Random

I’ve been a long time practitioner of having “random meetings ” where I meet with whomever wants to get together with me. Some amazing things have come out of this over the years, including my first meeting with David Cohen which turned into TechStars . I’ve decided to try something different for the next few months. Rather than having random days in my office, I’m going to have “community hours” in the Bunker (the TechStars office) once a month. The TechStars space is big enough for people to hang out and mingle (unlike my office) so it’s easier for groups to hang out and meet each other, in addition to spending time with me. I’ve always loved the idea of “professors office hours” – this is the closest I could come to simulating it in my little section of the universe. ...

I had a dream last night. In it, I was sitting in front of an old PC. I typed: c: cd\ copy con config.sys files=255 buffers=32 I can’t remember much more of the dream. But – I do remember typing this. My dream must have been about something in 1991.

Or were you recently fired or laid off? Or are you an analyst (especially someone in the typical two year pre-business school programs) at a consulting firm that hates your job? One of my investments – Zynga – is hiring like crazy and wants to talk to you – we’ve hired a few folks like you and they’ve worked out great. The job spec follows – if you are interested email your resume to jobs@zynga.com . ...

Last week I did an interview on Rally Cafe with Chris Spagnuolo . Some of the questions came from real time tweets to the show but we didn’t get to a handful. Chris just emailed them to me – I figured I’d do a quick job of picking them off for those that asked or were following the show. @jordanmuela What does Brad view as common themes in the investments (companies) that have failed? My failures have several common characteristics (note that these are applicable only to me – plenty of other entrepreneurs and investors have made plenty of money in these areas.) I’ve consistently failed when I’ve invested in companies (a) in markets / segments that I know nothing about, (b) founded / run by people that I don’t like / enjoy spending time with, (c) that are “rollups” – where the company is trying to consolidate an industry focused on “rolling up” a bunch of small companies into one larger business, (d) based in Europe. What “didn’t work” is one of the things that informs our thematic approach at Foundry Group . ...

I’m having more and more Atlas Shrugged moments these days. Today’s was courtesy of an add on LinkedIn. My first response to the ad was “I’m not sure I want to see my concerns addresses by the White House.” The White House – after all, is a building. It turns out that this is an event that is titled “The Effects of Health Care Reform on Small Business.” ...

If you are an independent contractor that is a Java stud, email me . I’m specifically looking for someone with familiarity with Vignette 7, Weblogic 9, Javascript, Ajax, and .NET web services.

Yesterday I posted that Trada is looking for a Test Engineer . Gnip is also looking for software developers – three in fact: Senior Software Developer Senior System Adminstrator Senior Web Developer If you are Boulder-based and fit the qualifications, email Jenny-Lynne Elledge .

Trada, one of our portfolio companies in Boulder, is looking to hire. They’re looking for a tech-skilled individual who thinks they can do just about everything, because they might be asked to. Primary role is testing their online advertising app but there’s a huge opportunity to contribute much more. There’s dev work; cloud systems admin; operations tasks; end-user support; and customer facing account management tasks that can be added to the mix for the properly skilled (and properly motivated) individual. While still in stealth these guys are already rocking. Interested – contact Michael Lawless at mlawless@trada.com .

Slice of Lime is looking to for Flash/Flex/PHP designer who is also a programmer at heart. If this is you, apply now !

One of our portfolio companies – Zynga – is looking for great game producers. Mark Pincus, Zynga’s CEO writes about it on his blog . “We are open to anyone from game industry, consumer internet or i-banking analysts and associates or mgt consultants. You should be numbers oriented, love games and have a competitive spirit. Our company is a meritocracy where those delivering great results advance fast.” If you are in the bay area and fit this profile, drop an email to flo@zynga.com .