Steven Cox - Founder of TakeLessons. Build Something You're Proud Of

I have $5,000.00 for YOU

To: My trusted business network

I have a cool $5,000 for someone - maybe you!

What's the catch?

Our company, TakeLessons, is growing like crazy (another year with over 100% growth in 2011) and we're looking for a rockstar VP of Marketing.

As one of my trusted business associates, I wanted to reach out to you to see if you might know of someone interested in an unbelievable opportunity to make a significant impact on a hot, growing company - and I'll pay you $5,000 for an intro.

Here's what we're looking for. This person has:

- Deep experience leading a consumer internet marketing division.
- Expertise at driving customer acquisition through SEM, SEO, Email, and other forms of digital marketing.
- Ability to lead and grow a team
- Experience driving revenues from $20mm to $100mm
- Experience as a Sr. Director or VP at a well known consumer site/brand is a big plus.
- Experience selling services a big plus

Here's how to earn the $5,000

- Think about people you know who might fit the description - even if they're not looking for a job
- Introduce us
- I'll follow up with them about the opportunity
- If we end up hiring them, I'll write you a check.

 
Here's an email you can cut and paste to send to your contacts:

Hi _________,

A great opportunity for a VP of Marketing just came across my desk and I wanted to share it with you in case you, or someone you know, might be looking to make a career move.

TakeLessons.com is America's leading music lessons company, providing in-person lessons in over 3,000 cities across the USA. They drive their sales online, and the service is delivered by certified teachers in person at the customers' residence or teachers studio.

The company has 93 employees, located in a cool office in downtown San Diego, and  is backed by the same venture capital firms that backed Pandora, Facebook, Twitter, and other internet powerhouses.

They are looking for a rockstar VP Marketing to help take them to the next level of growth and I thought about you. Here's what they are looking for:

Someone that has:
- Deep experience leading a consumer internet marketing division.
- Expertise at driving customer acquisition through SEM, SEO, Email, and other forms of digital marketing.
- Ability to lead and grow a team
- Experience driving revenues from $20mm to $100mm
- Experience as a Sr. Director or VP at a well known consumer site/brand is a big plus.
- Experience selling services a big plus

Full job description at: http://bit.ly/wLqSBl

Let me know if you're interested and I can make a personal intro to Steven Cox, CEO.

---------------------------

Thanks for all your help! Looking forward to paying someone $5,000!

Steven (at) takelessons (dot) <com>

Steven Cox Interview on The Big Biz TV Show

TV Interview: I had an opportunity to share the TakeLessons story with Sully and Russ of The Big Biz TV show last week. In the interview, we talked about the problems that TakeLessons solves for customers and musicians. We then talked about how we got started and our funding raise with CrossLink Capital.

 

Click here for a full transcription

What Do the Employees of TakeLessons Do in their Spare Time?

They use their lunch hour to record Christmas music in the TakeLessons Jam Room! Listen now.

 

Last Christmas: Everyone II by JasonHears

San Diego Startup Event: Joe Kraus and Michael Robertson The difference between a big company and a startup

 

http://StevenCox.com: Internet celebrities, Joe Kraus and Michael Robertson talk about the difference between working for a company and working at a startup.

This video was shot at the 10x100x100 San Diego Start-Up event in December 2011, hosted by Sweet Labs, with support from TakeLessons, Brightscope, and other San Diego Startups.

The purpose of the event was to showcase 10 San Diego startup companies that have raised $100mm in funding, and looking to hire 100 new people.

 

 

Related articles

• Steven Cox Interview on Fox 5 News - Finding the Right San Diego StartUp Company to Work For (stevencox.com)
• San Diego Tech Startup Launch Quickpitch Event (stevencox.com)
• San Diego Startup Changes the Way America Gives (prweb.com)
• Google Ventures Leads $500K Seed Round for San Diego's Nettle (xconomy.com)

Steven Cox Interview on Fox 5 News - Finding the Right San Diego StartUp Company to Work For

 

 

http://StevenCox.com. Even with the unemployment rate in San Diego hovering around 10%, the city's startup scene is bustling with activity and creating new jobs for San Diegans. TakeLessons.com CEO, Steven Cox, talks about the 10x100x100 event where 10 startup companies that have collectively raised over $100 million in venture capital and will be hiring 100 new employees next year.

