• Offer to do some role playing for a job interview
• Tell (and write down!) four strengths/qualities you see in your friend
• Review or help write a strong cover letter
• Invite a friend to connect to you on LinkedIn with the purpose of giving them access to your network so he/she can see if you have contacts in companies on their wish list
• Help with career ideas, brainstorm on other ways to use their skills, suggest good companies to target, how to transition into a new industry

And, of course, you can share about this on email lists, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.

If we each just did 1-2 of these things every day, we may not end unemployment completely, but we might at least help the people we know and care about get back to work sooner rather than later.

Image credit: Photomish Dan

I know there’s a lot of hype, mystery and legend around getting on the front page of Digg. Personally, I joined Digg back in 2005, used it somewhat, and then kind of abandoned it. I stop by occasionally, Digg something as a favor to a friend every once in a while, etc. I have a couple of clients that use it heavily, even though I don’t personally. They are, however, media and/or B2C focused.

I have a B2B client, though, who’s asking me about Digg, and I’m wondering if anyone’s actually using it for B2B. To research this on my end, I just downloaded my 864 LinkedIn contacts to a CSV file and uploaded that to Digg. Out of those 864 business contacts:

1. 83 (less than 10%) are Digg users.
2. Only 12 (1.4%) have been active recently (looks like the past 90 days), according to Digg

Mind you, my network has a disproportionately high percentage of social media professionals, too. Heck, even Pete Cashmore (Mashable) is “Not active recently”:

Maybe he’s outsourcing it. Heck, maybe everybody’s outsourcing it. Does kind of make you wonder, doesn’t it? Who’s actually Digging? And why is it still such a big deal?

More research required, but let me know what you think.

It’s year-end, and that means it’s time for the annual flood of top 10 lists. Imagine my surprise (and delight) when I saw that The Virtual Handshake had made honorable mention (just outside the top 10 – looks like about #16 if he listed them in order) on Chris Tomkins’ Best Social Media Books of 2009. Chris’ methodology was simple:

Since many of us (yes, I know you are out there) are still looking for the best book on social media.as well as those last minute gift ideas, I wanted to publish the results of a study that I held via my friends and social media connections on Linkedin and Facebook.  I polled over 5,000 people and simply asked “What’s the best book on social media out there.”

Now here’s what I found both fascinating and, frankly, a bit pride-inducing: every other title on the list came out in 2008-2009. The Virtual Handshake came out in 2005!

When we wrote it, we very deliberately set out to write a book that would be timeless, not something with a 2-year shelf life. Considering how rapidly the social media space is changing, that’s a significant challenge.

Consider this. when we finished the manuscript, the term “social media” didn’t exist. “Web 2.0″ was just barely coming into use at the time the book came out. We called the activity “online networking” and the technology “social software”. Twitter didn’t exist. Facebook had just opened to the general public, much to the chagrin of its college-student membership. LinkedIn had about 3 million members (it now has over 50 million).

And yet, almost five years later, The Virtual Handshake is still considered by some to be one of the best books on social media. While we don’t even mention Twitter and Facebook is only mentioned once, it’s as timely and relevant now as it was in 2005 – perhaps even more so.

Why?

Because we focused on the human element, not the technology. Trends come and go, and technology just keeps coming and coming and coming. But the core elements of human relationships and interpersonal communication remain largely unchanged. The ways in which you build strong relationships online aren’t really much different from how you do so in person. Twitter etiquette in 2010 hasn’t changed significantly from Usenet netiquette in 1990. Ben Franklin’s advice on recommendations is as timely now as it was when he wrote it in 1777.

So if you’re into social media and you haven’t yet read The Virtual Handshake, I invite you to do so.for free. You can read it online or download it for free, and you can even get the paperback for free, thanks to our long-time sponsor, Landslide. And, of course, you can still order it at Amazon and other online bookstores.

And whether you’ve just read it or had it for a while, we’d always love to hear from you about how you’ve applied what you’ve learned from it in your business. The hundreds of such messages we’ve received over the years have perhaps been our greatest satisfaction. We wrote this book to make a difference in people’s lives, and it’s always nice to hear when we’ve succeeded at that. Feel free to leave a comment below or send us an email and tell us your virtual handshake experience.

I enjoyed participating in a panel tonight on "Market Research for Entrepreneurs", as part of the Founder Institute’s first series of New York programming.  The other speakers were Nicholas Butterworth, President & CEO, Diversion Media; and Steven Haines, President, Sequent Learning Networks.  

My slide deck is below; I’d love to get your feedback.

As part of Vertical Response’s Social Media Webinar Series. I’ll be presenting Opening Doors and Closing Deals on LinkedIn on Friday, December 4, at 10am PST / 1pm EST. This will be focused entirely on using LinkedIn to grow your business, not for recruiting or job search, so all you entrepreneurs and sales & marketing professionals, this is for you! The webinar is free, but registration is required. A free playback will be available afterwards. I’ve included the first three webinars in the series below for your viewing pleasure.

John Jantsch – Making More Money with Your Business Blog

Anita Campbell – Get Business Exposure by Hosting or Speaking on Podcasts & Radio

Chris Brogan – Twitter for Your Business