

Matt Mireles: How My Blog Made Me Famous Overnight & I Decided to Leave NYC - MediaSquirrel
http://www.pehub.com/66941/founder-matt-mireles-on-becoming-famous-overnight-getting-funding-and-why-hes-ditching-new-york-for-silicon-valley/

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Mark_B
FTA: "We didn’t have any cash, but we said, “How about if we give you an
iPhone and pay your bills for a couple of months?” They’re amazing."

Really!? For some reason, the "Shenanigans Meter" in my head hit a 9.5 after
reading this line. Does a tactic like this actually garner good results?

~~~
jamesbressi
Sounds crazy, but YES and I'm not surprised and it was a brilliant move.

(now please understand that I am writing this without editing and putting
extensive time into thoroughly fleshing out the arguments to support my point
as if I were writing an article, but will do so if asked.)

Would you like me to explain? NO? Well here it is anyway--my hypothesis. I am
going to keep it relative to this blog post, although you will find much of
what I say below very well can apply to most:

Here is what you are quoting from the article with a bit more context "Later,
we went to an engineering job fair at Columbia, and hired a couple of college
kids. We didn’t have any cash, but we said, 'How about if we give you an
iPhone and pay your bills for a couple of months?' They’re amazing."

SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS/ENGINEERS - let's stereotype \- I see a similarity among
many software developers/engineers who comment and get blog posts on HN.
Simply, I find them to be a group where an unprecedented percentage of them do
it for the love of it, passion, to achieve the ever elusive mastery, and so
on. They feel it is in their DNA. They remind me of veterinarians who also are
a group that you will find mostly comprised of people who do it foremost
because of their love of animals.

\- They do what they do because they love it. \- They spend an absorbent
amount of free time on personal projects because it is (I) doing what they
love to do (II) honing their skills (III) solving a need for them or others--
mind you, normally without any upfront monetary incentive (IV) and so on and
so forth... \- You will always find a blog post or possibly know a
developer/engineer where opinion about their ability vs. income are skewed NOT
in their favor, just the opposite of other professions where opinion about
ability vs. income is typically about the person being overpaid.

Psychologically, you could deduce that software developers/engineers are
mainly a bunch that is motivated by INTRINSIC value. (intrinsic vs extrinsic
motivation --
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation#Intrinsic_and_extrin...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation#Intrinsic_and_extrinsic_motivation)
)

"COLLEGE KIDS" Matt didn't say what academic year or program these students
were part, but let's make the assumption these students he "hired" were
developers/engineers and were still not too far from the "nest" (parents or
guardians still provide support for basic needs).

If these assumptions about the students are true, then this becomes almost a
perfect storm for Matt Mireles and company's situation. The students he found
at this job fair all most certainly were seeking EXPERIENCE over INCOME
(intrinsic value).

\---

So you have software developers/engineers that as a group most seem inherently
intrinsic + Matt offering a job that has much more intrinsic value and
motivation (get experience, do what they love, etc.) than extrinsic (he was
offering to cover the expense of something that has arguably become a
need/necessity) + students who were motivated to find an opportunity most-
likely for intrinsic value (experience) over extrinsic (income) = WIN/WIN.

On top of all this, the position Matt and company were in made working for him
and his "cause" more of an altruistic act, or an intrinsic desire to do
something good.

Very interesting situation that makes me want to deepen my assessment,
argument, and theory as to how this worked for Matt.

And by the way, I bet these "college kids"--because of all this
intrinsic"ness"-- were the best hires and decision he could have made, and not
because of his situation.

~~~
Mark_B
I would say all that is worth a full-on article. Lots of info - would love to
see it done up with 'proper treatment' :-)

------
swombat
Well, having a few blog posts picked up by big news sources is hardly "getting
famous". Most people in the world (hell, even most people in the start-up
niche) have no idea who he is.

(note: same applies to me, despite being OMG-featured-in-TechCrunch... Fame
ain't this)

