Aug
2011
Today, we want to show you a really cool way that the Hashable app puts you on the fast track to maintaining your relationships. One of the robust features of our mobile address book is being able to contact your contacts instantly and in a number of ways, directly from the app.
You see, the Hashable address book doesn’t just hold your contacts’ data – instead, you have a number of options at your fingertips for communicating with people quickly.
The Options: Email, Call, Text, or Tweet
When you are looking at a specific contact’s profile in your Hashable app, you can contact the person right there. You can email, call, text, or tweet the contact right from the app.
Now, you can maintain your relationships by staying in touch with your contacts simply and seamlessly.
The Example: Contacting Katie Felten From The Hashable App
To get started, select a contact from the Contacts list. Here, we’ll demonstrate using Katie Felten. Once we tap Katie Felten’s name, we can view her profile. This should show us the contact information she has chosen to put into her Hashable profile; including email address, phone number, and Twitter handle.
To communicate with Katie, we can choose any field from her listed information. Tapping on her email, phone, or Twitter will prompt us to contact Katie.
In this case, we’ll send Katie a text message. If we tap her phone number, we are prompted to either call her or send her a text message – right from the Hashable app! Just type your text message and then tap send.
This makes it easier to stay in touch with your contacts. Try it out and see how easy it is to quickly communicate with your contacts!
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Let us know – what do you think of this feature? Leave us your tips for staying in touch in the comments below!
Aug
2011
*Image credit: Galo Delgado, The Photobooth Project
If you didn’t get a chance to meet our interns from this summer, don’t fret – we’ve got you covered right here. Today, we interview Kishin Manglani and John Exley to find out what they love about the city, what they’ve learned this summer, and what they were up to pre-Hashable days.
Let’s hop to it!
Part I: Meet Hashable’s Business Development + Marketing Intern, Kishin Manglani
*Image credit: Galo Delgado, The Photobooth Project
Before we get to the interview, here’s the lowdown on Kishin:
- Follow Kishin on Twitter here
- Hash with Kishin here
- Check out Kishin’s photography skillz here
- City of Kishin: Murray Hill, New York, NY
- A short bio: “Intern at @Hashable, Intern at @TechCrunch, working on @CrunchBase, VC Analyst, Developer, CS and Business student at @UofPenn”
1. What is your favorite thing about NYC?
As a lifelong New Yorker, it is very difficult for me to narrow it down to just one aspect of this city that I love. I won’t say people, food, and nightlife because these are all pretty obvious answers. Of course these are all awesome, but that’s also why everyone loves New York. The thing that really excites me is the size of the city. Sometimes people forget just how big New York really is. I love being able to walk around and discover new places in different neighborhoods. When I had jury duty for two weeks this summer, I went to 15 different tiny dumpling places in Chinatown, searching for the best, and I had only scratched the surface. Foursquare’s explore feature is very useful when trying to find the best places in any given neighborhood.
The best thing about it all is that I don’t have to drive! I still don’t have my license. I don’t think I would do too well with the rush hour traffic.
2. What was your favorite experience from your summer with Hashable?
Meeting people. The team at Hashable was awesome, and I learned so much from everybody. One of the things that drew me to Hashable was its emphasis on people and relationships. I knew that I would be able to meet brilliant people working at such a cool company.
More specifically, I am really glad that I was able to meet so many great interns here in New York. It is amazing how many college students are so enthusiastic about the tech scene here in New York. When John and I organized the NY tech intern events, the turnout was much higher than expected. It was awesome interning with John this summer. If I could go back in time, I would do it again in a heartbeat.
3. What were the top 1-2 lessons you learned from running your “Computer Repair NY” business back in the day?
1) Discipline – Running a business in middle and high school was a lot of fun. More importantly though, I learned some long lasting lessons that have left a memorable impression. Between working after school, scheduling meetings, and making time to study, it certainly instilled a solid work ethic in me. You cannot just expect things to happen for you because you have particular skills or smarts. Doing stuff is the most important thing. One of my favorite quotes is, “I make my own luck.”
2) Selling – Before my computer repair business, I tried to do web design. I hadn’t even reached my teens when I started. Of course, people can tell when you are only 12 years old. It was very difficult to establish my credibility and sell my services at such a young age. By the time I started doing computer repair, my sales skills got much better. In college I have continued to work with student organizations and startups to hone my selling skills. Whether you are selling yourself or your product, you should aspire to do so extremely well.
