Jeremiah Owyang discusses how web tools and social media enable companies to connect with customers

Are big companies losing top talent?

Auren who works at reputation startup Rapleaf thinks that big companies are losing all the top players. It’s possible, most of the independent thinkers and early technology adopters have no interest working at large tech companies. There’s many advantages working at big companies, esp if you’ve family and a mortgage to deal with.

If you’re looking for a job, check out the Techcrunch job board, Giga Om’s job board, 37 Signals job board and of course, SimplyHired.

What do you think, are big businesses losing great talent?

10 Comments so far

  1. walkin jobs November 23rd, 2006 2:34 am

    Check out this upcoming Job Board also.
    http://walkin.wordpress.com

    It would be great to have your feedback.
    Thanks.

  2. Kevin Hillstrom November 23rd, 2006 9:43 am

    Good post, Jeremiah. Regardless whether you look at technology or any other industry, I wouldn’t be surprised if you see the trend you illustrate in your post.

    Happy Thanksgiving!

  3. damon billian November 24th, 2006 6:37 am

    Hi Jeremiah,

    “What do you think, are big businesses losing great talent? ”

    Yes:) The reasons:
    1. Larger companies tend to innovate less.
    2. More bureaucracy in getting things done.
    3. Financial stability (paying a mortgage) doesn’t equate to a financial pay-off. While there are risks in startups, the potential risk is outweighed with joining just one that is successful.

    I also think that talented people enjoy some degree of autonomy, something that is often lacking at larger corporations. At the same time, I do think people need to look at the fact that the game isn’t entirely equal for public companies (on the stock exchange) and companies that aren’t yet public…lots of rules and regs to be followed once a company goes public.

  4. Bess November 25th, 2006 1:11 am

    Damon, welcome back. I can’t wait to chat with you again on your Thailand experience. I’ve got some Thai friends there and like to understand what is going on there. Too bad there is no lunch20 lately. Why don’t you come to our last gig on 11/29/06 to get some free food at www.thewebsig.com. We have networking hour at 6:30pm before the speaker starts at 7:30pm. This is it. This is the thing I told you long time ago.

  5. Damon Billian November 25th, 2006 3:44 am

    Hi Bess,

    Sadly, I personally won’t be able to attend because I am here until at least February.

    Thailand:
    While the country is under a military junta right now, I would say that you wouldn’t even notice that there was a transition of power. I’ve experienced no difference in things from my previous visits here…I think it largely depends on how things go over the coming months…I don’t think it is nearly as scary as living in another junta place like Myanmar (Burma).

  6. jeremiah_owyang November 25th, 2006 7:03 am

    Bess

    There are a few lunch20’s coming up soon, it’s just been slow with the Holidays.

    You’ll see more soon

  7. Bess November 25th, 2006 2:53 pm

    Damon, email me offline if you need any help. You may have limited internet access to certain sites.

    Jeremiah, I am so hungry for free food and dying to meet up some friends again. I like to tour PodTech Palo Alto office. Another excuse to go to Palo Alto. I just like walking down the University Ave and making it my Rodeo Drive like “Pretty Woman”.

  8. jeremiah_owyang November 25th, 2006 9:33 pm

    Some examples that come to mind: Microsoft lost Scoble and Niall Kennedy, AOL lost Calancanis

  9. » Blog Archive » Tuna Fish Manifesto November 26th, 2006 6:10 pm

    […] Well it’s weekend time, and that means manifestos are flying everywhere. I call this the Tuna Fish Manifesto because it doesn’t just stink at Yahoo. It stinks everywhere. Execs are completely out of touch with the people doing the work. […]

  10. […] Many suspect this will come down to pure talent retention, thinking of Jason Calacanis, who recently resigned from AOL/Netscape. Frankly, many would rather work at an upcoming flexible Social Media Network and Platform rather than try to turn a large ship in the middle of the night. I just explored a few days ago are large corporations losing talent? (most commenters agree) In a way, the tenure of a chief digital genius weirdly mirrors the fickle nature of the Web itself: hits can appear very quickly, but only a few stick around for the long haul. […]

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