Those of you who visit regularly, or who subscribe to our automated email alerts, know firsthand that there are thousands of job openings at venture backed companies with hundreds more added each week.  One compelling aspect of the venture ecosystem is that certain companies eventually break ahead of the pack.  Identifying these companies is of course a difficult task; however, hitching your career to a rising star can lead to phenomenally positive results – rewarding work, career advancement, endless opportunity, and financial wealth.  While company financial statements provide the optimal guidance here, this data is unavailable to the public and is rarely shared with employees.   Job creation, on the other hand, is directionally available in the form of job postings which provide the best available public proxy for company growth.

All that is still relevant today, and perhaps even more so.

So today, like we did last year, we’re announcing our fastest growing startups in several metro areas, based on the number of job openings in the last quarter.We think that’s the best indicator of growth of a startup company. Check out the companies, ranked in order of the most job postings, below:

In the San Francisco Area: Zynga, Silver Spring Networks, Solyndra, Force10 Networks, Tesla Motors, Twitter, Facebook

In the Boston Area: Acceleron Pharma, PatientKeeper, Communispace, Stratus Technologies, Crossbeam Systems, Acquia, Zipcar

In New York: Gilt Groupe, Liquidnet Holdings, Etsy, ContextWeb, Datran Media, Undertone Networks, Howcast Media

In the DC Area: LogiXML, Plateau Systems, MacroGenics, K2M, Cvent, OPOWER

In the Seattle Area: The Cobalt Group, Parallels, WhitePages.com, Varolii Corporation, Redfin, Avalara, WildTangent

In the Philadelphia Area: Vitalize Consulting Solutions, Octagon Research Solutions, Globus Medical, ICG Commerce, Precyse Solutions

In the Austin Area: Bazaarvoice, Gowalla, NetSpend, Mystic Pharmaceuticals, uShip, Convio, LibreDigital, BreakingPoint Systems

In the Atlanta Area: SecureWorks, AllConnect, Suniva, Silverpop Systems, Cypress Care, Air2Web

Based on this, I think we can say that it’s a great time to be working at a startup company. To see available jobs at any of these companies, just click on their names.

We started off by asking her a few questions about her professional career:

Growing up in Silicon Valley, I was fortunate to have a number of good contacts when it came time to finish college and join the workforce.  My first “real job” after college was with a tech start-up in Sunnyvale, CA.  To this day, it is one of my greatest professional experiences.  After two years at start-ups, I began working in Banking.  I promoted up through 3 different Banks and managed a portfolio of clients including high-tech start-ups and venture capital firms.  Following my 7 years in Banking, I moved into Management Consulting for entrepreneurs and small business in San Francisco, CA.  I’m currently looking for new professional opportunities – especially in the East Coast and Europe.

Roxana also provided some insight for those looking to work for a startup company.

My recommendation for job seekers, though it may be cliché, is to continuously network. Don’t be afraid to be aggressive about following up with the employers, as well – particularly if you’re applying for a sales, business development or management role.  The company wants to be sure you’ll “get it done” once you come on board, so why not show them how persistent you really are.  Additionally, I recommend interviewing the employer, while they interview you.  You want to make sure the start-up you join has dedicated investors and is well-capitalized.  You want to make sure your manager, team and company culture are a good fit for you, too.

How does Roxana plan to use her iPad?

I plan to use my iPad the same way everyone else does… explore all of its features and then brag about how awesome it is!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our iPad giveaway! Keep following StartUpHire for more exciting updates throughout the summer and fall.



Rooftop Media draws their expertise through creative and cost-effective campaigns that provide contemporary comedy to media and advertising outlets. They have an unparalleled connection with comedy from all over the globe, which allows them to hand pick the best comedic routines and deliver custom programming to their clients.

Surely they’d like to keep a few of the funny people for themselves,  according to the description in their latest job opening:

Responsibilities include:

Coming up with funny crap to put on the web
Making a mean cup of coffee. Or knowing where you can buy one
Running errands, being reasonably helpful, or just chilling out around the office
Ability to lift up to 64 ounces

Must prefer “Coffee and Donuts Dude” job title to “Barista”, “Barist-o”, “Beverage Specialist” or “Executive Vice President”.

Think you have the wit to keep up with Rooftop Media? Click here for more information.

Can you share the company’s elevator pitch with us?

