If you know of senior level business and technical professionals looking for exciting startup opportunities, they can sign up here: http://eepurl.com/hVpW.

**Correction:  Last week's CTO position at Modcloth is actually a San Francisco opportunity, not Pittsburgh.

VP of Business Development, DNAnexus - Palo Alto, California

In the not too distant future, everything will be determined by your DNA--your  job,  what retro 50's decor you'll buy, how tightly you'll slick back your hair, whether or not you can date Uma Thurman... Welcome to Gat-- I mean ...DNAnexus.  

Your interview will, in fact, be conducted by a scientist.  Please use a cotton swab or Qtip, rub the inside of your mouth vigorously, and swipe the wet end across our online jobs page.  Your results, thanks to our high performance compute cloud should be available within an hour.

DNAnexus (www.dnanexus.com) is pioneering the combination of cloud computing and whole-genome DNA sequence analysis. Founded by leading bioinformatics professors at Stanford University, the company enables scientists and researchers to perform high-throughput sequence analysis quickly and easily. By managing the storage and analysis of sequence data, DNAnexus allows life science researchers to focus on what matters to them most: understanding the functioning and genetic basis of life, instead of worry about data center issues.
DNAnexus is recruiting an experienced leader to take charge of their business development efforts. The ideal candidate is already familiar with the complexities of the life sciences landscape and has developed relationships at sequencing tools and assays companies, biotechnology and commercial life sciences firms, and sequencing centers. Your responsibilities will include:

- Forming strategic partnerships with sequencing tools and assays companies

- Identifying and establishing relationships with leading genome research centers in both academia and commercial life sciences

- Refining the company's pricing model

Interested candidates should e-mail keyhirewire@firstround.com with "DNAnexus VBD" in the subject.

---

Senior VP of Operations/COO – ROBLOX - San Francisco, CA

Tree forts.
Wooden blocks.
Erector Set.
Tinker Toys.
Capsela.
Legos.

For years, young kids have been architecting mini-universes, stomping on them, getting small pieces caught in vacuum cleaners, and rebuilding all over again.  Now, all of that construction and destruction has moved online.

Unfortunately, you cannot be told what ROBLOX is, you have to see if for yourself.  (Check out the highly entertaining front page video.)

ROBLOX (www.roblox.com) is a web/game startup in Silicon Valley that you have probably never heard of--unless you were an eight year old boy, in which case you're probably not qualified for this position.  We are one of the fastest growing game and kid sites in 2009, according to comScore. We are also one of the stickiest sites on the internet.

Each month over 2 million unique visitors come to our site.  Our revenues have increased every quarter for the past two years.

Our team includes 12 top-notch engineers from NVidia, Microsoft, Stanford, Berkeley and Cornell.  Thousands of our users create interesting content every day.  We have a deep technology stack. Our team dabbles in everything from S3 and EC2 cloud services to SIMD and assembly code. On top of that throw in a bunch of web servers and SQL databases, cross-platform 3D graphics code and a highly scalable physics engine and you get the idea.  Our service is indescribably interesting and fun – we’ll let you decide for yourself.

ROBLOX is looking for a motivated, experienced, and hands-on Senior VP of Operations/COO to help do all of the things that makes ROBLOX go:

- Oversee our customer service and moderation teams
- Leverage customer service as an ideas engine for improving our product
- Manage all recruiting efforts
- Interface with our accountant and lawyers
- Handle all corporate / stock issues

QUALIFICATIONS

- BS in computer science, statistics, or equivalent, MBA a plus
- 3-7+ years experience in business operations
- Excellent analytical and technical skills – you are expert in Excel and love pivot tables
- Ability to think strategically and execute in a highly detail oriented manner
- Able to thrive in a fast-paced startup environment and remain calm under pressure
- Team player with experience managing and building teams
- Experience in gaming or with startups is a plus

Interested in an opportunity to be part of something unique?

Interested candidates should e-mail keyhirewire@firstround.com with "ROBLOX COO" in the subject.