A lot of technical and web people move to the San Francisco area to find work, but you're saying there's work right here and they don't have to move?
• That's Right!
• Cheaper to buy and rent housing here than in other hotbeds such as SV, NYC.
• A lot of startups are hiring

What's it like working for a startup?
• Incredible! Faster pace. Quicker decisions. My startup: http://TakeLessons.com

For College Graduates:
o Instead of making coffee, make a difference.
o No cogs in the wheel
o Chance to work on things at a young age -- (BEST BUY example)

For Senior people
o A chance to take your knowledge and build something you're proud of.
o Make a positive, lasting impact.
o Grow leaders underneath you.
o Potential stock upside

Everyday, I wake up thankful that I get to go to work.
o Focused on building the new sort of company.
• A company with a conscious.
• A company that makes more than money, it makes a positive difference.
o Awesome people all focused on building a great company.
o Super laid-back dress code.
o No politics.

A lot of young Internet companies didn't make it in the dotcom crash. What should a job prospect consider when looking at startups?

Not all startups are created equal.
• Management -- is there adult supervision? People who have built and ran companies before.
• Culture -- Do they have a strong sense of purpose, yet flexible enough to change on a dime.
• Funding -- are they well-funded. http://CrossLinkCapital.com
• Product or Service -- is it something that truly adds value to people's lives?

What type of jobs do startups hire for and what tips do you have on landing a job there?
• Big focus on Software engineering, product management and developmet, IT
• Marketing, Sales, Customer Support, Finance, HR

Tell us a little bit about the 10 x 100 x 100 event.
• StartupsAreBetter.com
• 6pm Dec 1 at Sweet Labs (http://sweetlabs.com)
• Joe Kraus -- Google Ventures focused on mobile, gaming, local services
• Michael Robertson -- SD Local tech hero. MP3.com
• Focused on engineering and product talent

More information can be found at these sites:
http://10x100x100 and http://StevenCox.com

What's it Like Working for a Startup?

Come find out this Thursday December 1st!

Our friends at SweetLabs have banded together with ten top San Diego startups (including TakeLessons) that have collectively raised over $100 million in venture capital and looking to hire for 100 new positions.

Visit this site to register.

Why are we doing this?

We want to get the message out that you don't have to move to the Bay area to find an awesome job!

San Diego tech startups are creating new jobs right here in our backyard, in the midst of one of the worst economic times we’ve ever seen.

While big companies (i.e. HP laid off 500 San Diego employees last month) continue to struggle, local entrepreneurs and innovators have been able to build disruptive startups, secure funding, and create new jobs.

We’ve joined forces for this event with 9 other startups who have collectively raised $100 million in venture capital and have created more than 100 new jobs for San Diego. 

 San Diego’s not only a great place to live, but a great place to innovate. We’re shining a spotlight on the local technology startup community.

We all know that San Diego is the best place to live, and we want to show Silicon Valley and the rest of the world that you don’t have to sacrifice quality-of –life and settle for congested freeways and bad weather in order to work for an exciting, life-changing company that’s on the cutting-edge.

People think of San Diego as strictly a biotech town or a military town (or a lazy beach town) and assume that only interesting technology companies are in Silicon Valley. But in fact there are a number of great, innovative startups in San Diego doing really interesting things.

At SweetLabs, for instance, they’re re-inventing the PC by bringing the modern app experience to the desktop, so that anyone can enjoy services like Facebook or Twitter or Groupon with the same ease and elegance they enjoy on their mobile devices.  They have a great group of investors led by Google and Intel, and plan on doubling their staff over the next twelve months.

 BrightScope helps you make critical (yet too often confusing and ignored) financial decisions, such as retirement plans and wealth management.They are led by a great group of people and will be adding new people next year.

Here at TakeLessons,we're the nation's largest music lessons company, and provide the leading online platform for connecting anyone who wants to learn music with safe, certified music teachers. Backed by Silicon Valley venture capital heavyweights, CrossLink Capital (think Pandora) and SofTech Ventures (Twitter, Facebook, Groupon), we're building our teams in tech, sales, support, marketing, and product development. We're currently at 75 people and plan on adding 60-75 new people next year. 