Truecar.com is a new car pricing site that gives car shoppers absolute price confidence around their purchase decision by showing them what other people have paid for the same car within the last 30 days. The site is beneficial for both consumers and dealers because it provides trust and clarity around the car buying transaction. Informed consumers are more likely to buy, and dealers who embrace upfront pricing are likely to sell more cars without sacrificing margin. In addition, Truecar.com conducts some of the most accurate automotive sales forecasting in the industry and conducts and distributes notable research on industry trends. Truecar.com is the authority in new car pricing.

How did the company get started?

Truecar.com was incubated out of Zag.com in 2009 to further CEO/Founder Scott Painter’s mission of improving the car buying process for both consumer and dealers. Zag.com powers auto buying programs for some of the nation’s leading and far-reaching brands including USAA, American Express, several AAA Clubs, Ovestock.com and 45 others. Today, over 90% of car shoppers begin their process on the internet. The industry and the web get an A plus for the distribution of product information. As a result of this, the primary online activity of in-market car shoppers has shifted to price discovery, the immediate step prior to making a purchase. This is where TrueCar.com comes in to play. Much like sites like Zillow and Pricegrabber, TrueCar.com is a pricing tool for consumers and retailers.

Who had the idea?

The idea belongs to Scott Painter. Scott Painter is passionate about cars, direct-to-consumer businesses and technology, and his expertise lie where those three converge. He is drawn to big, game-changing ideas that solve big problems or make an experience better and he lives by one rule: Transform the car buying process by bringing truth and transparency to the automotive industry. Scott’s a car guy, he even started his own detailing business when he was 14, just for the thrill of driving the nice cars in his neighborhood up his driveway. Scott later founded Carsdirect.com, leading to the first generation of online car sites and propelling the world’s major automotive manufacturers and their franchised dealerships to embrace the internet. What Scott realized through these businesses was that the joy and excitement of owning a new car was antithetical to the car buying process, that’s why zag.com and truecar.com were born, to make car buying easier, better and dare we say, more fun.

Was there an “A Ha!” moment?

The “aha” moment was when Scott realized that there was a vacuum in the industry for the robust, detailed pricing information that truecar.com offers. Product information is easy to find, but pricing information isn’t. In the end, every consumer wants the peace of mind of knowing what a good price is for a product, especially on a high-ticket item where negotiation is involved. Scott believes that the new car has become a commodity, the same BMW 5 series you buy in Dallas, is the same BMW 5 series you buy in Beverly Hills, so why is it that two people visiting the same dealership on the same day pay two vastly different prices? That’s why pricing information is so valuable, and that’s why Truecar.com is so valuable.

Tell us about your funding history.

Truecar.com is a fully funded company and recently closed a $30M round of financing. This financing will provide the company with additional expansion and acquisition capital.

How many employees do you have?

We are 40 and growing. In October 2009 there were only 17 employees.

Where are they based?
Santa Monica, California.

How would you describe work life at the company?
Collaborative, fast paced, flexible, adaptable, pro-active, and meaningful. As a company, we’re upbeat, passionate and energetic.

For which roles or functions are you hiring?
Technology:
System Administrator
Quality Assurance
And, always Developers (mostly Flex &/or Python)

What do you look for in potential employees?

First the experience, knowledge, education and skills (we only hire SMEs), then where they have worked (is it a natural segue?) and for how long (will they stick around?). After that we screen for determination, initiative, innovation, passion, integrity, customer focused, excellence of execution & collaboration.

Do you have any advice for folks new to startup employment?

It’s a very personal atmosphere. You’ll work hard and you will see the fruits of your labor and you’ll probably be wearing a few hats. It’s an exciting place to be. If you’re at Truecar.com, you’ll watch the company grow in size and stature and you will be a crucial part of the success. We are constantly recognizing the hard work of our employees, they are what drives us forward.

What’s the one thing you would like readers to remember about the company?

TrueCar is focused on improving the time-consuming and frustrating task of buying a car so consumers know they received a fair deal. If you’re passionate, dedicated, you work hard and you like to have fun, then we would like you to come along for the ride with us.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

Go to Truecar.com and check out what we do. We hope you’re as excited as we are.

The latest season begins (spoiler alert for those who haven’t watched!) with the main characters launching a startup ad agency. Here are a few things that USA Today appreciates about the way Don Draper and friends go about building a new company:

Balance team strengths. Don Draper is the driving force behind the new agency, but he’s not an account manager, administrator, or designer. That’s why they’ve pulled together a whole team. All too often, start-up entrepreneurs think they can do it all. They can’t. You can’t. If you want to build a company with a real future, find people who balance your weaknesses.

