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Everything You Want To Know About The Most Secretive Startup In The World

53 points by icey 17y ago

tjmc 17y ago
I thought Eestor was the most secretive startup in the world or don't elaborate cleantech frauds count?
vijayr 17y ago
Looks like they are sitting on a gold mine of data - I doubt even Amazon or walmart have such rich data on consumer purchasing habits. Amazing.
- catch23 17y ago
  NextJump is only 1 year younger than Amazon.
mitko 17y ago
They do their coding with Java. I interviewed with them for an internship this Spring and even got offer, but ended up rejecting it.
- vijayr 17y ago
  Can we ask why? Got a better offer or didn't like something about them?
  - coliveira 17y ago
    Look at their reviews on glassdoor...
    - pchristensen 17y ago
      http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Next-Jump-Reviews-E156468.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Next-Jump-Reviews-E156468.h...
      - brown9-2 17y ago
        Wow, it sounds like a cult.
  - mitko 17y ago
    Actually both. Some of the HR people were pretty irresponsive to emails. Also the interview was a joke- an 8th grader would have no problems answering the questions. I gave them this feedback so I hope they have improved since.
- thisisasecret 17y ago
  Good choice, that's the least of their problems. (I was lured into working there by their claims about what they were working on, the state of things, etc). It taught me a lot about how not to run a tech company. It really hurts to read press pieces like this that basically repeat verbatim what Next Jump's presentations say, because so much of it is exaggerated, some of it pretty wildly.
  - zzleeper 17y ago
    Can you give some insight?
    - thisisasecret 17y ago
      Glassdoor's Next Jump reviews are generally accurate: http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Next-Jump-Reviews-E156468.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Next-Jump-Reviews-E156468.h... There are some obvious shill pieces (they use a lot of the same language that the management used to use), some positives that I think are genuine, but the negatives are pretty spot on. A lot of great engineers work there, it's mostly the management that's the problem.
      - mixmax 17y ago
        Reading through the reviews on glassdor it seems like they have some very serious management problems.
fjabre 17y ago
It's 15 years old - how is that a startup? EDIT: That's older than Google to put it in perspective.
tom_rath 17y ago
Whatever they're up to, their logo certainly seems excited about it.
zzleeper 17y ago
15 years running and half the SP500 are their customers, and they STILL need to raise funds? (well, 12 years since it was in 2006)..
- neilc 17y ago
  What gave you the idea that they "need" to raise funds? The NYT article mentions they are "headed for a public offering someday", but that's about all I could see.
coretanned 17y ago
I personally think bgc3 is a lot more secretive (not sure if it counts as a startup considering bill gates is supporting it). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BgC3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BgC3 has anyone ever heard of anything related to this company? I have heard a number of theories, mainly concerning it being a patent troll.
- iigs 17y ago
  I work in the same building as BGC3. Since he moved in I have hoped to bump in to him in the elevator. It hasn't happened yet. :) BGC3 appears to be Bill's business presence now that he's not at MS on a day-to-day basis. A very common business design pattern for wealthy businesspeople is to have a "parent company" that is essentially the businessperson plus their entourage: the legal team, technical due diligence buddies, capital raising marketing staff (people who woo wall street). This company may or may not be owned by a parent company that does the investing in other companies that actually "do stuff". Without seeing the evidence for the patent troll concerns, I have no reason to believe it's the case -- he just needs some place to park his Mercedes during the day. :)
steveplace 17y ago
The company is now coming out of its shell, partly because it is so big that it can no longer hide. "Our thought was to stay quiet until it feels like we had an elephant under a hay stack," CEO and founder Charlie Kim tells me during a recent visit to Next Jump’s Manhattan headquarters Ha. Smells like an IPO to me.
ice_man 17y ago
I didn't want to know. Who at TechCrunch has something to gain by their success?

53 points by icey 17y ago

tjmc 17y ago

I thought Eestor was the most secretive startup in the world or don't elaborate cleantech frauds count?

Looks like they are sitting on a gold mine of data - I doubt even Amazon or walmart have such rich data on consumer purchasing habits. Amazing.

catch23 17y ago
NextJump is only 1 year younger than Amazon.

mitko 17y ago

They do their coding with Java. I interviewed with them for an internship this Spring and even got offer, but ended up rejecting it.

vijayr 17y ago
Can we ask why? Got a better offer or didn't like something about them?
- coliveira 17y ago
  Look at their reviews on glassdoor...
  - pchristensen 17y ago
    http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Next-Jump-Reviews-E156468.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Next-Jump-Reviews-E156468.h...
    - brown9-2 17y ago
      Wow, it sounds like a cult.
- mitko 17y ago
  Actually both. Some of the HR people were pretty irresponsive to emails. Also the interview was a joke- an 8th grader would have no problems answering the questions. I gave them this feedback so I hope they have improved since.
thisisasecret 17y ago
Good choice, that's the least of their problems. (I was lured into working there by their claims about what they were working on, the state of things, etc). It taught me a lot about how not to run a tech company. It really hurts to read press pieces like this that basically repeat verbatim what Next Jump's presentations say, because so much of it is exaggerated, some of it pretty wildly.
- zzleeper 17y ago
  Can you give some insight?
  - thisisasecret 17y ago
    Glassdoor's Next Jump reviews are generally accurate: http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Next-Jump-Reviews-E156468.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Next-Jump-Reviews-E156468.h... There are some obvious shill pieces (they use a lot of the same language that the management used to use), some positives that I think are genuine, but the negatives are pretty spot on. A lot of great engineers work there, it's mostly the management that's the problem.
    - mixmax 17y ago
      Reading through the reviews on glassdor it seems like they have some very serious management problems.

fjabre 17y ago

It's 15 years old - how is that a startup? EDIT: That's older than Google to put it in perspective.

tom_rath 17y ago

Whatever they're up to, their logo certainly seems excited about it.

zzleeper 17y ago

15 years running and half the SP500 are their customers, and they STILL need to raise funds? (well, 12 years since it was in 2006)..

neilc 17y ago
What gave you the idea that they "need" to raise funds? The NYT article mentions they are "headed for a public offering someday", but that's about all I could see.

coretanned 17y ago

I personally think bgc3 is a lot more secretive (not sure if it counts as a startup considering bill gates is supporting it). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BgC3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BgC3 has anyone ever heard of anything related to this company? I have heard a number of theories, mainly concerning it being a patent troll.

iigs 17y ago
I work in the same building as BGC3. Since he moved in I have hoped to bump in to him in the elevator. It hasn't happened yet. :) BGC3 appears to be Bill's business presence now that he's not at MS on a day-to-day basis. A very common business design pattern for wealthy businesspeople is to have a "parent company" that is essentially the businessperson plus their entourage: the legal team, technical due diligence buddies, capital raising marketing staff (people who woo wall street). This company may or may not be owned by a parent company that does the investing in other companies that actually "do stuff". Without seeing the evidence for the patent troll concerns, I have no reason to believe it's the case -- he just needs some place to park his Mercedes during the day. :)

steveplace 17y ago

The company is now coming out of its shell, partly because it is so big that it can no longer hide. "Our thought was to stay quiet until it feels like we had an elephant under a hay stack," CEO and founder Charlie Kim tells me during a recent visit to Next Jump’s Manhattan headquarters Ha. Smells like an IPO to me.

ice_man 17y ago

I didn't want to know. Who at TechCrunch has something to gain by their success?