The 5 Hardest Jobs to Fill in 2012

While you're planning your expansion, you're going to find that talent is in short supply, especially in these five areas.

The year flew by mostly because it was a very, very busy one.

Although the economy continues to face many challenges, the startup and tech industries are very much alive.  The IPO window slightly opened up for companies like LinkedIn, Pandora, Groupon, Zynga, and Carbonite.  We saw monster rounds of funding for companies like Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox.  The appetite for seed and angel investing was extremely active.  Tech incubators and accelerator programs kept popping up. 

It was also a very busy year for hiring at startup companies, as you know, and it doesn't look like that will slow down in 2012.  We've certainly seen opinions on both sides of the fence as to whether or not there is a tech bubble or 2012 will be another active year of investing.  I'm an optimist and I believe the pace of investing will remain consistent.  Yes, some companies will fail, of course, but others will scale and grow their teams at a steady clip.

Hiring the best of the best is an absolute must if you are going to build a successful company.  You will need to be prepared to compete against big companies with deep pockets and other up-and-coming startups that also have blue chip investors and a game-changing idea.

So, what are the most competitive areas for talent these days?  Here's a look:

Software Engineers and Web Developers

The demand for top-tier engineering talent sharply outweighs the supply in almost every market especially in San Francisco, New York, and Boston.  This is a major, major pain point and problem that almost every company is facing, regardless of the technology "stack" their engineers are working on.

Creative Design and User Experience

After engineers, the biggest challenge for companies is finding high-quality creative design and user-experience talent.  Since almost every company is trying to create a highly compelling user experience that keeps people engaged with their product, it is tough to find people who have this type of experience (especially with mobile devices including tablets) and a demonstrated track record of success.

Product Management

It is always helpful for an early-stage company to hire someone who has very relevant and specific experience in your industry.  This is especially true for product management, since the person in this role will interface with customers and define the product strategy and use cases.  However, be prepared, as it will be a challenge to find people with experience in these high-growth industries: consumer web, e-commerce, mobile, software as a service, and cloud computing. 

Marketing

I'm not talking about old-school marketing communications. Companies are looking for expert online marketers who know how to create a buzz of inbound marketing or viral traffic through the web, social media, and content discovery.  Writing a good press release just doesn't cut it anymore, as everyone is looking for the savvy online marketing professional who understands how the current state of the web operates and knows how to make it work to their benefit.

Analytics

Since data is becoming more and more accessible, smart companies are increasingly making decisions driven by metrics.  Analytics is becoming a central hub across companies where everything (web, marketing, sales, operations) is being measured and each decision is supported by data.  Thus, we are seeing a high level of demand for analytics and business intelligence professionals who almost act like internal consultants; they help determine what should be measured and then build out the capability for a company.

http://www.inc.com/keith-cline/talent-shortages-in-2012.html

---

 

ME Top 50 Mobile Innovators reception by Tim Green, ME

ME's Top 50 Mobile Innovators project was designed to showcase the creative energy and entrepreneurial spirit of the UK mobile scene.

The winners included representatives of all corners of the space, including payments, games, social media, e-books, gambling, gifting and more.

You can see the full list here.

The sponsor of Top 50 Mobile Innovatorswas O2 BlueVia, and the initiative was also supported by Frog Capital, IMR and RPC.

Last night, the winners gathered in central London for a celebratory reception. They got some champagne, a chance to network and a rousing talk by Kristian Segerstrale, who sold his social gaming start-up Playfish to EA for $275m.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz//news/index/read/url/in-pictures-me-top-50-mobile-innovators-reception

---

IMR Executive Sponsors last nights ME Top 50 Mobile Innovators Event - 5th September 2011

Playfish boss Kristian Segerstrale on the opportunity for UK startups - by Stuart Dredge, ME

'Make sure you have a vision that goes out and changes the world versus just creating the incremental win...'

At tonight's ME Top 50 Innovators event in London, Playfish boss Kristian Segerstrale - now running EA's social gaming business - gave a rabble-rousing call to action for British mobile startups.

The event brought together 50 of the most innovative mobile firms in the UK, who were told by Segerstrale that "Today is a truly awesome time to be a startup."

Why? Because small, nimble mobile companies are well placed to disrupt whatever industry they are in. "It is horrible today to be a big company and want to do something new and innovative and different," said Segerstrale, referring to the current economic climate and the cutbacks that are being forced on many large companies as a result.

"Yet today, consumers for the first time have access to really usable mobile platforms and tablets. And those consumers want to shift how they operate."

Segerstale also pointed out that it's also easier now to set up a company using various cloud services and software-as-a-service tools for almost anything you want as a company, creating a new venture within days.

"Never before has there been a time where as a small company you have such an unbelievable opportunity to challenge the big giants in any sector," he said. "And nowhere is there such an opportunity as in mobile."

Segerstrale used to work in the mobile games industry, first at UK developer Macrospace, and then as EMEA head of Glu Mobile after it acquired that company. He left a few years later to set up Playfish.

"What's very cool about mobile now is that not only is the user experience great: we may be reaching that tipping point where manufacturing mobile devices and smartphones is becoming as cheap and simple as manufacturing feature phones," he said.

"In the next 3-5 years, we will see this market flip from feature phones into smartphones, even in emerging economies. That's going from a billion or 1.5 billion people with smartphones to 4-5 billion, which is just unreal."

Segerstrale had five specific pieces of advice for mobile startups in the UK - although they apply much more widely too. Here are the salient points:

1. Think big

"When you think of your vision, make it bigger and make it bolder. Not just taking a product to market and making some money off it, but genuinely changing the world. There's an opportunity that big companies can't do: it's hard to focus on this platform when you're big. People are migrating from desktops to mobiles, and big companies won't do it: you guys will."

"Don't have a small dream when you can have a big dream: it costs just the same. Make sure you have a vision that goes out and changes the world versus just creating the incremental win. It's much too fun, life's too short, and this is ultimately how you will both attract talent and the funding."

2. Raise more money

"Big vision, big money. I come across a lot of startups here in Europe, and every time they talk about raising money, people tend to think too small: they don't raise enough. If we continue to raise money that's one quarter or one fifth of what our brethren in Silicon Valley raise, they will continue acquiring the companies here and ultimately creating the world-beating companies."

"We have smart capital and smart investors here, and there is lots of capital around for early-stage investments. But go out and dare to put a zero on that number that you're raising, in order to chase that vision that is exponentially bigger than what you were going to put on that PowerPoint. When you walk in with the PowerPoint looking for a $50 million round, it feels really good. You won't use it all now, but you'll invest $10 million to make this a $100 million dollar business in the next five years."

3. Dare to pivot

"If the thing that your company is working on feels like it's stagnating, dare to pivot. When things aren't gong in the right direction, dare to take a radical turn. If you had this money, backing, people and friends, what would you do with those if you had nothing? The greatest companies in the world have been built on pivots in various directions. It's fine to call a board meeting and say 'This isn't working...'"

4. Don't be shy...

"Tell your stories. There are far too many bright university graduates in consultancies and banks, plugging their heads into the machines that suck the cleverness out of them. We need these bright young things to join the startups, and change the world together with us. The only way is to tell our stories: they're not told enough."

"We need to tell them, we need to help the press to tell them for us, and we have a government that is really interested in backing startups, with Tech City and all that stuff."

5. ...But don't get hung up on geographic clusters

"People talk a lot about clusters in the UK, with Silicon Roundabout and Tech City and all these things. But if you read the story about Silicon Valley, it started off as a semiconductor place, where a bunch of talent figured out how to make various things, and constantly moved up one layer in the stack - learning to make embedded software for CPUs, writing operating systems, drivers... right the way through to Web 2.0 and the social web."

"People talk about Silicon Valley as if there is some kind of magic - as if it's a place where magic happens. But clusters are not about geographic location: that's not really what it's about, although it helps. It's really about people that work and try again and again to push technology and services forward, and work with each other to make it happen."

"Every time Silicon Valley has negotiated the next big thing, it's by having a ton of talent available to throw at the new thing, and learn quicker than anybody "I believe that the shift from consumer internet services onto mobile devices and tablets will be more fundamental than any shift we've seen before, including Web 1.0, Web 2.0, the social web and all of that. And there is a unique opportunity for us as London - forget east, west, north or south - for London to start forming our own cluster based not just on the fact that we live in the same city and have fantastic investors, technology talent and user experience talent - but also on the fact that we are passionate, talented entrepreneurs."