Stay flexible. When it looks like they may lose an account, one staffer says, “Does this mean I have to cut back to two days a week?” They clearly understood — even in the 1960′s when part-timer employees were unusual — that they might have to expand or shrink staff quickly to meet their needs. And they don’t spend money on an expensive conference table.

Of course, for the sake of television, there must be pitfalls. However, the same issues that are bound to impede the Mad Men entrepreneurs are likely to hinder startups in real life as well.

Lack of staff diversity. Peggy Olsen is their one and only professional who’s not a straight white male. She brings a fresh, different, money-making point-of-view. But even today, long after the Civil Rights laws of the late 1960′s, start-ups (especially tech start-ups) still are composed entirely of only one type of person. Wrong then. Wrong now.

Partner with people you don’t trust. I don’t have access to future scripts, but I can see problems ahead for our “Mad Men” crew. Many of the key players don’t trust or respect each other. Makes for good drama — but do you really want that much drama in your new business?

By trusting all of your employees to make good decisions, interests will align and dramatically improve the value of your enterprise.

Will these Mad Men entrepreneurs be successful? Next time you kick back and relax to watch the latest episode, you may be learning more than you expected.

“Leveraging Social Media Tools to Recruit Top Talent” enforces how valuable an asset social media truly is:

By following relevant people and igniting conversations, organizations can begin to create a healthy level of influence over their brand – a clear best practices in the social media sphere. Moreover, companies can determine what type of information fuels the jobseekers’ interest by listening to the candidates and then provide that content on their social media platforms.

Companies can search for talent all over the globe to find the right candidates. Job seekers can create their own platform where they can receive direct contact from employers. But most importantly, how can all of this translate into social media strategy that is important and relevant to startups?

Social networks have made it much easier to spread the news about innovative products that come from startups which previously got lost in the shuffle when overshadowed by larger, more established companies, even if the startups provided a far superior product. In the realm of social media, startups are on a more level playing field with any other given company. To successfully leverage these networks, startups simply need to place their innovations in the hands of the correct users. If you are able to find out who needs your product, and why, you can create the most gratifying experience for your users.

If you focus primarily on doing the right thing for your customers, you can effectively use social media to enhance these customer relationships.

Any social media strategies we haven’t touched on? We’d love to hear from you.

It’s a simple fact – the best candidates for job openings often come from people you or your coworkers already know. And while a job board (like StartUpHire) is a great place for those who are actively searching, no one really has cracked the inherent social aspect of finding the best candidates for job openings. Until now, that is.

Today, StartUpHire is launching a new social media tool that will allow companies, VCs, and others, to publicize jobs at a company through the social networks they already use, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It’s like telling everyone in your address book that there are job openings at your company automatically—all it takes is a simple, 2-minute setup, and you’re done.

This is done in two different ways. First, employers can connect StartUpHire to their company’s official social networking accounts. Every time a job is posted on StartUpHire it will automatically be posted on the company’s social networks.

Second, and even more exciting, employers can send a link to their team, or anyone else for that matter, so they can become a “supporter” of that company. This extends the company’s reach further. Using this feature every time a job is posted on the StartUpHire website, the job gets broadcast to all of the friends of the company’s supporters. As an example, a hiring manager could enable StartUpHire to post openings on the manager’s social media accounts. That hiring manager could also pass the link along to their staff and friends, broadening the reach of the posting even further.

By not only leveraging your official business accounts, but also giving employees a simple, hassle-free way of supporting your company by publicizing your job posts, we think we can increase the quality (and quantity) of applicants—just using the social media you already use, all at no extra cost.

If you’re an employer or VC, use this innovative tool by logging into your account on StartUpHire. Simply click the “Employers” tab and head to the social media section, where you will find the links to various social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn). By turning any of these networks on, you have instantly broadened the network of people who are exposed to the employment opportunities with your company.

Can you share the company’s elevator pitch with us?

Avvo’s mission is to help people navigate the complex and confusing legal industry by providing more information and better guidance than they’ve ever had access to before. Avvo helps people whether they are simply researching their legal issue, looking for personalized advice or actually need to choose the right lawyer. Featuring the world’s largest legal directory, Avvo rates and profiles nearly every lawyer in the United States, provides unbiased client reviews of attorneys, disciplinary records and offers a free Q&A platform where consumers can get answers to legal questions from attorneys for free.

