Scott Burkett’s Pothole on the Infobahn

Military Lessons Applied to Startups

11 March, 2009 (23:13) | Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Networking Leads, Podcasts | By: Scott Burkett

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Jason Jones of CresaPartners, who hosts a podcast called “Battlefield to Business” for Business-to-Business Magazine. If you don’t know Jason, he’s a great guy, and a former naval aviator who served on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise.

“With a small unit, like a startup, there’s no margin for error. If someone lets the team down, you’re all going to pay the price.”

We had a great candid chat about how my personal military experience translated into the business world, specifically the world of fast-growth startups. We covered a variety of different aspects of startups, ranging from team building, cross-pollination, culture, problem-solving, hiring employees, risk taking, leadership, and the applicability of small unit tactics. I shared some stories not only from my Army days, but also anecdotes from my day job as well as other tidbits from throughout my professional career.

Thanks to Jason for the opportunity to hang out and share my perspectives on a subject that is near and dear to my heart.

It was great fun, and hopefully some folks will find some value in my ramblings. I will admit, having now done nearly 40 podcasts for StartupLounge.com, it felt very different being on the other side of the microphone – good fun, though …

You can listen to the podcast here on their site, or locally using the embedded flash player below.

Cheers.

Comments: 1

StarPound is Hiring

17 November, 2008 (09:49) | Networking Leads, starpound | By: Scott Burkett

StarPound is on the move. We have some big announcements that will hit the wire soon, including one that is going to send tremors through an entire industry. Wish I could say more about it right now …

At any rate, the good news is that we’re hiring. Job descriptions below – if you know someone that might be a good fit, I’d certainly appreciate any referrals.

Immediate opportunities (details for each are down below):

Enterprise Project Manager
Network Administrator
System Administrator
Business Analyst
Java/J2EE Developer

StarPound provides an on-demand, open-source platform for enabling large enterprise customers to design, deliver and adapt communication-enabled business processes. Additionally, we provide an entire PBX and call center suite built on top of our core platform.

Successful candidates must be comfortable wearing a lot of hats in a fast-growth, emerging startup company (venture-backed). And, they must be passionate about your job, and willing to do whatever it takes to be successful. If you are interested, please visit our website (www.starpound.net) or contact Dottie Thornton via email with your resume (dthornton at starpoundtech.com).

Enterprise Project Manager

Requirements:

Project reporting, monitoring, and milestone success on complex enterprise projects
Experience within contact center, CRM, telecommunication services, or e-business industries is desirable
Experience with web services, web integration is a plus
Leadership and mentoring experience.
Minimum 7 years relevant project management experience required.
Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills.
Strong organizational and time management skills.
Project Management professional (PMP) Certification a plus
Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent Project Management work experience

Network Administrator

Requirements:

3+ years of professional experience in networking field
One or more of the following industry recognized certifications (or equivalent experience)
- Cisco CCIE (R/S, SP, Security, Voice, Storage)
- Cisco CCNP, CCIP, CCDP, CCSP, CCVP
- Juniper JNCIE (M/T, ER)
- Juniper JNCIP-MT, JNCIS-M/T, JNCIS-ER, JNCIS-FWV
- Foundry FNCNE, FNCNP
- ISC2 CISSP
Deep Expertise in at least one of the following areas:
- Data Center Network Architectures and Design
- OSPF, BGP, MPLS, QoS
Highly Desirable Skills:
- Advanced understanding of IP/MPLS communications theory, design and functionality – Advanced understanding of VoIP technologies, such as H.323 & SIP
- Experience designing and implementing QoS standards and technologies across platforms to ensure strict service guarantees (SLAs) for Voice and Video.
- Strong working knowledge of network management and testing tools (at a minimum ethereal/wireshark)

System Administrator

Requirements:

3+ years of experience required
Linux, MySQL, load balancing routers
Asterisk, shell scripts, cron
Distributed architectures, Fault tolerant clustering
SIP, telephony experience a plus
Performance tuning

Business Analyst

Requirements:

Experience within contact center, CRM, financial services, or e-business industries is desirable
Minimum 3-5 years relevant experience required.
Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills.
Strong organizational and time management skills.
Experience with CRM systems and processes is desirable.
Experience with process modeling tools is desirable.
Must have strong experience with J2EE Middleware
At least a basic understanding of BPMN

Java/J2EE Developer

Requirements:

3+ years of experience required
JBoss, MySQL, JSF, Struts, Linux
GWT, WSDL, XML, Eclipse plugin development
Asterisk, VoIP, SIP, PBX, ACD, IVR, CTI
VoiceXML, UML, BPMN, Model-driven development

Cheers.

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