Stephen Guerguy

Awesome blogpost on how to get hired at a start-up

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:47:33 -0400

Awesome blogpost on how to get hired at a start-up

Dear potential applicants,

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:25:30 -0400

Don’t leave your facebook profile public - I (and every other recruiter) will look through it.

Photo

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:57:49 -0500

Want to negotiate your stock options? Click here to learn how.

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:36:04 -0500

Want to negotiate your stock options? Click here to learn how.

Why work at WePay?

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:53:11 -0500

Why work at WePay?

5 tips to get your dream job.

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 01:45:00 -0500

A few months ago, I was promoted to Sales Manager at WePay. In addition to my “day job” (selling), I’ve now got meetings with my two bosses (Tyler and Bill) every Monday and meetings with my team throughout the week.

I also spend 10-15 hours a week on interviewing. While I’m far from an expert interviewer, these are some short tips I’d recommend if you really want the job.

#1 - Customize your resume

If you’re applying for a sales role, indicate that. Don’t leave your objective “Looking to obtain a position in investment banking where I can utilize my passion for research etc…” Poor due diligence.

#2 - Don’t apply to two roles within the same company

From a company standpoint, it’s flattering. However, I don’t want people that settle for a sales job - I’m looking for people that want nothing more than to sell.

#3 - Do some research on the role/company

Do you know what we do? What’s the difference between us and PayPal? If you didn’t put the time to search for the answers to those two questions, you’re probably not that interested in our company.

#4 - Research your interviewer

I’ll be honest - it’s always flattering when someone knows my story at WePay. You saw my linkedin? Cool. You read my blog posts? Really? You shouldn’t have! *begins blushing*. Flattery aside, looking me up shows real initiative and it’s a great sign.

#5 - Don’t come in too early

5 minutes early: perfect.

15 minutes early: ambitious but acceptable.

30 minutes early: awkward and disruptive.

If these tips helped you land your dream job, let me know by tweeting me @StephenGuerguy! If you’re still looking, click here to check out some of silicon valley’s hottest jobs.

WePay Journey - Part 4

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:56:00 -0500

After I joined WePay as an unpaid intern and got my first sale in June (see parts 1, 2 & 3 of my WePay journey), Rich and Bill thought it would be a good idea for me to begin cold calling other groups to see if we can acquire users through the phone. At the time, our only tool was “billing” so we thought it would be a perfect fit for all organizations collecting dues.

One of our angel investors, Nils Johnson, came into the office and helped walk me through the basics of cold calling. I made calls in my last job but they were all somewhat warm calls (the person had submitted info and expected someone to call them). It helped a ton and showed me how to open the call, what questions to ask, and to close with a day/time we could walk through the website together. When Nils left, Bill came into the conference room and said “let’s do this” while pointing to the excel spreadsheet of contact info for shriners. Yep, shriners. These guys.

As you can imagine shriners aren’t the most tech savvy group of internet users so we opted for the next best thing - fraternities.

By August 1, I was cold calling about 40 fraternity treasurers a day and “demoing” them by walking them through the product over the phone.

On August 7, I was offered a full-time position at WePay. That same day, I happily signed on the line that was dotted and became the seventh employee and first non-technical hire at WePay; I haven’t looked back since.

It’s pretty powerful when the impact of an unintentional...

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:51:15 -0500

It’s pretty powerful when the impact of an unintentional viral campaign makes a billion dollar business apologize for a mistake.

Just keep fucking up, PayPal. We’ll be there every step of the way.

Keep it simple, stupid. Cherry - my new favorite web app.

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:59:44 -0500

Keep it simple, stupid. Cherry - my new favorite web app.

This is exactly why I don’t use Facebook’s social...

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:08:00 -0500

This is exactly why I don’t use Facebook’s social reader.

My thoughts on entrepreneurship after working for 1.5 years @WePay

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:06:23 -0500

Starting a company is sexy as hell. Building a company is the unsexiest thing you’ll probably ever do.

"There’s a culture out here where people don’t commit to doing things, I feel like a lot of companies..."

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:40:51 -0500

“There’s a culture out here where people don’t commit to doing things, I feel like a lot of companies built outside of Silicon Valley seem to be focused on a longer-term.”

- The Zuck via TechCrunch

"Because we don’t know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet..."

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 01:20:24 -0400

“Because we don’t know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.”

- Paul Bowles

14 months later - god damn I love this company.

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:51:21 -0400

14 months later - god damn I love this company.

Since when was working at a suicide hotline equivalent to a...

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:55:09 -0400

Since when was working at a suicide hotline equivalent to a masters degree in experience?

just tristan.: two years ago, today....

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 03:10:54 -0400

just tristan.: two years ago, today....:

tristanwalker:

today marks two years since i sent my very first email to dennis and naveen (wow i was such a nerd! ha). naveen sent a reminder to team foursquare today and i thought i’d share it on my blog. Man, how times have changed:

Hey Dennis and Naveen

How’s it going? Hope all is well!

My name is…

Thanks for the location-based ad, Facebook Deals.

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 09:22:29 -0400

Thanks for the location-based ad, Facebook Deals.

WePay Journey - Part 3

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:13:00 -0400

After I joined WePay as an unpaid intern (see parts 1 & 2 of my WePay journey), I began coming into WePay a few times a week to help out. Although my hours required for my internship program were 10 hours/week, I found myself at WePay HQ more than 30 hours/week.

At first, I was doing facebook ad buys for multiple verticals (primarily fraternities and sororities) with a little bit of support/fraud detection mixed in. It was a great way to get my hands dirty in multiple aspects of a business rather than making copies or building chairs like some other students in my eLab class. I was fairly good at it until I had my first “hot lead.” Another student in the program mentioned that his best friend growing up now ran finances for the Central Pacific Snow Club (still quite possibly the coolest WePay user’s I’ve had the pleasure to work with). These guys were massive in membership (300+), did insane trips (think 100+ people to Whistler) and I had an inside guy. So, I did the only thing I could think of.

I cold called the treasurer.

I learned CPSC was using PayPal and although were down to check out our product, they didn’t necessarily plan on switching anytime soon. Since I had no way of showing them our product (I didn’t have GoToMeeting at the time nor did anyone else at WePay), I lied and said that Rich and I were headed down to SLO that weekend to visit his girlfriend (she lived in LA) and would love to meet up. I immediately turned to Rich told him we were driving to San Luis Obispo that weekend.

We met up on Saturday and they loved the platform. CPSC also happened to be having their biggest party of the year that night so naturally, we opted to stay. Let’s just say it wasn’t one of my better nights. ;)

Ultimately, CPSC became my first “deal” at WePay and spurred me to begin cold calling other ski clubs in the UC system. Within a couple months, about 80% of California College (UC/CSU) ski clubs were using WePay (I’ve still yet to close the elusive UC Santa Cruz ski club since they refuse to respond to my calls/emails).

And the madness began.

Another reason why WePay is awesome. Check out WePay Giving to...

Tue, 03 May 2011 17:15:00 -0400

Another reason why WePay is awesome. Check out WePay Giving to see real donation campaigns collecting money for real causes.

That means we’re doing something right! =)

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:35:09 -0400

That means we’re doing something right! =)