Daniel Odio, CEO of Socialize, came to visit Whitetruffle last Friday. It was a calm, sedate meeting. Strictly business.
You’ve probably already heard of Socialize and their recent SDK launch via TechCrunch. If not, here’s what it’s about: Inside every app, there’s an entire community just waiting to bust out. It doesn’t matter if it’s the nihilist app or the Bieber fever app —the fact is that people using these apps want to connect with others. It’s human nature. So why deny them that? Using an app doesn’t have to be a lonely, solitary experience, hugging your knees in the corner with tears dripping onto your touch screen (no wonder 99 out of 100 people don’t actually use an app after 90 days post-download. The more you knowwww!). Apps can be fun, engaging, and above all, social.
Socialize supercharges each app with features like commenting, sharing (through Facebook, Twitter and email), “likes,” “favoriting,” an activity stream and user profiles—the kind of stuff that keeps users coming back for more (kinda like a drug, but not, but yes, exactly like a drug). Users get to connect with like-minded people who share their passions, and in turn they reveal tons of information about themselves like age, gender, interests and so on. Socialize takes this raw data and uses it to help you better monetize your app. So each user gets lots of new friends and you get to replace your toilet paper roll with a wad of hundred dollar bills. Win-win!
The product is great – but what is it like to work with Socialize? Daniel provided us with a long list of perks:
We eat. Lunch is provided Monday through Thursday (feel free to gorge enough to tide you over for Friday—grizzly bear style) at our sweet SoMa office. And if you’re the type to enjoy a post-brunch, pre-lunch, mid-late-morning meal, our fridge is always packed with snacks and drinks. Can you say Nutella? (We actually can’t; its deliciousness is currently coating our taste buds.)
We learn. Fact: if you ever stop learning, your mind will shrivel up into a tiny brain raisin capable only of retaining “Entourage” quotes. Which is why we offer free access to Safari Books Online and Lynda.com for technical learning and an unlimited education credit (password details are here). Go to as many conferences as you need to start having people put “rockstar” before your job title. Plus, we’ll reimburse you for hotel and airfare. Aaaaand go!
We give. Choose the computer setup of your desires (yes, that even includes PC if you must), along with whatever mobile gadget you need. And if you’re looking for a way to spend $50 a day without spending $50 a day, take ours and go to some networking events after work. Or if you need to work off all those free drinks and pizza slices from your geekcore meetups, sign up for a gym membership on our dime. With all that grizzly bear gorging, you’re gonna need it (along with our Thursday evening company runs, too). Oh, and while you’re out there rubbing shoulders (or sweating bullets), take some of our schwag—we’ve got shirts, hats, and hoodies galore!
We transport. While we have a flexible work from home policy, we would like to see your beautiful, just-woke-up-and-in-desperate-need-of-coffee face. Tell you what: to get you in the office, we’ll cut you a check for your monthly travel budget. That includes BART, Muni, gas or garage parking in our building. Yup, we have parking in our building. Cue the angelic choir.
We benefit. Because we know scurvy can sneak up on you before you can say “arr, pass me an orange,” we offer a full benefits package with a healthy (pun intended) chunk of cash for healthcare, vision, dental, and a 401(k). We’ve even set you up with some snazzy concierge-style service at health clinic One Medical. And when you need to kick up your feet for a few days (or several), there’s 15 days of PTO to choose from.
We play. The company is called Socialize. We’d be a bunch of shameless hypocrites if we didn’t love to have fun, meet new people and party hardy. Why not see for yourself? Come by for lunch to meet the team. Ten points if you show up already wearing a lampshade on your head.
Whitetruffle is currently helping Socialize in their search for talented engineers who’d like to be a part of their team. If you think you or a friend might be a match, sign up here: