@LARGE
By Scott Kirsner
The Backlash Bible is not such a good book.
It's a sanctimonious collection of conventional wisdom about what happens now that we're through with that Internet fad and it's time to get back to safe, predictable, pin-striped business-as-usual.
The Backlash Bible, thus far, is mostly an oral tradition. You may have heard a verse or two.
From the Book of MotherNature.com 8:34, "Consumer e-commerce is dead."
From the Book of King 17:42, "No matter what that prolific nut-job up in Bangor tries, digital distribution won't ever change the publishing industry."
From the Book of MarchFirst 10:6, "You can't turn a profit developing Web sites for businesses."
From the Book of TheGlobe.com 2:22, "Fresh-faced twentysomethings have no business running a public company. The Children's Crusade is over."
Is it heresy to challenge some of the teachings of the Backlash Bible, which also holds that no one's getting venture funding these days, and that all start-ups are either dead, dying, or in denial?
Well, then call me a heretic and chase me with a Bic and a stake.
David Morris is a heretic, too.
He's got an especially big problem with Chapter Two, Verse 22 of the Book of TheGlobe.com.
It's not that he thinks it was ever a swell idea for recent college grads to be CEOs of a publicly traded company, as was the case with TheGlobe.com, an online community and gaming site that opened at $63 a share in 1998 and is now selling for about 50 cents. But Morris, founder of the Seedling Group in Boston, says that young turks are still essential to the innovation economy in Massachusetts and beyond. I think he's dead on, and would like to take this opportunity to warn him to keep his eyes peeled for stake-wielding mobs.
The Seedling Group is a new take on the recruiting agency. Morris, 23, calls it "an entrepreneurial club" for people about to finish college or graduate school, or those just done. "We scope out passionate individuals with a tangible skill set, an entrepreneurial mindset, and a track record of commitment," Morris says. "And then we work with companies who are looking for that kind of person."
To attract people, Seedling throws parties at nightclubs in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. (One on Lansdowne Street earlier this month attracted about 150 people.) So far, Morris has built a network of several hundred job-seekers, and has filled positions at companies like AIG Horizon Partners, eMaven, and Dolphin Networks.
There's a screening process to get into the Seedling Group's network. It involves an application form, a one-page essay, and an interview. Only 25 percent of the people who apply get in. Once they do, Seedling helps make connections between its network members and its client companies, pocketing a placement fee. Morris explains: "We're not just selling a body that's going to fill a seat. Every person a company hires these days has to deliver exceptional value. We're selling energetic people with fresh ideas."
Energetic is an apt, but somewhat limited, word to describe Morris. The son of Barry Morris, president of the Boston Phoenix's parent company, he had a custom stationery business while in third grade. At Newton North High School, he launched the Honor Roll Card, a program that rewarded students with discounts and freebies for improving their grades. Morris headed to Philadelphia and Wharton for his bachelor's degree.
To find a job in Silicon Valley one summer, he sent out letters to 120 venture capital firms. When that failed to produce a job offer, Morris flew out to California with a friend, gave himself two weeks to find a job, and went door-to-door on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, ground zero for many Valley venture firms. (Morris and his friend also put themselves up for bid on eBay.)
"Everything I've ever done, I've had challenges, and I've had to push," he says.
Morris's pushiness paid off with not one but two jobs. During the day, he worked at the investment bank W.R. Hambrecht in San Francisco, and at night he consulted with eRugGallery.com in Menlo Park, an hour's drive south.
"The mentality in [Silicon Valley] is that it doesn't matter how old you are, or what experience you had," Morris says. "What mattered was passion, talent, and drive."
Morris's initial idea for the Seedling Group was that he would seek out interesting business ideas from college campuses and bring them to venture capitalists and incubators, pocketing a finder's fee or perhaps a small chunk of equity.
But as VCs' and incubators' eagerness to see blue-sky, pre-revenue business plans has diminished, Seedling changed course. Top talent, Morris figured, is always in demand. Today, "Seedling Group aggregates ambitious and innovative individuals" and helps "accelerate their careers and cultivate their entrepreneurial spirit," according to the company's marketing materials.
Seedling will be hard-pressed to establish itself in an era characterized by layoffs and bankruptcy filings, not gluttonous, spare-no-expense hiring. But Morris believes that even if start-ups aren't hiring as rapidly, they are still hiring, and they're being much pickier. Seedling's pitch is that if you're going to hire a recent MBA or college grad, it's the perfect source.
And Morris says big companies still need young blood to help develop new products and services and notify top executives of potentially disruptive technologies on the horizon. I think of these people as sentinels, alerting management to the next Napster, the next ICQ, the next Palm Pilot.
One of Boston's biggest natural resources is college grads who understand technology at a gut level and have plenty of creative thoughts about what to do with it. The Backlash Bible says that in the post-bubble world, there's no place for those people.
"What about Microsoft and Dell and Yahoo?" Morris asks. "Those companies were all started by young people who figured out how they could have a big impact. That's not a trend that's going to go away, and it's something that happens with big companies, too - younger employees are great sources of innovative ideas and new approaches. Sure, they've got a learning curve, but they can also bring significant value."
Can I get an amen?
Scott Kirsner is a Boston freelance writer and a contributing editor at Wired and Fast Company magazines.
Heretics Anonymous
