JOBMATCHBOX

There are decisions driven by business priorities, then there are decisions that are just difficult to make.  Being in business involves a lot of difficult decisions that have to be made every day. 

I found this collection of social media advice links that Chris Brogran assembled to be interesting and you might too.

The next Social Matchbox event that will be held (location TBD) on Monday, June 30, 2008 and would like to hear from you.  The last event had nearly 200 people and 30 companies in attendance.  Based on the feedback we received from that last event we are going to limit the number of presenters and try to secure a location that closer to a Metro stop in the district so that more people can be there.  If you would like to volunteer or if your organization would like to become a sponsor and help with the costs associated with the event (we work hard to minimize them).  Also, if your startup company is hiring and would like to present at the event let us know now.  We allowed event registration to go up until the day of the event last time, but that is not likely - if anything we will issue a limited number of tickets and once they are gone we will cut off registration.

To get involved, or to get more information, send a note to: email@jobmatchbox.com . 

Click here for details on the the last event.

Wow, technology is really catching up with us. You can destroy your employees now.

Wait!

Today I’m participating in SocialDevCamp East in Baltimore, MD.  The crowd is different from the usual DC crowd, but there are a few familiar faces. 

Panels
There are a wide range of panel topics (The full list is available here).  While there are a lot of developers here, there are also quite a few people from across the social media spectrum who are more functional. 

This week’s featured employer is Positive Energy USA.  The folks at Positive Energy have just added eight new jobs to the jobs list here (one was here already), and for a startup that is incredible.

They an energy efficiency startup delivering products designed to make a significant dent in carbon emissions. The product they are building is intended to change the way millions of people across the country think about and use energy. They have been landing contracts with major utilities and are expanding their platform and reach.What they are building is a communication platform for utilities and state governments designed to target the half of the global warming equation that not enough people are looking at efficiency and energy demand. Their approach rests on a data warehousing and analytics engine that powers both targeted direct marketing to increase consumer response to relevant offers and behavioral science to dramatically drive down consumption.

Check out their job listings here.

I was reading an article on a content aggregator site that one of my favorite blogs lead me to today. Somewhere near the bottom of the page I found two links:

Mac vs PC - Benchmark Speed Tests (Popular Mechanics)

IBM Launches Pilot Program for Migrating to Macs (Roughly Drafted Magazine)

I didn’t even have to read the stories to get what was going on. Maybe this was because I’ve been using an iPhone over the last year. Or perhaps it was the fact that I keep letting myself get tricked into upgrading Microsoft products that are worse than the ones before, not better.

At any rate, I feel like I’m reaching a personal tipping point where I might make the switch. I wish that Popular Mechanics would have reviewed similarly equipped Linux devices. I have been thinking a lot about whether or not I want to switch to a Mac or just switch to a device running Linux. Macs may be better overall, but they are just too expensive for a small business owner to buy for their team.

I’m also not so sure that I’m on board with the whole consumer thing that Mac is pushing. I enjoy my iPhone, but if someone else came along with a device that had a better keyboard OR something decent with 3G then I’d go for that in a second.

Then there are my reservations about the impact of a shift in the social benefits of where I spend my money. PC’s are a lot less expensive than Macs. But that is just the beginning…Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates on Philanthropy is another animal entirely. Steve Jobs is amassing amazing wealth, but Bill Gates is pouring money into good causes around the world.

I don’t plan to make a switch any time soon, but these articles definitely got me thinking today.

Update:

Microsoft must have read my post!

Today I got the blue screen of death 6 times in a row…

They even followed up with a note in the bottom right corner of my screen telling me that my copy of Vista is not valid…

Next week I will be moderating a American University Entrepreneurship Series panel on Monday, April 14th, from 6:30-9pm that will cover Getting Started in Business. The panel will talk about topics that are near and dear to all entrepreneurs. If you are considering starting your own business, have started your own business, or want to hear from people who have, then this is a great event to attend.

Panelists will include former head of marketing and Bain consultant, Victor Prince, CTO/COO of WhyGoSolo, Keith Casey, social media maven and founder of Social Times, Nick O’Neill, and President of Distributive Networks, Jeff Lee.

You can register for the event here.

Did I mention that there will be free Pizza and good networking?

SOCIAL MATCHBOX DC is coming up on Monday and registration ends on Friday. This event brings in together the hottest startup companies from around the DC area and people interested them. There is even a free resume clinic for the first hour with recruiters who represent comScore, Freewebs, Hungry Machine, Positive Energy, Razoo, Siteworx and other organizations.

While there are plenty of established and well known startups that will be there (ClearSpring, comScore, FOLIOfn, Investors Without Borders, Intridea, Inc., Positive Energy, Siteworx, Viget Labs), you will find plenty of others who are looking for Co-founders to join them in their pursuit of the next big thing.

All of these companies will have 2-3 minutes to talk or 3-5 minutes to talk and show (on the overhead) what they are working on. Some like to call this middle part of the evening open mic night for startups.

The event is produced in Partnership with Jobmatchbox.com, Teqcorner, DCTechEvents and many others.

Participation is free. Registration is required.

Click Here For More Information