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Many thanks! Other than this community now , I contribute to
some communities that we host for our customers (sharing ideas on our software and
how to roll it out), I use LinkedIn and Facebook, I'm a part of communities for
software execs, one for Oregon-based businesses, and one for local non-profits.
I wish I could say I was part of a community for a hobby, but with the company
and a 2 and 4yr old at home, hobbies don't really exist anymore. I use them for
connecting with people, recruiting, business development, getting ideas for the
business and learning (new ideas, industry, operations, etc.).

This is a huge and very important question. There's a book called Topgrading on the subject, which I found pretty compelling -- it's long, but there are some summaries available. The point is trying to find the top 10% (A Players) that you can afford for each position through deep interviewing. You've probably heard it before, but A Players hire other A Players and B Players hire C Players. Hire slow and fire fast.

I would also add to that methodology that a) you should hire less people, but better people (spend more on rockstars) and b) do a lot of backchannel -- talk to as many people as you can that have worked with these people. That was another benefit of working with a VC -- they're backchannel ninjas .

How has location and real estate decisions helped your business grow? I noticed that Jive is in Portland. Is that the new Silicon Valley?

Dave Hersh, Jive's CEO is live right now answering questions. Post your question right now by hitting reply.

Location has definitely been a huge part of our growth. We were originally in New York City and just couldn't grow because it was so expensive. Portland has been great because it's a lot less expensive than Silicon Valley, the people are great and there's enough of a software infrastructure that we could hire from. The hard part was finding senior mgmt -- there are less folks here just because the software companies here are a lot smaller than the Bay Area. All in all, it was a great move for us to make -- we've never had anyone leave us for another tech company (great loyalty) and we're close enough to the Bay Area that we can get there quickly. If we had located in the Bay Area like everyone else, I'm sure it would have been a lot harder to get to where we are.

Is Portland the new Silicon Valley? No, but it's definitely got some interesting stuff going on. I feel like it's a bit like San Francisco 30 years ago (before the tech boom hit the region). Artists can still afford to live here, which gives the city a lot of vibrancy and culture.

Dave,

Clearspace and Jive are interesting names. How did you come up with them?

Thanks,
The SBOC Team

The name Jive was an idea from the significant other of one of the founders. It was close to the word Java (which it was written in) and was a form of communication (and the original product was a discussion forum application). Plus it was memorable. It has turned out to be a great asset -- no one forgets the name .

Clearspace was more the result of a classic brainstorming exercise. As we get more focused on the enterprise, "Clearspace" as a brand helps the overall image because it sounds a lot more professional, whereas "Jive" can sound a bit consumer-oriented.