THE FINALE: Get To Know Kishin In Three Quick Questions
1. What camera do you use?
2. What languages can you program in?
Java, Ruby, Python, Objective-C.
3. What is one skill you’d like to improve by next summer?
Coding.
Part II: Meet Hashable’s User Support + Community Management Intern, John Exley
*Image credit: Galo Delgado, The Photobooth Project
Before we get to the interview, here’s the lowdown on John:
- Follow John on Twitter here
- Hash with John here
- Check out John’s blog here
- City of John: Rochester, NY
- A short bio: “Loyal. Compassionate. Ambitious. Interning at my dream startup, @Hashable. Aspiring entrepreneur. LOVE learning & helping others! Technology + Fashion + HUSTLE”
1. What is your favorite thing about NYC?
There is no other place on earth where more people regularly perform at a ‘#1 in the world’ level than in NYC. For so many of the things I love, it stands alone as best-on-earth, and I guess it’s this cultural phenomenon as a whole that is my favorite thing about NYC. For example, the city has birthed so many of the best hip hop artists to ever live (Fabolous, Tupac, Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G., 50 Cent, The Diplomats, Wu Tang Clan, et. al.).
Additionally, I grew up playing basketball outdoors all over Rochester and in Bristol, and I looked to Rucker Park in Harlem as holy ground. NYC is the mecca of street basketball and is home to the most famous basketball arena on earth, Madison Square Garden. I could go on…NYC is also a hub for international fashion and is currently undergoing a technology renaissance.
As such, the energy and the ‘hunger to win’ in NYC is absolutely electric. Contagious. It is the greatest city in the world.
2. What was your favorite experience from your summer with Hashable?
Oh man, there are just so many to choose from. I looked to the team at Hashable as my dream team…like the Los Angeles Lakers of the Internet. Being apart of the team alone was amazing. Working together with Kishin all summer and organizing the NYC Interns events with him was also something I won’t forget.
My absolute favorite experience actually took place just 2 weeks ago. My heroine (and boss) Rachel Sklar invited me to be her personal photographer at an event she had organized for Change The Ratio, sponsored by Fashism. The event took place at Cindy Gallop’s infamous ‘The Black Apartment’. Hanging with Rachel and watching her lead a room packed with some of the top female founders in the city (and in the coolest apartment I’ve ever seen) was so sick. Let’s just say ‘The Black Apartment’ is itself something unforgettable haha….
3. What are the top 1-2 lessons you’ve learned from interviewing entrepreneurs on your blog?
It’s all in the preparation, the homework. I learned that telling the story of each entrepreneur who had agreed to be interviewed on my blog in a detailed, compelling fashion was the way I could be most helpful to the entrepreneur. To do so, I researched each individual in depth – reading and watching every interview I could find with the person. I was motivated by the idea of asking questions that hadn’t been captured in any previous interviews about the entrepreneur and his/her company.
Interviewing taught me how to do extensive homework on the background of entrepreneurs and then present his/her story in a compelling, readable way.
THE FINALE: Get To Know John In Three Quick Questions
1. What are your 3 favorite cities?
Rochester, NY (my home city); New York, NY; Rome, Italy.
2. Who is your favorite artist?
3. What is one skill you’d like to improve by next summer?
Writing – higher quality content, faster.
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Have any questions you’d like to ask Kishin and/or John? Well, go right ahead! Ask away in the comments below.
Aug
2011
We’ve taken note (pun intended ;-)) of a recent trend arising in our community: creating private notes about any of your contacts. A lot of our users have been referencing the private notes feature as one of the most useful features of the Hashable contact management platform.
What Does It Do?
It’s simple - Hashable’s notes feature allows you to save a note about any of your contacts. From recording personal interests to taking note of previous jobs, our users have been using the notes feature to save all sorts of information they want to remember later about specific contacts. The notes are saved to the individual contact’s profile – and are only visible to the creator of the note.
Get Started Using Hashable’s New Notes Feature
First, select a contact that you want to add a private note to from the contact list. Once the contact’s profile is open, just tap the “Note” icon at the top right of the screen.
This will bring us to the Create Note page. On this screen you can type the desired note and then tap the blue Save Note button. For example, I can add, “Likes thai food” for Katie Felten. The notes feature is a natural complement to Hashable’s reminders feature - after saving this note, I can set a reminder to order Katie Thai food for next week’s meeting.
After finishing the note, I will tap the blue Save Note button to close the note. In the future when I want to access the notes I’ve saved about Katie, I can just click on the contact again and then click on the notes icon. Once there, I can either view the notes I’ve created before about Katie, or I can create an additional note and save it to her contact.
