While interviewing Mark Kurtz for a programming position, Debra Tobin, the head of HR had a smile on her face. The moment that she saw Mark’s resume, she knew that Mark was the high potential talent that Johnson & Company had been searching for to solidify the team. Mark was a recent Stanford graduate with a long list of impressive projects, including working with Oracle on a special integration project with the Malaysian government. Two days after the interview, Mark received an offer… Continue

Do you remember that guy who got a funding of $3million in his the series A round, he had an impressive business plan, he displayed rapid growth and claimed he was 12 months from breaking even? Do you remember how he delivered his commitments during the first 6 months, which was followed by a series of losses? This situation is all too common, we have all seen this, but now instead of ignoring this situation, lets shed light on how this could happen, and what signs can we watch out… Continue

At Stanford University, we developed a concept called OccupationDNA. I am sure that several others may have already experimented with this concept, so we decided to take it to new level.



Just as any living thing has a DNA, similarly every occupation has a DNA too - its what the occupation requires for it to be fulfilled. We collaborated with data provided by US Dept. of Labor and developed the OccupationDNA (made up of a collection of 275 traits that we identified) for over 4500… Continue

Companies are begining to hire again, my research team just handed some valuable information on hiring trends and patterns in the UK.



Announcements of the creation of new jobs across the UK in 2009



30 July - Government pledge 47,000



28 July - NHS (apprentices) 5,000



17 July - Travelodge 250



3 July - Westfield Stratford City 18,000 By 2015



14 May - Lebara Mobile 130



1 May - PricewaterhouseCoopers1,000



27… Continue

The VCs must ask themselves if their companies are run by management teams that are capable of driving companies as the recession eventually bottoms. Studying the shift in the current unemployment rates in the US, HireLabs can forecast a recovery in the international labor market - lead by the US - sometime around Feb 2010.



Very few CEOs of venture-backed companies have the experience of riding a company out of a recession successfully. The first sign that a management team is not… Continue