"If we spend enough time together and bother to listen to one another and work together, we can raise London up from a distant second cousin to Silicon Valley to a genuine driver of where the mobile internet is going."

http://www.mobile-ent.biz//news/index/read/url/playfish-boss-kristian-segerstrale-on-the-opportunity-for-uk-startups

---

ME names Top 50 Mobile Innovators - September 5th 2011

By Tim Green, ME

Ribot, ustwo, Neon Play and Qriously among the firms making our list of the most dynamic companies in UK mobile.

ME's Top 50 Mobile Innovators project, sponsored by O2 BlueVia and IMR Executive was a quest to identify the firms doing amazing things in gaming, loyalty, ticketing, payments, advertising, education, gifting and more.

With the help of a panel of judges comprising VCs, analysts, entrepreneurs and more, we've assembled a list that spotlights the best of British mobile.

And it's not all about London's Silicon Roundabout either. There are representatives here from Bristol, Newcastle, Leeds, Cirencester and elsewhere.

Tim Green, executive editor of ME, said: "Britain has always been home to inventors and entrepreneurs. It's been that way since the Industrial Revolution - which we invented too, of course.

"Today, as we enter the information revolution, that entrepreneural spirit is clearly found in the mobile space.

"It's very gratifying to provide a showcase of the best of UK mobile, and I congratulate all those who made the 50."

ME's Top 50 Mobile Innovators project was open to privately-owned UK registered companies. The sponsor was O2 BlueVia, and the initiative was also supported by Frog Capital, IMR and RPC.

The 50 winning firms will celebrate their inclusion as a special reception at the 24 London bar on September 5th, which will include a talk by Kristian Segerstrale, who will share some of the insights and lessons he learned in building the social gaming start-up Playfish from launch to acquisition by EA for $275m in just over two years.

The Top 50 Mobile Innovators are listed on the ME website: http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/me-names-top-50-mobile-innovators/015212

---

IMR to sponsor ME Top 50 Mobile Innovators project - June 2011

Industry recruitment specialist gets behind ME's quest to find the UK's best mobile firms.

IMR now joins platinum partner BlueVia as an official supporting partner of the ME Top 50 Mobile Innovators initiative.

The project was launched last week with the aim of identifying the UK companies doing the most interesting stuff in mobile social media, gaming, payments, LBS, video, advertising, music – indeed, any activity within the mobile content ecosystem.

Ross Wellby, director of IMR, said: "The Top 50 Mobile Innovators project is hugely exciting. We've been working with the UK's mobile firms for many years, so we've seen first hand how creative a space it is.

"It's really good to be part of a process to identify and celebrate the best UK talent."

The Top 50 Mobile Innovators initiative is free to enter and open to any privately-owned UK-registered company active in any part of the mobile content value chain.

The final 50 will be decided by a jury of experts, and listed in August on the ME site.

There will be a reception for the finalists in September.

If you'd like to be considered for inclusion, please send us a background document (500 word max) or a link to your site to tim.green@intentmedia.co.uk before June 30th.

ME will announce further supporters of the Top 50 Mobile Innovators project in the coming weeks.

Article from Mobile Entertainment: http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/imr-to-sponsor-me-top-50-mobile-innovators-project/014551

---

 

IMR Executive Partners With The Music Void

Global recruitment firm joins forces with leading music industry blog

London, UK. 19^th January 2010 - IMR Executive, the global recruitment firm, has today announced that it will begin working with leading industry blog The Music Void in order to target candidates and opportunities within the vibrant digital music sector.

Peter Oates, Founder of IMR Executive comments; "We're very excited about this opportunity and look forward to working with the Music Void team. The past few years have seen incredible changes within the music business, particularly in digital music, and this has meant that the requirements of both employers and candidates are changing rapidly. We're eager ensure these transitions are successful."

The deal will see IMR co-manage The Music Void's Executive Job section which focuses on positions at the Director level and above. The deal will also include co-operation on off-line activities including consultancy projects and industry events.