Essentially, the notes feature makes it easier to remember any details for your contacts. We hope you enjoy it!
Aug
2011
We’ve discovered something: the passionate users that together form Hashable’s community of connectors are quite the incredible bunch (eh hem, just sayin’). So, we have decided to start a weekly interview series with particularly interesting hashers who just get it. Every other Friday, take a stroll by the Hashable blog and you can see what (and who!) keeps the Hashable community growing and connecting.
Meet Hashable’s MidWest All-Star: Jabril Faraj
Today, we will go inside the mind of one of the biggest #hashvangelists out there – and along the way, discover some insider tips and tricks on using Hashable powerfully. Ladies and gents, we’re pleased to pass the mic on over to a most interesting of gentlemen, Mr. Jabril Faraj…
But first, the lowdown:
- Follow Jabril on Twitter here
- Hash with Jabril here
- By day: Communications at Sōsh
- City of Jabril: Milwaukee, WI
- A short bio: “Medill alum. I love beer. I love people. I have strong opinions. I talk music, politics, tech. I believe in being a good friend. I’m also over at @ja_sosh.“
1. In your ideal ‘it’s time-to-have-fun-situation’, what music are you listening to and what beer are you drinking?
Ideally, I’d be sitting around a table talking with a few insanely interesting people, listening to The National or Bon Iver — both are making great music right now — and drinking a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
2. What is a day in the work-life of Jabril Faraj look like?
You’re asking the wrong guy. What I do is so hectic — writing copy, managing client account, doing client and in-house research and basically anything else I’m thrown — that it’s almost hard for me to tell you what I worked on in a given day. It’s multi-tasking at its best.
3. What is your favorite Hashable feature/function?
I know this might sound simple but my absolute favorite thing about Hashable is how it has significantly changed that first interaction (or maybe more appropriately, the following interactions) with someone I’m meeting for the first time.
You used to exchange business cards, then maybe send a follow up email and, after that, maybe have lunch or coffee with that person. What happens after this meeting? You either do business together immediately or you don’t. Unfortunately, that’s not often how things actually work. It’s much more valuable to begin to build a genuine relationship and Hashable helps you cross the first hurdle to doing that: actually connecting with that person somehow.
With Hashable, I can get your Twitter handle right when we meet for the first time. It goes straight into my address book and then — in the time following our initial introduction — I can get an idea of what your interests and hobbies are, what you’re talking about on a daily basis, maybe we even exchange a few kind words. And, now, when we meet again, we have something to talk about right away.
Before I had Hashable, often times that initial connection is lost; you lose the business card, forget which face goes with which name. Not anymore. In the first two weeks I started seriously using Hashable I gained about 70 or so Twitter followers, many of which I know 120 times better than I did when we met. I’m pretty sure that speaks for itself.
4. How do you describe Hashable to your friends and colleagues?
I think the easiest way to describe it, especially to the younger generation, is to compare it to Foursquare. Most people are familiar with the goelocation-based game where you “check in” to places. I just tell them it’s like that but, instead of checking into places, you’re checking into people. It’s really a pretty simple concept when you think about it.
Hashable is that “relationship tracker” we all wish we had. With everyone being so busy these days and maintaining a ton of relationships — both business and personal — we could all use something to add a little context to our interactions and Hashable does just that.
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Have any questions you’d like to ask Jabril? Well, go right ahead! Ask away in the comments below.
Aug
2011
As the summer begins to wind down, we unfortunately need to say goodbye to our two Hash interns, Kishin Manglani and John Exley (feel free to ask them questions!). We are currently seeking candidates for our Fall 2011 Marketing and Community internship. You can find more details below:
Hashable’s Marketing & Community team is seeking highly versatile and passionate candidates for a three month paid internship. This fantastic opportunity is for students or recent grads looking for experience or those trying to break into the NYC startup scene. During this period you will work full-time in our office in midtown Manhattan (no remote workers – sorry!). The ideal timing is September through November.
Responsibilities:
- Implement marketing strategy by producing marketing collateral
- Produce both internal and external deliverables from press to analytics
- Find companies to build partnerships and gain sponsorships
- Working closely with Hashable’s Community Manager to build and foster our community of users
- Consistently and effectively use social media to convey Hashable’s goals, vision and culture
Requirements:
- Familiarity with the standard tech tools – Dropbox, Excel, Powerpoint
- Ability to learn quickly
- Ability to multi-task and prioritize
- Passion for our product – we expect you to have downloaded and used our app
- Savvy and experience with social media
- Analytical ability to suggest methods and avenues for improvement to processes
- Personable and outgoing personality
Apply:
- Local candidates interested in startups and technology are preferred. Those from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply, as we appreciate diverse skill sets.