For lawyers, Avvo is a great place for attorneys to set themselves apart from other lawyers and attract new clients.

How did the company get started? Who had the idea? Was there an “A Ha!” moment?

Avvo founder and CEO, Mark Britton, is a 17-year lawyer and the former top lawyer at Expedia. During his entire career he has helped family and friends make good choices regarding their legal issues. In 2004, Britton took time off from work to teach finance in Italy. Gone for a year with an Atlantic Ocean in between, people were still reaching out to him for help with their legal issues, particularly how to choose the right lawyer. At that time, Britton realized this must be a real problem for many people – not just those within his own network. After conducting preliminary research, Britton discovered the Yellow Pages was still one of the top resources for consumers. Anytime the Yellow Pages is a top information resource for consumers, you know there is a problem. Recognizing an opportunity to start something revolutionary, Britton returned to the states in 2005, assembled a team and began planning for the launch of Avvo in June of 2006.

Tell us about your funding history.

May 24, 2006: Round 1 (Series A) financing of $3M from Benchmark Capital

April 19, 2007: Round 2 (Series B) financing of $10M from Ignition Partners and Benchmark Capital

March 17, 2010: Round 3 (Series C) financing of $10M from DAG Ventures, Benchmark Capital and Ignition Partners

How many employees do you have? Where are they based?

Avvo has 40 employees all based out of the company’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington

How would you describe work life at the company?

The team at Avvo is a tight-knit group that has grown up under the work hard/play hard mindset. We have an unusually high concentration of young families – currently with 4 babies on the way – so lifestyle and company policy centers around flexibility to manage everything.

What do you look for in potential employees?

In general we’re looking for smarts and “startup DNA” which includes being a self-starter, risk taker, flexible, innovative and creative with the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, less structured environment. Other important characteristics include integrity and honesty, passion, willingness to work with a team, open and respectful through actions and words and accountable for commitments, quality of work and results.

For what positions are you currently hiring?

Software Developer

Vice President of Marketing

Data Entry Specialist

Do you have any advice for folks new to startup employment?

Working at a startup is exciting, rewarding and sometimes even unpredictable. Be prepared to wear many hats, be challenged to do your best every day and catch the entrepreneurial spirit that drives the team’s success. Important decisions made by committee that keep everyone happy through compromise are impotent. When debating strategies or tactics disagree openly, honestly and bluntly but get on the damn bus once a decision is made.

What’s the one thing you would like readers to remember about the company?

Avvo grew from concept to market leader in a period of 3 years.  We did this by simply building a great product that people really needed (in our case, the information to make their legal decisions with confidence).  That’s not a particularly sophisticated or complex strategy, but one that always works.

Here’s how author John Warrilow weighs in:

It was fun to watch South Africa play soccer in the opening round of the World Cup. The South Africans have never been a particularly strong soccer nation, but their team was determined and unified. The stadium was packed to the gills, with tens of thousands of people all desperate to see their team win. And as the cameras panned around the countryside and in the bars and on the streets, it seemed to me that all of South Africa shared a common goal.

It reminded me of the feeling you get when you’re in a company and everybody knows what the target is and everyone is motivated to achieve it. It also reminded me of the time I was misaligned with my general manager and how disruptive that was.

Warrilow recounts an experience he faced in which he encountered differences and eventual problems with a general manager, Chris, with whom he had worked flawlessly with in the past. As a result of some decisions made, the two ended up on entirely different pages, with a handful of employees on each of their sides. The whole conflict resulted in a loss of client relationships and what the author describes as a “fractured company.”

Goal alignment is something to strive for in any work environment, because  it’s breeding grounds for healthy and productive employee relationships. Managers who establish open communication with each other and a sense of alliance with their employees will help to inspire these employee’s performance. This subject is very pertinent to startups, because bad communication can kill you as quickly as a poor product.

As demonstrated in “When Goals are Misaligned,” different objectives can easily lead to a sticky situation within any company, particularly those of startup nature.

Chris was a superb performer when our goals were aligned, but as my goals changed and we became misaligned, the same things that had made Chris an outstanding performer—tenacity, drive and passion—made him a formidable thorn in my side.

Let the World Cup be a lesson to us all: There’s no “I” in team.