The Music Void was launched in 2007 to address the need for dedicated analysis of the rapidly-changing music industry and has quickly become a  "go to" site for senior players within the sector. The site covers all the major aspects of the music business and publishes interviews, analysis and opinion from regular writers and leading industry personalities.

Jakomi Mathews, founder of TMV stated, "IMR Executive share our passion for digital entertainment and combining their executive recruitment expertise with our media reach and wealth of industry contacts was a logical step. The future success of digital music requires that proven talent is attracted to where it is needed the most. That's what this deal is all about."

IMR will begin management of TMV's Executive Job section on Tuesday 19^th January 2010.

---

 

How’s your mobile strategy looking?

When mobile kicks off will you be ready?

Talking about digital opportunities, Sir Martin Sorrell (Chief Executive of WPP) recently said mobile is the most overhyped thing that he had ever heard of in the short term but the most under hyped thing that he had ever heard of in the medium term.

I agree. Take the internet for example. For access to the internet, wireless devices will take over from PC’s and laptop’s in the medium term. It’s inevitable. At some point in the future the mobile internet will eclipse the PC web.

This idea can be illustrated easily of we look at it from a global perspective. Take Cuba for instance. They recently launched their first mobile network, which means that they built a network of antennae masts and put handsets into shops. The Cubans were queuing around the corners to get their hands on a device - in spite of their apparent shortfall in disposable income. What happened next is interesting. They looked at the internet for the first time in their lives. In Cuba wireless devices have leapfrogged PC’s and Laptops as the primary window to the internet. In regions of the world with huge populations like Africa and Asia, mobile is burgeoning due to some very interesting factors such as the lack of robust fixed line infrastructure and the cost of laptops and PC’s. It follows that laptops and PC’s are actually barriers to entry for the internet because they are expensive.

So where is it all this going? A simple statement of fact: Mobile is going to take over from other online media in the medium term. If this is a fact then marketers should be experimenting with mobile right now.

While experimenting with mobile we should also be building our wireless device marketing strategies. We don’t want to miss the boat again this time like we did with Facebook. When volume kicks in for mobile we want to be ready. We need to have learned all our mistakes. Learned how to use our agencies in the most effective way and learnt how best to leverage this volume for our brand.

There’s a wave coming – get ready to ride it.

But where do we start on strategy and execution?

Well… SMS continues to be the most popular way for markettiers to utilise mobile as a channel but there is a debate over whether it is the most effective. For me the technical channels of mobile are not so much of an issue. So I think we should put the consumer first and most importantly be creative. Mobile has been technology-led for far too long. Mobile is the best tool to create relationships between brands and consumers. It is after all a communications device. We will see a big trend next year where (for brands) creating relationships will come a close second only to creating awareness. No other medium can build a relationship as effectively as mobile.

So in my mind, first off, mobile should be used to deliver fantastic brand engagements. The first of three things that I advise clients to do with the medium and its related technologies. The second thing to do would be to build consumer acquisition, I liken this to creating a mini radio station where all your customers are listeners and their mobiles are the radio (of course you are the broadcaster.) The third and final thing to do is to deliver some sort of activation via mobile. So herein we have a mobile strategy.

At Ogilvy we have some very clever remedies that fit intricately within our mobile strategy. I would love to tell you all about them here but unfortunately I don’t have the space… I would much prefer to do that in the privacy of our new Digital Innovation Lab, where you would be made most welcome…

As a final note I would just like to say something about where mobile could be going in the near future. A colleague of mine always goes on about a new set of the 3 p’s: Permission, privacy and preference. Permission being an explicit statement of permission to talk to you – i.e. a firm opt in. Privacy being a clear clarification of privacy, i.e. what data you give, what your data is used for and what data is actually used. The third, preference, is very interesting… it consists of statements defining your likes and dislikes, your behavioural preferences, your contextual data. If we embrace these three and build them into our mobile marketing strategy we experience almost unbelievable results. I created a mobile book club (for a certain high street retailer that will remain nameless) which enjoyed up to 23% redemption of mobile sales promotion vouchers. This ‘mobile club’ increased sales from promotions (net) by 15%. If consumers engage in a relationship with a brand and they know the level of privacy between them, they will tell us what they like and dislike. This makes them very happy to receive messages from us - a push in the right direction…

Contextual elements to mobile data are a critical element to success in the future. If we combine these with best practice and a strategy that I call ‘Engage, Acquire, Activate’ we get the start of a robust mobile strategy. Now is the time to sort one out.