---

Online Marketing Director, Knewton - New York, NY

"I am 15.  I stay up late playing Xbox, chatting, texting, listening to Slayer... and  there is absolutely nothing I love more than waking up early on a Saturday morning by my mom for my SAT class.  Its awesome.  There are 60 other kids stuffed into a room at the local elementary school made for about 20.  I'm always the last one there because mom won't floor it in the Family Truckster, which means I get to sit next to the kid we call Slimer because of his sinus issues.  

I watch everything YouTube and Hulu, so why can't I get this class online--with a teacher worth paying attention to?"

Knewton (www.knewton.com) has developed the industry's first adaptive learning engine, customizing educational content to meet the individual needs of each student.

Today, Knewton delivers test prep courses for the GMAT, LSAT, and SAT that bring the brightest and most experienced teachers directly to students worldwide via a live and on-demand online video classroom. Knewton's educational platform, however, can power any educational content, enabling students of all types to learn more effectively.

Knewton's Online Marketing Director is the key partner to the VP, Online Marketing and is responsible for helping the team drive customer acquisition and revenue growth through SEM (paid search), SEO, Affiliate Marketing, and Email. A position where that will call on strategic and tactical execution, this person will design and execute a broad range of campaigns to facilitate customer acquisition.

Responsibilities includes:

*    Identifying and pursuing new marketing opportunities
*    Execution of customer acquisition and revenue strategy
*    Reporting and analyzing acquisition metrics and profitability
*    Reporting and results analysis of landing page and other creative testing
*    Executing the email contact strategy for re-marketing/reactivation of database prospects
*    Link Building and affiliate/social media outreach

The right candidate should have experience managing to metrics and executing online marketing campaigns to achieve branding and performance targets. This person is also creative, curious and always looking for new ways to engage our customers. Knewton is an exciting startup that moves at speed, candidates must be capable of keeping pace with the fast moving start-up environment, while at the same time maintaining a positive approach and a sense of humor. Candidates must be comfortable wearing many marketing hats including copy-writer, online promotions strategist, social media junkie, and more.

*    Minimum of 3 years of software or Internet company experience in an online consumer acquisition role
*    Experience working/implementing tracking pixels, trafficking URLs and launching email campaigns
*    Strong business background, as well as excellent written and verbal communication skills
*    SEO experience
*    Strong work ethic; web-savvy and entrepreneurial
*    Experience in direct response or continuity marketing a plus
*    CS degree or former coding experience a plus
*    BA/BS, MBA a plus.

Interested candidates should e-mail keyhirewire@firstround.com with "Knewton OMD" in the subject.

A week or so ago, we launched the Key Hire Wire at First Round. We realized that there were certain open positions in our portfolio we wanted to call extra attention to.  Over 1,000 senior professionals have since signed up for the mailer, which goes out on Fridays.  I tried to make it a little more entertaining than your average job RSS feed. 

If you know of senior level business and technical professionals looking for exciting startup opportunities, they can sign up here.

VP of Sales, Monetate - Philadelphia, PA

A finger hovers above a mouse button.  It wants to click.  It wants to buy that horrifically expensive purse... 

It...must...have...Prada... and oh would it go well with the shoes it clicked on the last time it was here.  

Must... click...   Noooo.  

Just can't get over that hump.  Reason sets in.  It's just a little too expensive--plus when you add in shipping, and handling.  Oh, that handling.  Damn those people for getting to handle my purse.

If only--if only there was a little extra nudge...

DING!

"Free shipping when you buy in the next 15 minutes."

CLICK.  

Done. 

Accessory nirvana awaits... as does beating this month's quarterly numbers.

Every day, Monetate (www.monetate.com) helps major online retailers like QVC, Casual Male, and Urban Outfitters, to make the most of their online marketing dollars.Because people live, shop, and buy in real time, Monetate products enable e-commerce web sites to market in real time. That means marketers can change and test anything, anywhere on their sites, for any segment of shoppers, instantly, without I.T. Using Monetate Real-time Marketer, companies are boosting sales while slashing costs and time-to-market. Monetate Mobile adds mobile-native navigation, search, GPS store location, cart access and more, to any site, overnight.

The company is not just looking for a VP of Sales, but for a champion for all things sales throughout the organization.  Let’s face it, most successful businesses are—at their core—sales organizations.  You believe it.  You make it happen.  You'll be responsible for the successful management of the sales organization in order to meet the objectives of the Company.

You will initially spend majority of time personally working with individual accounts and coaching sales team.  You will hire (over time) and manage a field and inside team of Sales Directors and Market Developers, including for each direct report creating and managing goals directly tied to Company goals.  This includes establishing sales objectives and compensation plans for all sales personnel, including salary structures, commission plans, sales contests and bonus plans.

You will excel at this because you have 5+ years of online and offline sales experience, recent experience working with a SaaS B2B company, and exceptional sales management skills, experience building a sales force and sales channels that sell SaaS services to the heads of marketing and/or eCommerce at online retailers, existing relationships with heads of marketing and/or eCommerce at online retailers and extraordinary success selling SaaS products and services to online retailers.

Interested candidates should e-mail keyhirewire@firstround.com with "Monetate VPS" in the subject.

---

CTO, Modcloth – San Francisco, CA (corrected from e-mail version)

Remember that girl from back home? 

You'd pass her by on your bike late on a summer day, sitting in her parents' screened-in porch, sipping lemonade in her airy sundress...  textured periwinkle cotton shell dressed with rosy bouquets resembling the enviable award-winning bushes tracing your childhood home.

That girl now has now has 200,000 paying customers and a profitable run rate of over $40M within 18 months of raising capital.  

How do you like them apples?

Now Susan, and her now husband Eric, who co-founded the company with her when they were just 17, need an entrepreneurial CTO who can build a team to scale a game-changing platform, while at the same time supporting complex business intelligence and supply chain systems.

Modcloth (www.modcloth.com), is a hyper-growth eRetailer with an internationally recognized brand and a website viewed by over 10,000,000 women in the last two years. In that time, the company has grown from 3 to 104 employees (and growing!).  They began by selling only vintage and expanded to sell vintage-inspired pieces by indie designers, but Modcloth still launches one new true vintage item each day.

The company needs a serious technologist that can modernize their global fashion supply chain so it can empower a new generation of professional independent designers and artisans, and help the most talented individuals rise to the top.  Candidates must have a proven track record of scaling consumer applications, growing world-class technology teams, and delivering fast iterative business results.

The ideal candidate has experience with eCommerce systems, emerging mobile and social technologies, as well as RoR.

Interested candidates should e-mail keyhirewire@firstround.com with "Modcloth CTO" in the subject.

---

VP of Engineering, AppNexus - New York, NY

"It's over a billion ad impressions a day, we got a full tank of venture capital, half a pack of cigarettes, the future of ad networks is dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."

"Hit it."

For major buyers of display advertising, real-time access to the largest audiences on the internet holds the promise of vastly improved targeting and performance. To take advantage, buyers need scalable, enterprise-caliber ad technology solutions.

Led by an accomplished management team from Yahoo/Right Media and Google/DoubleClick, AppNexus (www.appnexus.com) is the most advanced platform for buying display ads in real time.  We've got some pretty exciting products — front-end systems that handle billions of requests a day, multi-terabyte server-side key/value stores, data pipelines that process and aggregate hundreds of GB daily and a series of user-interfaces and APIs that allow our customers and partners to interact with all of the above--all built on top of our proprietary enterprise cloud-computing infrastructure and software stack.

We are looking for a seasoned engineer with management experience to take ownership of our engineering team. In this role you’ll need to provide mentorship and technical guidance to individual team members as well as get hands-on in helping to maintain and improve on our products. One thing is for certain — you must have experience dealing with large scale distributed applications. We have a strong preference for candidates with experience working with advertising systems written in C or C++.

AppNexus is most definitely still a startup so we are looking for someone familiar with an environment where a select few individuals are trying to accomplish a tremendous amount — all while requirements change weekly (or daily!) and everything we build runs 24/7 with incredibly strict latency and uptime requirements.

