Jason Calacanis got rich selling his blog network to AOL. His major rival is Nick Denton of the Gawker blog network.
On a recent This Week in Tech podcast Calacanis talked about attempting to poach Gina Trapani from Lifehacker (listen from 3:10 to 4:00 and 34:50 to 36:00). She made it clear upfront that she wasn’t on the market. He replied with, “just hear me out and I’ll give you a fantastic offer in writing that you can wave in Nick’s face during your next contract negotiation.”
I’ve always thought Calacanis was a bit of a wiener, but now he seems kinda awesome in a Barney Stinson way.
This is his hiring strategy:
- He goes after proven top talent.
- He builds goodwill with potential hires. Even if they turn him down, who do you think they’ll go to when they’re ready for a job change?
- It’s can’t lose: If Calacanis’ target says yes, great. If they say no, he’s made it more difficult for his competitor to retain them.
