Developer Auction Hires 19 Year Old Thiel Fellow As COO

Developer Auction Hires 19 Year Old Thiel Fellow As COO(techcrunch.com)

36 points by allangrant 13 years ago | 11 comments

lightyrs 13 years ago |

I think this is an interesting model and Sujay definitely seems like a talented fellow, however, am I the only one repulsed by the name "Developer Auction"?

It makes me think of another kind of auction of human labor — Slave Auction. I don't like the objectification of talented engineers or humans in general.

rdl 13 years ago | |

Auctions are the most efficient way to do price discovery for unique or difficult to price assets. I'd sure rather be a "unique and difficult to price asset" than a commodity, cog, etc.

lightyrs 13 years ago | | |

I'm not arguing about the semantic validity of the name. Brands are about more than their semantic meaning, namely, the perceptions they generate. Developer Auction makes me think of Slave Auction. That's not good.

tazzy531 13 years ago |

Feedback on the Developer Auction site:

Why does it insist on me creating a profile for me to navigate around the site? I'd like to figure out how it works before I commit to creating a profile.

Secondly, if a profile is created, why are "Why are you interested in new job opportunities?" and "When are you available to start a new full-time job (if the right opportunity comes along)?" required fields?

There is no indication on the profile creation page who will actually view this data and because of that, I will end up closing the browser and moving on. To raise conversion, it would be more beneficial to allow people to create a profile and then put themselves on the market at a point that they decide.

Just a thought...

minimaxir 13 years ago | |

My rule of thumb with startups: if a UX interaction seems intrusive or unintuitive, it's probably "growth hacking."

allangrant 13 years ago | |

> To raise conversion, it would be more beneficial to allow people to create a profile and then put themselves on the market at a point that they decide.

That is exactly how it works, although it sounds like we did not do a good job communicating it.

- first you create a profile, and submit it for review (not visible to ANYONE except for site admins at this point)

- receive an invitation to participate in an auction

- opt-in to the auction

- only then, when an auction starts, your profile will visible (and only to pre-approved employers during the course of the two week auction)

Thanks for the suggestion - we need to communicate this more clearly during the signup flow.

tazzy531 13 years ago | | |

I understand that's exactly how it works. I was just pointing out the friction points.

The example that I pointed out is a major cognitive leap for an user and you'll see a high drop off rate at that point. For an user like me, I'm happy with my current position for the moment and I haven't thought about what time frame I am looking to make a jump but I may be willing to make a jump if the right opportunity comes along. The question of "When are you available to start a new full-time job?" is a major turnoff for me because I haven't made the cognitive leap to actually apply for a job.

DeveloperAuction should be in the position of collecting as many highly qualified people as they can whether or not they are actively looking. Over time, you can use this database to raise conversion by tempting/teasing the people in your system. Example: "Hey, XYZ, I know you said you aren't currently on the market, but there are these 8 companies that are looking for your EXACT skillset, might you reconsider?" What you'll find is that top talent are never actually "looking" but rather a better offer comes their way.

Also, I'm on the belief that registration forms should not turn people away (via required fields/errors) but rather encourage people to provide more information to gain more functionality (ie "Please tell us these information to submit your profile for review" or "You're 90% of the way there, provide this information to get closer to completing your profile.")

Anyways, just a thought. Best of luck to you guys.

minimaxir 13 years ago |

Honest question, because I'm confused and still don't understand HN completely:

Why was Sujay's age added to the title of the submission when his age isn't even mentioned at all in the original article?

drtse4 13 years ago | |

I tend to automatically flag posts with a title like this one, usually devoid of any content worth reading.

See this recently killed post: http://vishnumenon.com/2013/01/21/im-35-months-old-and-i-mad...

HN discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5093365

minimaxir 13 years ago | | |

Thanks for that, looks like I missed it.

jvrossb 13 years ago |

Sujay is a good friend and top knotch guy. Developer Auction is lucky to have him.