Daily Archives: March 31, 2008

No More Desktops Out of A-Town

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Dell is shuttering it’s Parmer Lane facility, which employs approximately 900 people. The one great thing about making desktops in Austin was that you could get them delivered really quickly. Laptops haven’t been manufactured in Austin for a while now. It’s all part of the announced plan to reduce the workforce at Dell by 8,800 people.

Dell is one of the greatest startup stories to come out of Austin, and the talented “former Dell” folks have generated numerous startups of their own. As any fast-growing company will tell you, the growth rates can’t go on forever. There is also no escaping the fact that the world is flat. For a while, consumer technology was all the rage, but the Dell DJ wasn’t a huge hit, and the profit margins on Dell TV’s were slim. Dell is aggressively building their enterprise services business now, and is starting to look more like a diversified technology and services company along the lines of IBM and HP. Not bad role models, really.

This Week's Events

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If you haven’t seen it yet, we have an events calendar on the menubar which can also be accessed at http://www.austinstartup.com/calendar. It’s a Google Calendar which is public, so you can pull these events into your own Google Calendar, or with the new Outlook exchange feature you can pull these events into your Microsoft Outlook calendar.

Events This Week

  • Tuesday; Funding Sources for Early Stage Companies from 3:30 – 4:30 at the MCC Auditorium.
  • Thursday; Guerilla Marketing: Maximum Exposure with Minimal Resources from 11-1pm at the St. Ed’s PEC. Speakers include Sam Decker, CMO at Bazaarvoice and Eric Smith, President at Unwired Nation.

You can see more details on the calendar.

itzbig Deploys Pay for Performance Model

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Itzbig Logoitzbig has taken another step toward becoming the preferred destination for employers seeking qualified IT workers by introducing today a new, more results-oriented business model for employers. The new approach means that employers will only pay for Interested, Qualified and Available (IQA) candidates, a monumental shift from the way companies are used to recruiting candidates.

“Traditionally, employers have had to pay up front to list their job opportunities on a network,” said itzbig CEO Jim McGovern. “This model has become even more prevalent with the social networks entering the scene. Services like LinkedIn and others will typically charge you for access to their users.” Since taking the top job at itzbig, McGovern has expanded the company’s presence to the Bay Area and added brand-name clients.

“We are revolutionizing the way online recruiting works by aligning the value you receive with the value we provide you. With itzbig’s new Pay per IQA model, you can access our users and post as many jobs as you like for free, but you will only pay when you get results – when you find candidates who are Interested, Qualified and Available.”

The company also recently launched a new media campaign called Get Yourself Fired, which was created in conjunction with Austin-based Third Rail Creative.