

Why I Work for Jason Calacanis (and Freakin’ Love It) - riffer
http://travisfischer.com/2010/12/05/why-i-work-for-jason-calacanis-and-freakin-love-it/

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mgkimsal
"We take afternoons off to play at the beach, play ultimate Frisbee in the
park, go to the movies as a company, have Starcraft 2 nights, etc…"

Spoken like a true "jr engineer" the poster claims to be :) At some point in
your life, that stuff just isn't very enticing.

Can people just go home and chill with their family while the rest of you go
play frisbee, or will they be ostracized as 'not a team player' if they 'opt
out' of afternoon movies/starcraft? A danger in that sort of activity is
anyone who _doesn't_ join in may (or will) eventually be left out of key
business information.

Glad you found somewhere you enjoy working - keep it up!

~~~
InfinityX0
I doubt Calacanis take parts in the above activities, and likely, they segment
by group, as you say.

If something universally appealing, like going to a nice restaurant or seeing
a popular movie like The Social Network, you decided to opt-out of, I would be
pretty put-off as an employee, or manager, if you chose not to attend.

Few things happen for individuals - if you declared that you didn't want to
spend time with your company, socially, that says you don't really _love_ your
job - because the people, and the committed, single vision that comes with it
is what makes that adoration arise. If you don't _love_ your job, I question
what great things you can truly do, given that non-commitment.

So, sure, you can be OK and opt-out. But if you do, I'm pretty certain that's
exactly all you can be.

~~~
mgkimsal
Seeing "the social network" is not universally appealing - sorry.

Restaurant, yeah, I get that. And _now and then_ group activities - sure. But
weekly frisbee outings at the beach, etc - too much.

I'm a bit wary of people who _love_ the idea of working for someone else,
period. If you _love_ a _job_ , I question what great things you can do.

Of course, many people from all walks of life _do_ accomplish great things in
all capacities, so perhaps judging someone based on your own view of what they
should and shouldn't love is a tad short-sighted.

BTW, if JC isn't participating in all those group outings, what message is
that sending to everyone else? They're socially pressured in to company rah-
rah BS while he's above it?

EDIT - just saw a JC reply re: activities. Cool enough - no t everyone can
make everything. Got it.

~~~
dkersten
_Restaurant, yeah, I get that._

Depends on the restaurant. If I don't like, for example, italian food, and the
company goes to an italian restaurant, I may want to opt out. What if everyone
else loved italian food and always wanted to go there? I would argue that
there really isn't very much that is universally appealing.

~~~
mgkimsal
Agreed, even that. I was trying to be charitable. Similar situation - had a
group that loved seafood. I hate seafood. I'd go now and then, but angled for
non-seafood places to balance things out (and it worked). Had they insisted on
seafood all the time, I'd have bowed out of those gatherings (as politely as
possible).

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RBr
Some people are very good at recognizing talent and using it. It is a common
attribute of many top CEO's in any industry.

As an outsider looking in, I perceive Jason's value to a company may be found
both in his skill to identify valuable people and to market the company he is
involved with through his personal exploits. Sometimes, companies work well in
spite of the leadership they have as staff comes together to form and execute
ideas.

At Weblogs, Brian Alvey and a slew of talented people pushed both the platform
and the content to form a successful company. At Mahalo, iteration after
iteration drives the product while a revolving door of staff comes and goes.
Jason's latest projects including his video podcast network and independent
startup conference are further examples of time and trial. On the surface,
Jason's value has been to identify the right people and use each company as a
platform to market himself and then his role within the company.

This history is somewhat unusual and confusing when compared with traditional
employers. Especially for those that Jason prefers to hire. Young, fresh out
of school, energetic and bright, Jason leverages his abilities to identify
talent in order to "scoop" people who can trade their time for the chance to
work for a true online legend. In many cases, it's a fair trade. However, when
looked at from afar, Weblogs, Mahalo, This Week In and TechCrunch tell an
interesting story that may make those with more experience, knowledge or
connections think twice. "To each his own" is a valuable sentiment conveyed
well by Travis in the original post.

Beyond history, I have learned to judge powerful people with a simple measure
of good vs. evil. When given the opportunity, some people unknowingly make
decisions that have a positive impact on the people and processes around them.
Others feel more comfortable operating somewhat negatively while justifying
their path by saying things such as, "I make the hard decisions" and "I'll
fight until the last breath". There is no right or wrong way to make decisions
but the impact of those decisions on the people and processes around them
uncover what type of person they are.

With my definition of good vs. evil above in mind, and using Mahalo as a
specific example, Jason can be viewed as evil. It's not always easy to do, but
I strongly believe that working with people who are fundamentally good
produces happy, healthy, engaged employees who truly care about the success of
their company, it's culture and their leadership. Working for people who are
evil produces a turnstile of employees who typically last less then 3 years at
their desk and require regular additional extra curricular motivation in order
to offset their frustrations.

~~~
jasonmcalacanis
One correction: Mahalo has had close to zero turnover in the past year. It is
far from a revolving door... more like a line of folks out the door who want
to get it!

Now, you are correct that my skill is in finding talent....... and developing
it.... and finding markets....... and attacking them.... and raising
capital...... and then more capital... and in marketing products....... and in
branding/naming.... ... and motivating folks... and creating company culture.

I've basically gotten lucky like six times in a row... the streak will be over
shortly.

Pure evil.

~~~
jammons
To correct Jason, I think our near zero turnover has been closer to 8-9 months
long. But it's certainly improved significantly over when I started at Mahalo
about a year and a half ago. I would attribute that to Jason's hiring of smart
people, recognizing those with skills in areas he may be weak in, and putting
them in positions where they can do something about it.

I'd say this is far from evil.

~~~
RBr
Just to be sure that I haven't misspoken: I'm not using the word evil to say
that Jason is in some way similar to the devil. He's a smart guy who I'm sure
has done some really nice things. I'm using evil in the context described
above.

As for the turnstile of staff at Mahalo... I don't necessarily think that this
is a bad thing either. I bet that without planning, groups of staff have
naturally come and gone as the product has iterated. If you're in a long
iteration right now, that's great news! Maybe this is the one that will "hit".
The problem with turnover like this is that eventually, products start to
evolve in circles. I think that Mahalo itself is a good example of this.

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ajays
I'm sorry, but every time I hear the name Jason Calacanis, I'm reminded of
this sordid episode: <http://pastebin.com/u7vddNg0>

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InfinityX0
Even if he absolutely hates working for Calacanis, this is a pretty brilliant
kiss-ass on his part. I would've liked it better from someone who worked
_previously_ for the company - those working _for_ it are a pretty biased view
of what might be a blackened company culture.

Surely, having Calacanis on their side is worth this kind of post/long term
commitment even if many other factors are absolutely torrid - and that kind of
node-network-connection occurs in many other places, too - where the sole
connection to a very influential person is pretty much the only factor holding
a person at the job.

~~~
travisfischer
Was a little worried people would see this as me trying to win over Jason's
favor. Trust me, a blog post isn't going to do that. He sees my work all day
every day and if I'm not delivering, a blog post isn't going to help my
relationship with him. He has a pretty good sense of "sucking up" and from
what I've seen it doesn't get you far with him. :)

The purpose of the post was 1. to have a discussion about the level of
commitment founders should expect from employees and 2. brag about the fact
that I love my job and Mahalo it is actually a really cool company.

While I agree that hearing from previous employees would be less "biased",
Mahalo has never been healthier than right now. The only people who know what
Mahalo is like are those that are currently working there.

That being said, there are obviously a ton of people who have worked with
Jason over the years who each have their own experiences. I can't and don't
want to speak for them. Just sharing my own personal experience.

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alain94040
I'd say this post is fair and balanced, but that wouldn't come out quite right
:-)

~~~
travisfischer
It's difficult to not be "biased" when I am working for a company that I love
working at. I'm not trying to give any kind of assessment of Jason Calacanis
as a person over the course of his life. I'm not qualified to do that.

What I am qualified to do is share that I honestly love working at Mahalo
under Jason Calacanis. I knew I would take greif for that but I wasn't going
to let that stop me from just being honest about the fact that I love my job.

Thanks for the feedback.

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jasonmcalacanis
Thanks for a nice post Travis.

~~~
shareme
The only bad thing about the post Jason, Travis..is that 99.9999% of all
startups do not have enlightened people like JC running them.

In non SV cities its even worse in finding a 'JC' boss to work for as far as
prospects..