Deal Current Network is the fastest growing white label daily deal software provider in the US and Canada. Deal Current provides deal software, deal inventory, deal distribution, and expert training to over 200 publishers. Their goal is to be the largest deal distribution network in the US in 2012. They are hiring for positions immediately.

Related articles

• Upcoming Events for San Diego Start Ups (stevencox.com)
• San Diego Tech Startup Launch Quickpitch Event (stevencox.com)
• Music Lessons Start Up Wins $20,000 (prweb.com)
• Intel Capital Leads $13M Round for SweetLabs in Bid to Re-Invent Desktop Experience (xconomy.com)
• Job growth is dependent on Start-ups (kauffman foundation)

Mary Meeker's internet trends presentation at Web 2.0 Summit

Mary Meeker, one of the most interesting forecasters, gave a presentation on her view of where the internet is going.

A stat I found fascinating is that ecommerce makes up less than 10% of the total pie. That means there's still a long way to go before we reach an equilibrium point. When you consider that services, as an industry, is far behind products when it comes to online commerce, it bodes well for companies like TakeLessons, Limos.com, Kitchit, and othes that are looking to create service brands that customers can trust.

I believe we're still in the early days of Service Commerce for the web and mobile.

Complete coverage at VentureBeat

Download Mary-Meeker-Internet-Trends-2011

 

 

 

Map of San Diego Tech Start-Ups

Fellow entrepreneur, Michael Bastos put together a map mashup of SD Tech Company locations. We're seeing a concentration of start-ups downtown near the Gaslamp district.

Note to Mayor Jerry Sanders: the city should work on attracting more start-ups to downtown / Little Italy / East Village by offering discounts on parking, tax incentives, etc. Make it a hub of activity and attract more jobs downtown!

Thanks Mike!

Today is TakeLessons' 5 year Anniversary

What a great week this is starting off to be! It's our 5 year anniversary for TakeLessons. Here's a short note I shared with the team:

---------------

Hi team,

I walked in the office today greeted by streamers and giant balloons. It's our 5 year birthday!

While we got started building out the site earlier (2005), we officially incorporated in the summer of 2006. At that time, there were just a couple people working on the project and our office was a Starbucks. We'd get together once a week and talk about how we wanted to build a great company, and set action plans on how to get there. 

Since then, we've been through a few rough spots and many, many wonderful experiences. I'm very proud of what we've been able to accomplish together and every day, I wake up excited at the road ahead of us. No doubt, there will be a few more struggles along the way, but it's the struggles that help us realize how fortunate we are. It is our difficulties that help us be appreciative of our blessings.

Today, I sing your praises. Each and every one of you. It's your effort, commitment, and perseverance that has enabled us to push forward on our path. And I'm thrilled to be moving forward with you. For a road traveled alone gets more and more solitary with each step, unless you're able to travel the road with others. And arriving at the destination is never what is remembered. It's the journey along the way. It's the memories you share with incredible people that makes it worth taking that very first step. 

Thanks for all your work, effort, thought, and strength.

Today, go build something you're proud of.

Steven

PS: Company barbecue on Friday!!! Stay hungry my friends.

Strategic Partnerships with Big Companies

Recently, our company has been fortunate enough to strike deals with channel partners that should help us in our quest to become the "Starbucks of Music Lessons". Starting in August, TakeLessons will be giving in-store lessons in conjunction with our partners. The service will provide certified TakeLessons local music instructors to thousands of kids and adults throughout the country. Partners include:

• TakeLessons at Best Buy
• Child Time
• Tutor Time
• La Petite Academy
• Montessori Unlimited
• Childrens Courtyard

From a business perspective, cutting strategic deals is part art coupled with a ton of hard work. The video below walks you through some of the things we've learned over the past 2 years while negotiating with our partners. Main points include:

• Have persistence
• Focus on providing true value for the partner
• It's a long process getting to yes. Don't get discouraged.
• Build multiple relationships inside the channel partner
• Get a good legal team
• Don't spend cash until the deal is signed