Instigator Blog

Standout Jobs is looking for a kick-ass account manager / customer service lead.

The job description is here: http://jobs.standoutjobs.com/jobs/2143-account-manager-and-customer-service-lead

This is a full-time job in Montreal.

Grabbing a bit of information from the job posting itself –

What will you be doing at Standout Jobs as an Account Manager and Customer Service Lead?

Simple: You’ll be helping customers maximize the value they get out of our product, and nurturing long-term relationships.

That will include:

1. Designing and implementing career sites for customers
2. Training customers on using our product
3. Developing training and demo materials
4. Developing a customer support and account management strategy
5. Managing a team of customer support staff
6. Answering phones
7. Helping customers with forgotten passwords (i.e. the minutae of things!)
8. Securing renewals (so there is a sales component to this!)

If this sounds interesting to you, or to someone you know, please check out the full job posting.

I recently completed an interview with Rick Spence at the Financial Post about startups, my background, blogging, etc. It was a lot of fun and the end result can be found here:

A standout among movers and shakers

As much as I appreciate that title, I think the subtitle is more relevant, Learning curve of a tech blogger turned CEO.

Of course the learning curve is endless - and so it should be. If you stop learning stuff while on the job, I’d say you’re in trouble.

Rick asked me a lot of interesting questions and we had a great chat. We covered some of my history as a software / Web entrepreneur, how and why I got into blogging (it was entirely strategic), and a brief overview of Standout Jobs, how it was born and the lessons learned. Standout Jobs has been around for about one and a half years and it’s been a period of insane learning and growth for me. One would hope (and expect!) that not to change.

Tomorrow is the Montreal Tech Entrepreneur Breakfast. It’s at a new location (Boccacinos on McGill College). Click the link above for all the details. In the meantime, I have a great announcement…

Sun Startup Essentials is sponsoring the breakfast! That’s right, breakfast is free. But please be reasonable…we don’t need any abusing their goodwill.

I was approached by Michal and Sandra about the opportunity. This is their first sponsored event for the SSE Bloggin’ Across Canada Series. Sun will introduce the Startup Essentials Program at various technology, startup and investor events across the country, and will be blogging about the Canadian Startup Landscape, highlighting stories about startups on http://blogs.sun.com/startup/ - and cross-blogging with http://www.embarkonit.com/blogs and Startup North.

It’s last minute, but if you have a story to share, as a startup, or want to reach out to Sandra or Mic (Sandra will be at the event too), you can email them. Just click their names above for email addresses.

At breakfast tomorrow, Sandra will take 5 minutes or so to explain Sun’s program and what she’s doing across the country. She may have some promotional material as well. And then she’ll be talking to as many people as possible, and promoting your startup stories.

I want to thank Mic and Sandra as well as Sun for being so generous. We’ll see you tomorrow at 8am.

Launching a startup at a big event is a great idea. There are many advantages.

1. Hard Launch Date: Launching at an event forces you to launch. There are many examples of startups that delay their launch (several times over) because they can. An event means you’ve got to launch. Granted, I’ve seen a lot of startups launch at events, and they’re not really launching … they’re announcing the upcoming possibility of a beta product, sometime in the near future, maybe. That’s not really launching and in my mind, shouldn’t be allowed at events like TechCrunch50 or DEMO.
2. Lots of Press: You can’t go wrong with some buzz, and the more the merrier. PR can be a huge boon to a startup, and there’s no better way to kickstart things than with a well-publicized event. Of course, the event buzz will die fast (it almost always does), so you need a plan for maintaining and leveraging that press and buzz going forward.
3. Lots of Networking: Put hundreds or thousands of people in a room, all there to live and breathe startups for a few days, and the opportunities are almost endless. You won’t get a similar opportunity, and you’re in the spotlight, so you have to take advantage. I would recommend that every startup have a plan of attack for who they want to speak to, why and how. Don’t just assume you can walk around and meet people randomly, have a strategy in place.
4. Getting on Stage: For a lot of people this is a scarier proposition than death. And it is scary. But once you’ve gone on stage in front of hundreds of people to pitch your startup dream, you’ll find it gets infinitely easier. I cringe a bit watching our presentation at DEMO 2008, but the confidence I gained from that is immeasurable.
5. Line in the Sand: Launching at an event creates a more marked point in time whereby you can distinctly say, “We’ve launched.” It’s almost like your startup has two lives - Before Launch and After Launch. If you recognize this fact, and don’t get bogged down in obsessing solely about the launch, you’ll be very ready and eager to get past the launch into the real business of making your startup a success.

Click to continue →

The next Montreal Tech Entrepreneur Breakfast is scheduled for September 9th at 8am.

Please note — the location has changed.

We’ve decided to try a new place to see what it’s like. Our hope is that the space is a bit bigger and it’s a bit easier to move around. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll look for another space or go back to the original one. But in the meantime, the Montreal Tech Entrepreneur Breakfast will be held at: Boccaninos — 1251 McGill College

The Montreal Tech Entrepreneur Breakfast is for all entrepreneurs, technologists, investors and people interested in technology startups. Our last even saw the biggest turnout ever (around 40 people or so!) and I hope we’ll see many of the same faces and new ones next week.

Here are the details again:

• 8am-10am at Boccacinos on McGill College
• Facebook Group for MTEB: http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5502019497
• Facebook Event for September’s MTEB: http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=25961990039

Please do your best to RSVP on Facebook - it helps give us a sense of how many people are coming, but it’s not required.

And thank you to Tanya at Praized and Heri at Montreal Tech Watch for helping to organize the event!