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| by Davide |
I'm CFO, so I lead the Biz-Ops team, where we focus on the financial, legal, HR and administrative functions of running Meetup. I've been at Meetup since its earliest days - back before we had a website, before we had investors, even before we had employees. In 2002, it was just a small group of folks and an idea. Seven years later, Meetup looks much different that we had originally envisioned it - and I have the old business plan to prove it! And it's true: years ago, before Meetup Organizers, employees at MeetupHQ would call every restaurant, bar, or coffee shop to hand schedule Meetups ourselves. It was a disaster for many reasons, but a great lesson to us to put the power in the hands of the people using the site, and the role of Meetup Organizers was born!
What is it like to sit with venture capital people discussing big amounts of money? How do you dress for those meetings?
The venture capital community has responded very well to Meetup over the years - we've been fortunate enough to close major fundraising rounds with some of the best-regarded technology VCs in the market. The meetings are generally pretty fun - but I do break out my collared shirts for them. The hard part comes after the meetings - when they need to complete their diligence and look under the hood before actually investing. That process requires lots of spreadsheets and lots of time with lawyers - thankfully, those are two things that I really enjoy doing!
In 2006 your alma mater Marist College was among the 25 "most connected campuses" in the US according to Forbes and The Princeton Review ... for its emphasis on "preparing students for life in the digital age and understanding the value of technology". What was it like for you back in the day?
When I was a freshman at Marist, the internet was just about exiting it's infancy. The browser I used was Mosaic. Yahoo was on the Stanford servers. Yet, due to a partnership with it's Hudson valley neighbor IBM, Marist had high speed internet connections in every dorm room. We had the opportunity to buy discounted computers from IBM and Apple, and access to several state-of-the-art computer centers around campus. How did I take advantage of this awesome leg-up to learning about the internets? Why, by spending countless hours engaging in flame wars with other nerds in the Morrissey/Smiths usenet groups, of course!
On Sunday I had breakfast at this place called New Venus in Chelsea. It really wasn't that good. What else should I try when I'm in your hood?
Yeah, there are better options than the New Venus, but they did just renovate and get new booths. My faves - Breakfast: The Dish; 8th and 20th. Thai: Royal Siam; 8th and 22nd. Italian: Tello's; 8th and 20th (but they just moved & I haven't tried it yet). My beloved Noodle Corner on 8th and 22nd closed, but they're putting in something new now. I really hope it's not a Subway or Starbucks.
Is it true that the recession is ending next month?
Are you asking this because you've had enough of the economic charts I show at every monthly staff meeting? It depends which reading of the data you believe. However, for the millions of people who are looking for jobs, *their* recession doesn't end until they're able to find work. But if you're really interested, there's this little paper called the Wall Street Journal (or the Financial Times if you prefer your newspaper pinkish) that can help you make sense of it all.
Davide is on Meetup's Community team.