- Submit your resume and a brief cover letter to jobs at hashable.com. Please include “#internship” in the subject line
- Include relevant links such as personal website, blog, Twitter profile, and Hashable profile
Aug
2011
(Step 1): Apply for an internship. (Step 2): Submit your resume. (Step 3): Wait for an interview. (Step 4): Complete the interview. (Step 5): Send a follow-up message, thanking the interviewer for the opportunity. (Step 5.5): Wait to hear if you got the internship.
That’s it, right? …Wrong. If that was ever the case, it certainly isn’t anymore.
Chances are, if you’re gunning for ‘the perfect internship’ with a company you love – the ball will be in your court to prove that you are right for the company. It’s going to take a lot more than the standard application process to make it happen.
Here are 7 ways you can put yourself in the right place to secure the perfect internship:
1. FIND THE RIGHT COMPANY
Start by making some ‘top 3′ lists. What are the top 3 cities where you’d like to intern? What are the 3 companies in each city that you’d most like to intern for? Which 3 industries interest you the most?
Narrow down your search, make an overall top 3 list of companies you’d love to intern for, and start pursuing your absolute favorite. Ready to hustle? Let the chase for your perfect internship begin.
2. REFINE YOUR WEB PRESENCE
Heads up: your interview will occur around the clock and in public (based on your activity around the web) until you are are either given an offer or told “sorry, maybe next year…” So, you better refine your web presence. Make sure it’s crisp and up-to-date. Reflect on your past experiences and create a logical (and emotionally engaging) narrative for how your experiences have lead you to believe this company would be your perfect internship.
#HashTip: Start a blog and write about the industry and/or interview people who work in it!
3. EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST EXPLICITLY
Start by creating a compelling value proposition for the company that marries the skills you offer as an intern with the company’s short term needs. You need to sell yourself convincingly. Next, find and research the person who you think will have the most say in hiring you. Then, establish your first deliberate point of contact with the company (don’t forget to be explicit about expressing your desire to intern for them!).
#HashTip: Communicate your long term interest in potentially working for the company after graduation if possible. Nobody wants to hire a skittish, quickly-on-to-the-next-one, ‘fairweather fan‘ type of intern who loses interest before even reaching the halfway point of an internship!
4. FIND OUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT THE COMPANY
How are you going to stand out? Take your research to a new level. Carefully read the company’s support forums (e.g. UserVoice, GetSatisfaction, ZenDesk, etc.), meticulously search through their mentions on Twitter, participate in Q&A threads about the company on Quora, and comb Google in search of blogs and articles talking about them. You should obsessively study every piece of product feedback you can find, from feature requests to bug reports. Your extensive research will demonstrate to the company that you are assertive, motivated, and detailed in your work.
#HashTip: Practice explaining the product to your parents and grandparents! You need to become a knowledgable user of the product and a pseudo ambassador for the brand.
5. RELATIONSHIPS. NETWORK. RELATIONSHIPS. NETWORK. RELATIONSHIPS.
Build, maintain. Build, maintain. Build, maintain. It cannot be emphasized enough how important it is to build and maintain strong relationships with users of the product, industry professionals, and in general ‘people who will be able to speak on your behalf’. Try to engage people orders of magnitude ahead of you in their careers. For example, if you are pursuing a business development intern position, try to find some biz dev professionals who can unofficially mentor you.
#HashTip: The harder you work to help others, the more likely you will one day have respectable people who will be happy to endorse your work!
6. BEING PERSISTENT PAYS OFF
There is a thin line between being persistent in a good way and annoyingly stalking a company. However, finding a creative way to stay on the company’s radar or directly reach back out to them to follow-up is not just acceptable, in most cases it is absolutely imperative. This is where publicly visible evangelism comes into play. To really stay on their radar, ask your mentor to send a personal recommendation of you to the company.
#HashTip: Many companies probably say some version of “You’re great! We’ll follow up with you in…“ after interviewing promising candidates – but what most of them actually mean to say is “if you really want (and deserve) the internship, you will earn it by finding a creative way to get back on our radar and follow up with us before it’s too late”.