Requirements

> Experience managing and mentoring a team of at least 5 engineers working on a variety of projects

> Experience setting up a flexible engineering process whereby we can maintain our pace of rapid development without sacrificing code quality, product stability and employee burn-out
> Experience establishing Q&A policies and procedures that don’t inhibit innovation

> Strong C/C++ experience — specifically in developing large-scale web, analytics or adserving systems

> Capable of providing technical guidance and leadership to a team of PHP/MySQL front-end and API developer

Interested candidates should e-mail keyhirewire@firstround.com with "Appnexus VPE" in the subject.

Are you still not getting this weekly in your e-mail inbox? Fill out this form so you're not missing anything.

Nothing interesting to say here... I'm still trying to figure out this curling thing.  How do you get into curling as a kid?   Are there now kids in the projects tying cinder blocks to skateboards as we speak--inspired by their idols in Vancouver?

Tuesday, February 23rd

7PM Food +30; with a star set of chefs, food advocates, and thinkers

What will the food world look like in 30 years? Will traditional restaurants still be around or we will be eating in a world of pop ups and food trucks? Will scientists rule the kitchen?
We'll talk to experts across the industry, including chef Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern, Glenn Roberts, founder of Anson Mills, marketing whizzes from Rooster Design Group, and writer and Food52 co-founder Amanda Hesser. After the panel stay for demos by cocktail experts and chefs, tastings by local producers, and cameos by some of the city's cult food vendors.

RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/BLKNY30/calendar/12396827/

Wednesday, February 24th

6PM Differentiated Content in the Blogosphere and How to Capture It

Featured Talkers:
Pam Russo, General Manager, TMZ
Matt Calos, SVP Chief Product Officer, Fox Sports Interactive
Ben Williams, Editorial Director, NYMAG.com
Laura Cococcia, Director of Global Operations, AOL

RSVP: http://www.talkforumnyc.com/

Thursday, February 25th

6PM: Wireside Chat with Lawrence Lessig: New York

The Open Video Alliance is teaming up with the Harvard Berkman Center to deliver a global webcast of a talk by Lawrence Lessig, live from Cambridge, MA. OVA has arranged screening events around the world. The hometown premiere event in New York will feature a live DJ, video mashup presentations, free food, and tons of guests.

RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=281361407601

6:30PM Digital DUMBO13 - HUSH Sensory Overload: An Evening of Audio/Video Indulgence

Multi-disciplinary design studio, HUSH, invites you to shake a leg at the upcoming Digital DUMBO event @ Galapagos Art Space.

RSVP: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/527827747

7PM: Hype Machine Show & CD Swap

Go green with The Hype Machine!
Discover fresh new bands and rediscover the music you forgot you loved. Donate all those good CDs you've been storing under your bed, check out everyone else's stash, and score something for charity. Featuring live sets by The Morning Benders, Shark?, and Cuddle Magic. Max Silvestri hosts.
$5 + at least 1 used CD gets you admission and 1 swapped CD of your choice.

RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=304926891657

Friday, February 26th

7PM NY Tech Cares about Haiti

An organization of many groups with presence in the NY global hub who devote it's activities and profit raised to registered 501(c)3 organizations (Oxfam America) which support Haiti in 2010 or who focus on disaster affected areas.Mission:In light of the heart wrenching devastation that has struck Haiti, The NY Tech community has come together in a collaborative effort to launch and host a disaster relief and fund raising effort. Many more are joining in.

RSVP: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/542108461

Saturday, February 27th

9AM: Policy Making in the Digital Age

The Morningside Post is thrilled to announce Policy Making in the Digital Age, a conference that will consider how the Internet and digital technology are changing policy making and international affairs. The conference is free and open to the public.  The conference will feature panels and speakers on a variety of topics, including information communication technology (ICT) and development (including a special forum on Haiti and a discussion of telemedicine strategies), new media and authoritarianism, open governance, and a roundtable discussion of how policy schools can get involved in the debate. Our high profile speakers come from the U.S. Department of State’s Office of eDiplomacy, New York City Council, FrontlineSMS, Ushahidi, and Columbia, Harvard and Stanford Universities. We hope you’ll join us!

