By John Holland, Co-Founder and CMO.

A few weeks ago, Jason Calacanis authored a controversial blog post about how start-ups can save money. I recognized several techniques that actually work well at Searchme, and I wanted to comment on a few of Jason’s tips:

Buy Macintosh computers, save money on an IT department.

Macs rule, and they are the obvious choice for any self-respecting start-up. Even our hardcore UNIX geeks are Mac’n out and loving it. Not only are we saving money, but our employees are pretty psyched.

Buy everyone lunch four days a week and establish a no-meetings policy.

We don’t have a no-meetings policy (one can dream). But we do serve lunch four days a week, and it works great. Going out for lunch is expensive, and making lunch in the morning can be a pain. We all pretty much love having no-hassle meals spoon-fed to us Monday through Thursday - we sit around family-style and have a great time. And you can still bring your own lunch or go out; we’re not holding anyone hostage!

Don’t buy a phone system.

After 3 years, we just got our phone system, and I hate it. I much prefer my cell phone. Having to maintain two different numbers sucks. Don’t call my desk phone; I don’t answer it or check the messages!

Buy your hardest-working folks computers for home.

Better yet, get a Macbook Pro for anyone who wants one and they’ll love you for it. Everyone at Searchme pretty much gets to choose his or her primary CPU, and most people just want a MacBook Pro. Everyone’s happy.

Get an expensive, automatic espresso machine at the office.

For some reason, we don’t have many coffee drinkers at Searchme, so it’s not really an issue. But we do have a fancy coffee machine in our Mountain View office.

Stock the fridge with soda — same drill as above.

Actually, we like Vitamin Water and Izze sodas. Plus, some really good snacks, including my favorite: Swedish Fish. They’re quite popular! Is this really manipulating employees? We just think it’s the right thing to do.

BONUS TIP: Get a WII

Everyone has fun whacking virtual tennis balls or shredding out on guitar hero!

I decided to write about these items because I think they are things that actually improve the Searchme culture. Work is always going to be work, but you might as well enjoy it! Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to take a break and play some Guitar Hero!

John

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 6:05 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.