7. BEING PASSIONATE WILL SEAL THE DEAL
At this point, you’ve basically done everything you can to provide evidence that you would be a valuable intern for the company. What’s left is most likely a test to see if your character is a good fit for the team’s culture, as well as some sort of ‘final observation’ to see if you are actually fully committed to the opportunity. If you can demonstrate your passion for their space, their product, their team, and overall that you are just a passionate individual…it might just be the icing on the cake for you to achieve your perfect internship.
#HashTip: Read through your favorite 3-5 articles that have been written about the company and then try to write the ultimate blog post (complete with a thorough, detailed explanation of their product) for your own blog. Link to the other stories where appropriate and mix in a consistent tone of excitement!
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*NOTE: A lot of these principles played into my own experience getting my internship at Hashable. Click here to read the story (it’s the craziest, most detailed story I’ve ever written).
Thanks for reading! If you have any tips or pointers to add, please do. Also, we want to hear your stories of the craziest things you (or your friends) have done in pursuit of the internship you really wanted! Drop a comment below.
Aug
2011
Our team at Hashable is made up of a very fun bunch (who also happen to be quite experienced at what they do, #humblebrag), so we have decided to start a weekly interview series with each member! Every Friday, take a stroll by the Hashable blog and you can see what (and who!) keeps our little engine running.
Meet Hashable’s Director of User Experience (“UX”), Oz Lubling.
Today, Oz will give us a little background on the ins and outs of User Experience. Here’s the lowdown on Oz:
- Follow Oz on Twitter here
- Hash with Oz here
- Check out Oz’s blog here
- City of Oz: Brooklyn
1. You’ve worked in the Internet since the Web 1.0 days. Looking back, how do you think the design process has evolved?
It all depends on what type of company or organization you’re talking about. For agencies and larger organizations, the design process has become more formal and rigorous over time. However, a lot of those companies have tried to take a page from the startup word; keeping their teams lean and iterating very quickly.
In the startup world, the process is a lot more fluid. You often end up skipping certain steps entirely. For example, when building mobile applications, you often skip wireframing and visual design and instead go straight to prototyping on the device. In other words, there’s no one true design process that designers follow when they’re creating an app or a website. It tends to be tailored to the specific situation and project constraints.
2. What is the impact of UX on a product and why do you think UX is such a critical component of a product?
I think that User Experience is a mindset and a philosophy that should be applied to all parts of a product – as well as the organization creating that product. Using this approach, the impact of UX can be fairly broad and deep at the same time. It’s all about creating an experience for the user that keeps them interested and engaged with your product.
3. What have you enjoyed most about building Hashable?
Seeing people using our mobile apps out in the wild (e.g. at conferences) and getting immediately valuable utility out of them.
THE FINALE: Get To Know Oz In Five Fast Questions
1. What are your top 5 favorite albums of all time?
How about my current top 3:
- Elinor Friedberger – Last Summer.
- The Cults – The Cults.
- Metric – Fantasies
2. For someone new to UX/UI, what resources would you suggest they read?
Check out all the UX related topics on Quora. It’s a great place to read what some of the best in the field are talking about right now.
Also, you should read this specific question on Quora. There’s a lot of useful links here to get you started.
3. What is your favorite website?
Inkstagram.com. It’s the best web interface currently built on top of the Instagram API. It’s as addictive and engaging as the mobile product, which is saying a lot.
4. What is your favorite place in Brooklyn?
A street called Vernadah Place in Cobble Hill.
5. Where is your favorite place to eat lunch with the team?
That’s an easy one – Fork & Spoon. It’s one of the few decent places around midtown. They make an awesome BimBimbap.
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Have any questions you’d like to ask Oz? Well go right ahead! Ask away in the comments below.
Aug
2011
Have you used our reminders feature yet? It’s a great way to stay connected to the people in your network. Use it to remember to follow-up with them after a meeting, or to set up that next phone call or lunch meeting. Reminders integrate into your calendar, so you can get notified right on your phone. There’s also an email alert option. We can also show you all the people you need to follow up with in one agenda – a quick way to organize your day.
Here’s a step-by-step screenshots to show you how to create a reminder.
- Set a reminder from the Dashboard, directly from a person’s profile, or right after Hashing them:
- Add the details of the follow up . You can include the date, time, and a note for yourself.
- Then choose if you want to be reminded by email, and/or your calendar.
- Hit submit and the reminder’s set! You can review and edit your reminder at any time, and you can even view all of your followup reminders in one list, organized by day:
That’s it! Hashable’s reminders feature will help you stay connected to the people that matter to you.