Random Musings

sorry, some randomness today, but i am so full and happy right now, i just wanted to share. today, i cooked up a storm at my house.  we made whole wheat blueberry muffins in the morning and they were perfect! moist, full of blueberries, and just plain awesome.  then we made pizza dough for the first time and made pizza from scratch.  the dough rose perfectly and we made two variations - one standard mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil (which as delicious) and one which was sardines, black olives and sauce (which we will need to reinvent next time, it was so-so).  but aside from the toppings, the crust came out perfect on our first try! so we will definitely be adding homemade pizza to the kitchen rotation:)

forgot to take pictures cause we ate everything so fast, but i will take pictures next time!

Looks like I will be crossing the globe in March.  LA/OC for the first week of March, then to Seoul from March 6 to March 16, then Las Vegas (for an advertising conference) from March 17th to March 19th and then to NYC for a friend’s wedding in the last week of March.  Phew. I should stock up on carbon credits so I don’t feel so bad about the flights…

Anyone in Korea want to meet up? ping me at joyce at soompi dot com and let me know!

women 2.0 is an organization here in silicon valley that is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship amongst women in technology. last year, they ran a wonderful and sold out event called Pitch Night which included a 30 minute meeting with Mike Moritz of Sequoia Capital for the winning team. for those of you not in the tech field, let me say, thats like giving a junior golfer a private lesson by tiger woods. very cool.

this year, they are doing it again and i will be helping out by speaking at one of their pre-pitch night events called “meet the CEOs”.  it should be fun and i am glad to help out at any event that gets more women into this field.

i am trying to learn more about ad networks in Asia to see if there is more to be gained from using local networks rather than relying up on google’s firm hold on ad sales.  i’ve come across some local networks in SE Asia, like advertlets and others, but i wonder how they stack up next to google in terms of rates, etc. anyone with any information related to this or any advice, please contact me - i’m all ears!

SOOMPI.com is a fast growing, young and fresh online community for Asian-Americans. Originally an Asian pop entertainment site, SOOMPI has grown to become one of the largest sites for Asian-Americans with over 25 million page views a month and a quarter million members. You will get first crack at an untapped market, armed with recent data which reflects the growing consumer power of Asian-Americans (an increasingly visible and influential demographic). You will be the first ad sales hire, so you will be responsible for setting up good internal systems and have tons of autonomy.  We are looking for a go-getter that is comfortable with and has experience in building a sales force from the ground level.

What would you do?

•    Identify and initiate contact with advertising prospects through cold calls and in-person presentations.
•    Responsible for prospecting valid leads and logging clients into contact management system.
•    Prepare sales presentation materials that show SOOMPI’s ability to meet advertiser’s goals.
•    Analyze advertiser needs; help develop effective sales proposals; negotiate deals; and ensure successful delivery of advertising campaigns.
•    Manage all communications, scheduling and approvals between SOOMPI and advertisers throughout the implementation process, including insertion orders; ad placement and merchandising.

Who are you?

•    Just awesome. And you are a motivated person who is excited to work for a rapidly growing, promising start-up.
•    Have at least 3 to 5 years of Internet sales experience including at least 2 or 3 years as a rep selling to major agencies and brands.
•    Have tech, fashion, and/or entertainment (movies, music, dramas, video games) as part of your vertical expertise. Experience selling the 18-34 demographic are preferred.
•    Strong track record of meeting and exceeding sales targets.
•    Ability to leverage existing successful relationships through contact lists.
•    Are able to work independently - as the first sales hire for SOOMPI, you will be helping to build the sales team.
•    Strong communication skills (so no passive aggressive folks!)

You can live where ever you want - we are a company with people in Irvine, San Francisco and New York.  There are company-wide conference calls on a twice a week basis and daily communication via email and IM.  We are a small, energetic company where each employee is considered a major team player - your input will be expected and appreciated:) Compensation will be competitive with base salary plus commission and potential for stock options (we believe a rising tide raises all boats). Please send your resume, cover letter and salary history to ads@soompi.com.