Business Management, Blowfish and Brash

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Wednesday was somewhat uneventful in the world of recruiting. I actually spent a good part of my day extending my education within the world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) concepts that I intend to apply to the blog to grow traffic to the www.labruinbear.com site. So far, the blog is indexed by Google which took only abut 1 ½ weeks but no PR to speak of. I will monitor the SEO phenomenon and update you as soon as the site has pagerank.

Around noon, I left my desk and my SEO master’s pursuit to join my father for launch with a current Zenith Information Systems client, Shaun Shenassa, a highly successful business manager, who is well connected within the private equity and entertainment worlds here in Los Angeles. I enjoyed my time speaking to Shaun about what I was looking for in a start-up, early stage, consumer oriented, with a damn good team.

I explained to Shaun that though my experience with Shopzilla was good one, I just wasn’t early enough with the company to help formulate their plan or make any REAL money. I explained to Shaun how I could work at a company like Google, be paid a significantly high salary, have a great experience working with some of the best and brightest in the space, and assume no risk at all, but that I had a deep seeded need to help start a company from the ground floor, be paid only a reasonable salary while participating in a significant equity upside, build said company and hopefully participate in a successful exit. I explained to Shaun that this is just a matter of who I am, a person with a deep passion for succeeding with the odds stacked up against me, and not wanting to become complacent in a standard 9-5 position with a larger organization.

Shaun seemed to understand where I was coming from, seeing as how he started his own business management firm after a successful career working with other successful business managers and as an accountant with Ernst and Young. Shaun mentioned a company called Brash Entertainment, a private equity video game publisher that already raised $400MM, with whom he has a strong personal and professional relationship. However, after listening to the attributes that I was looking for in a start-up, Shaun quickly realized that Brash Entertainment might not be the best opportunity for me, but he intends to think about others that might be a better fit.

All in all, it was a successful lunch. We ate at “BlowFish, Sushi to Die For,” (They have a fairly reasonable $14 Bento Box for lunch. When you are unemployed, you are thankful that other people are picking up the tab!! ;-)) I met yet another high quality individual with a great rolodex, and even discussed another opportunity that my father is currently invested, Payment Pathways, which I will discuss in greater detail over the next few days.

Even on a slow day of the recruiting trail, you might just happen to meet the person who will eventually connect you to your next great career move!

June 11th, 2007