Scott Seaborn, Head of Mobile Technologies, Ogilvy Group

Scott Seaborn is Head of Mobile Technologies at Ogilvy Group. He has 15 years experience in using technology for marketing and advertising. Upon leaving University (in the days before the internet) he went into radio. Radio was the new marketing technology. He then moved from radio to online and then through digital to mobile where he has worked for the past 8 years. It's fair to say that Scott has ridden the wave of new marketing technologies.

 

---

IMR Executive are off to Mobile World Congress, Barcelona!

 

16 – 19th February 2009

We will be over in Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress conference 16-18th February 2009.

The GSMA Mobile World Congress (formerly 3GSM World Congress) combines the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry with a stimulating and insightful congress that brings together prominent leaders and personalities from mobile operators and equipment vendors, as well as Internet and entertainment professionals.

If you would like to arrange a meeting or have a chat to one of our consultants while you are there, please contact them direct:

Ross Wellby (Mobile Content/Entertainment): +44 (0) 788 074 7267

Jeremy McNeile (Mobile Technology): +44 (0) 776 493 7003

Katharine Ruff (Mobile Technology): +44 (0) 798 887 2580

 

---

 

Internet Advertising Bureau – IAB: now representing the major UK mobile operators in mobile advertising.

IAB mobile advertising report

The next 12 months have been heralded a real turning point for mobile internet advertising, when the experience will match the technology and consumers will get over their hang-ups about using their mobile phones for something other than communication and surf to their hearts’ content on the move, occasionally interacting with advertising. The IAB’s 'mobile advertising: the emerging UK market' report - written with the Mobile Marketing Association and available to download below is an ideal introduction to the increasingly important mobile market.

A growing number of consumers are already using mobile internet. They’re using it for news and entertainment, travel information and locations, price comparisons and email. Male 16 – 34 year olds have proven to be the early adopters but other groups are steadily increasing their usage as familiarity with the medium develops. Transparency of mobile packages is improving, content is getting better and more relevant, and mobile usability is finally beginning to be addressed with the development of more and more tailor-made mobile sites and the next generation of mobile technology.

We know that media owners already have established models for advertising on mobile, but marketers have been relatively cautious thus far. However, there are a number of benefits to mobile marketing that your brand can enjoy: enhanced targeting by demographic and day-part, the highly personal nature of the mobile phone, mass reach and the fact that users are likely to have their mobiles always with them and always on. The aim for marketers is to exploit these opportunities with a great creative idea and relevant content. Of course that’s easier said than done, and the medium is not without its challenges and inextricable barriers before it really hits the mainstream.
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
<!--[endif]-->

---

IMR Executive @ the ME Awards 2008

Exclusive Sponsors of the Best Games Publisher

26.09.08

The ME Awards 2008, which rewards creativity, innovation and those who work in the mobile sector. The event attracted nearly 400 guests from over 120 companies in media, technology and entertainment around the world.

IMR Executive were proud sponsors of the ‘Best Games Publisher’ at the ME Awards last night! And Ross Wellby and Leee Christian were there to present the award to the winners: EA Mobile! Congratulations!

The wide range of categories covered all aspects of the mobile entertainment space, including software, hardware and B2B applications. Taptu won best mobile search provider, Apple picked up the award for best handset company and Sony BMG for best music label. O2 UK and Ideaworks 3D scooped the awards for the best operator and best games developer categories respectively. The ME Awards also recognised Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president, markets, at Nokia with a special award for outstanding contribution to the mobile entertainment content industry.

It was a great night – well done to all the winners and to ME for putting on such an entertaining evening.

Those of you that did not get to go to the ME Awards last night missed out on the sight of our very own Ross Wellby (The Rapper) and some of other industry folks rocking out in this curtain raising video.

But don’t worry we have it here for you!

Rock Star Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSAJ5cDyUbA

---