Glenn, our CEO, is a great blogger (and no, I’m not sucking up, I don’t think he reads my blog). Check out his latest entry on attending what reads like a humbling time recruiting at UW today, Fear and Loathing on the College Recruiting Trail:
The University of Washington had a big computer science job fair today. Microsoft was there. Google was there. Eight Zillovians were there, all wearing Zillow t-shirts. And Redfin was there too, wearing a T-shirt that said, “NO, we don’t compete with Zillow.” Standing in front of our bare table, I found myself wishing I had something to show, like a mobile of the planets, or a papier-mache volcano that erupted with baking soda on cue.
I often read his blog posts asking myself, ‘no, really!?’. For instance his other recent post, Surowiecki Strikes Again: Why Median Home Prices Don’t Tell The Whole Story, did he really try and talk his way in?
I’ve spent the past few years concocting schemes to meet Surowiecki so we could pitch a few STUPENDOUS ideas for his column.
The most recent effort was on a blustery evening last winter when I walked into the lobby of the Conde Nast building, claiming I had an appointment. The security guards had already noticed me trundling around Times Square for half an hour with a wheelie and briefcase in tow, trying to get the guts to lie to their faces.
(I just overheard a co-worker say ‘no, we were downstairs doing crack!’ And no, I don’t think we really do crack, it’s just that we’re in Pioneer Square.)
I somehow hope that by being in Glenn’s vicinity I can channel his amazing blog goodness and improve my own lame blog. If I were to adopt two of his practices I think they’d be, always include a photo, and be shockingly honest. I think I also need to just blog more because in the blog world more is almost always better (though the Stranger’s blog posts way too often and I can’t keep up at all).
(It sounds like somewhere else in the office someone is singing. And in any minute I’m sure Kelly’s dog will run by.)
Matt, of course I read your blog… and yeah, I really did try to sneak into the New Yorker. It was super-embarrassing. Somehow I thought I could pull it off, but everyone in the whole lobby of that building — even the people behind me in line — instantly knew I was lying about an appointment with Surowiecki. This was only after I’d tried to guess his e-mail address and also called his publicist. Now it turns out a friend knows him, and so we have to think of some thought-provoking, Freakonomics-style ideas to pitch…
Good to see you’re doing well post-Microsoft, Matt. You haven’t missed anything here.