RSVP:  http://themorningsidepost.com/policy-making-digital-age

NYConvergence ORIGINAL
by: Amy Berryhill

In his new book, The Power of Pull, author David Siegel outlines the future of the online experience. As he explained at the Web2NewYork February Meetup, that future is the semantic web.

Siegel describes the semantic web as content that is a) unambiguous and b) fully accessible online. This means that a piece of content is located within the cloud, without barriers or silos, and that either a person or a program could easily understand the structure and meaning of the content.

The concept of pull, from which the book derives its name, describes the way that users will experience the semantic web of the future. They will pull content in instead of having it pushed out to them by media outlets, retailers and marketers.

"I think we're going to see a lot about what people want instead of what we've been feeding them for the last 10 - 15 years," said Siegel. If he is correct, the way business is negotiated online will shift drammatically; users might get just what they want and nothing more. 

Additional presentations at the Web2NewYork Meetup included: TrustWorks, hMag, Roadify, Televaction, and Urballoon.

About a year and a half ago, I wrote that New York needed more dedicated early stage capital.

Let’s look back at what has happened since the beginning of August ‘08…

Betaworks raises more than $10 million in September ‘08.

First Growth Venture Network formed to mentor high potential seed and early stage companies.

First Round Capital makes 11 new investments in NYC, hires me to be here fulltime, and announces a new NYC office in Union Square.

Founder Collective raises $40 million in September ‘09.

Nate Westheimer hired by Flybridge as an advisor.

Jon Steinberg joins Polaris and opens Dogpatch.

Roger Ehrenberg is announces a new $25 million fund.

The Lerers raise a $7 million fund.

NYC Seed announces a summer incubator for 2010 that includes 20k investments.

Yeah, I’d say problem solved, no?  And if that doesn’t do it, then this is certainly the cherry on top.  I’m excited to announce that the Open Angel Forum is coming to NYC.

So what is the Open Angel Forum?  Well, remember the dust up a while back with the backlash against “pay to play” pitch events where startups had to pay to meet angels?  Jason Calacanis came up with a solution—creating an event where angel investors and startups get to know each other in a casual environment without a cost to the entrepreneur.   

I’ll be running Open Angel Forum NYC with Brian Alvey on April 8th, 2010.  Here’s how it works.  Startups apply here. (UPDATE: Applications due 3/25) They are not charged to present, but five will be chosen by a committee on merit to attend free.  Angel investors are not charged to attend, and we’ll have around 12-15 top folks in attendence.  Angels can indicate their interest in attending here, but they must be active (3 deals in the last year).   We respect an entrepreneur’s time and want to put them in front of people who are actually writing checks.  After the event the five startups receive a list of angels who express their interest level in their startup: a) Setup a followup meeting, b) Keep me posted but not a fit right now, c) Not a fit.

The format of the event is a dinner where five companies get to present their ideas for 10 minutes each with a short Q&A afterwards.  The dinner is paid for by service providers and sponsors who pay $1500 each to participate.  (Interested in being an attending sponsor?  Apply here.)

So if you’re a startup and you want to amass the most experienced, savvy investors NYC has to offer, please fill out the form and apply to join us as we build better connections between startups and investors in the Big Apple.

About a year and a half ago, I wrote that New York needed more dedicated early stage capital.

Let’s look back at what has happened since the beginning of August ‘08…

Betaworks raises more than $10 million in September ‘08.

First Growth Venture Network formed to mentor high potential seed and early stage companies.

First Round Capital makes 11 new investments in NYC, hires me to be here fulltime, and announces a new NYC office in Union Square.

Founder Collective raises $40 million in September ‘09.

Nate Westheimer hired by Flybridge as an advisor.

Jon Steinberg joins Polaris and opens Dogpatch.

Roger Ehrenberg is announces a new $25 million fund.

The Lerers raise a $7 million fund.

NYC Seed announces a summer incubator for 2010 that includes 20k investments.

Yeah, I’d say problem solved, no?  And if that doesn’t do it, then this is certainly the cherry on top.  I’m excited to announce that the Open Angel Forum is coming to NYC.

So what is the Open Angel Forum?  Well, remember the dust up a while back with the backlash against “pay to play” pitch events where startups had to pay to meet angels?  Jason Calacanis came up with a solution—creating an event where angel investors and startups get to know each other in a casual environment without a cost to the entrepreneur.   

I’ll be running Open Angel Forum NYC with Brian Alvey on April 8th, 2010.  Here’s how it works.  Startups apply here. (UPDATE: Applications due 3/25) They are not charged to present, but five will be chosen by a committee on merit to attend free.  Angel investors are not charged to attend, and we’ll have around 12-15 top folks in attendence.  Angels can indicate their interest in attending here, but they must be active (3 deals in the last year).   We respect an entrepreneur’s time and want to put them in front of people who are actually writing checks.  After the event the five startups receive a list of angels who express their interest level in their startup: a) Setup a followup meeting, b) Keep me posted but not a fit right now, c) Not a fit.

The format of the event is a dinner where five companies get to present their ideas for 10 minutes each with a short Q&A afterwards.  The dinner is paid for by service providers and sponsors who pay $1500 each to participate.  (Interested in being an attending sponsor?  Apply here.)

So if you’re a startup and you want to amass the most experienced, savvy investors NYC has to offer, please fill out the form and apply to join us as we build better connections between startups and investors in the Big Apple.

 

I was speaking with Owen Davis last night and he mentioned that no one in the Columbia entrepreneurship community had yet applied for this new summer program. The deadline is approaching so if you didn't know about it yet, there's still time to throw your hat in the ring. Here are the details:

NYC Seed Announces SeedStart 2010 Summer Program-$20k for up to 10 startups for the summer

SeedStart will offer promising teams the chance to build a technology product and launch a company with the assistance of seed investment capital, mentorship and other resources.  Companies will be selected through a competitive application process and each company will receive a $20,000 investment. Throughout the summer, companies will also receive mentorship from experienced New York City based venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, legal and business guidance, administrative help and technical assistance.  At the end of the summer venture capitalists and angel investors will be invited to an Investor Day where each team will present their product and launch their company.  SeedStart will run for 8 weeks beginning in June of 2010.

SeedStart is a joint effort among Contour Venture Partners, IA Ventures, NYC Seed, RRE Ventures and Polaris Venture Partners, and also includes Fish & Richardson, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and Silicon Valley Bank.  The program has begun accepting applications and teams of at least two founders can apply here:

http://www.nycseed.com/seedstart.html by February 28, 2010 to be considered. 

For information, contact Owen Davis at owen@nycseed.com.

NYConvergence ORIGINAL

by: Amy Berryhill

Social good was the focus of the February NY Tech Meetup, where over six hundred people assembled to hear what New York needs from the technology community. The event raised $14,000 for Partners in Health, but goal for the evening was larger. The goal was to change the world.



To that end, most of the evening's presenters spoke on behalf of companies focused on social products and services. Instead of the typical demo or pitch, these presenters shared what they do and then explained their needs to the uncharacteristically interested crowd.



As a strange aside, Clay Shirky was on hand to talk about his idea that the future value of social networks is likely not in the "friends of friends" model, but rather in the larger "friends of friends of friends" network. Based on new research that defines how health is influenced by social connections separated up to three degrees, Shirky spoke about how people that do not know each other are able to influence one another. Shirky encouraged the developers to, "shift from thinking of social networks as nodes into looking at them as flows."



Even Shirky wasn't sure what problem this would fix, but much more straightforward problems like greening the ghettos and urban transportation were up for the taking. See the full roster of speakers and the causes they represented below:

• Tony Bacigalupo, New Work City
• Ben Berkowitz, SeeClickFix
• Majora Carter, Majora Carter Group
• David Nassar & Jason Leibman, Alliance of Youth Movements
• Jacqueline Novogratz, Acumen Fund
• Jay Parkinson, The Future Well
• Clay Shirky
• Paul Steely White, Transportation Alternatives
• Rachel Sterne, GroundReport
• Jose Antonio Vargas, Huffington Post
• Conor White-Sullivan, Localocracy 

Previous:

> NY Tech Meetup Hosts First 2010 Gathering