Hi!

Thanks for inquiring about the services I provide.

Here are my updated details for the 2009 calendar year.

Who I am:

My name is Jonathan Vanasco and I've been working on consumer internet technology and experiences for over ten years.

I've been working with the internet and advertising since web 1.0 in the late 1990s. I originally started out in the production and design departments of a Casual Games company, then I found my way into Online Retail, Interface Design, Flash Design / Development, Backend Stuff, and eventually Strategy. I spent a few years working with Major and Indie record labels on digital initiatives and strategies, then moved into the Agency world where I helped launch and maintain some of the most successful CPG brands , working on both digital , retail, and advertising oriented initiatives. Somewhere in there I ended up working on the first RFID solutions for Retail, Logistics, and Manufacturing.

I did a crazy thing and left the safety of agencies in 2005 to found my first startup, RoadSound. We consolidated a bunch of technologies that I had used with multiple record labels into a platform technology, and built a kickass product that was about 3 years ahead of the market. After a few months we decided to cut our losses: break even with a contract or two, and file patents. As for what RoadSound exactly does ... our system allows Bands , Management , and Record Labels to edit and syndicate their content around the internet using collaborative groupware.

Fascinated with my learnings in advertising and publishing, I founded a new technology startup called FindMeOn. Our basic premise is pretty simple: Social Network usage ebbs and flows, people migrate and one day they will have to open up -- so we created technology to make that happen. Through a series of magical tubes, we were able to create the first system that fostered data portability and powered people search and advertising intelligence tools. While the user benefits are obvious, the upside for markets is tenfold. Imagine being able to target a website consumer based on the aggregate of their Facebook , MySpace and Last.FM profiles... or being able to plan a media-buy based on population metrics derived from cross site data. People called me a heretic for years as Social Networks resisted opening up... then the market suddenly changed, and I was proved right.

I currently manage FindMeOn as a Research & Development / IP Holding firm, serve as CTO for startups, and consult/advise startups agencies and brands on technology + social media strategy + internet business operations + product design. Occasionally I help people develop interactive applications if they sound fun enough. I'm very involved in several open source projects.

If you're curious about my educational background: I double majored in Media Studies and Political science from one of the nerdiest/fanciest schools in the world, and studied art in East africa. Oddly, most of the best entrepreneurs and CTOs I've met have the same educational experience.

So what do i do?

In the past year alone I've been hired to:

• Concept a viral campaign from the ground up for a non-profit
• Prototype a new platform for a major publishing house
• Bootstrap 3 startups on business operations, technology, and investment strategy
• Product Manage , build and deploy 4 social media enabled properties from scratch
• Audit an in-place technology stack developed by offshore developers: examine coding standards, security & extensibility options; examine workflow and audit workforce; provide recommendations for in-house project management changes and more efficient + extensible design & data modeling
• Audit an in-place technology stack developed in house, analyze for offshore replacement/management of existing components so in-house can work on platform engineering and version 2 architecture
• Assist a struggling startup alter and re-brand a product designed for a specific market into a more lucrative marketplace. This involved: Product Development / Design, technology auditing and feasibility assessment, operations forecasting, and craft a social media campaign to recruit new users.
• Research competitive marketplace, provide recommendations for product development and (re)positioning
• Audit a company's consumer desktop application; provide technology strategy recommendations to better identify and track installation base / downloads; migrate to mobile; re-architect distribution system; create new ways to monetize installation base ; concept several (successful) pitches to major brands for product tie-ins; and offer value to end-consumers to continue using the product.
• Design & Spec a mobile campaign with retail/storefront integration
• Design & Spec a mobile SMS network with bridging/connectivity to major social networks and associated targeted advertising operations
• Draft/manage P&L sheets for tech related costs and staffing for web startups
• Forecast/model traffic for startups and web applications
• Redesign UX flow for startup based on Cost Of Sales/Goods Sold to maximize department ROI. This involved using traffic modeling and statistics along with site information to understand user experience and shift the 'free' consumer product into one that lowered the COGS/COS. This was accomplished by lowering the richmedia/image imprints on the 'home' pages, creating new ad-supported pages for focused media , and aggressive caching/streamlining of site date ( ie: shared css, images, js files, etc )
• Prototype cross-application/network social networking technology
• Integrate existing applications/databases with MovableType (2) and WordPress (4)
• Assist a company with Product Management
• Cover for the tech lead at the top interactive shop while he had a baby

Not to mention with my own firms:

• Devised social media strategies for leading non-profits and political campaigns
• Oversee the prosecution of more than 250pp of patent applications with the USPTO involving advertising analytics and data portability
• Manage the prosecution of a patent application concerned with distributed content publishing for Public Relations and Entertainment.
• Researched & Released numerous whitepapers on Social Media Standards, Data Portability, Advertising Intelligence , and the ownership of User Generated Content
• Released under the BSD/MIT licenses a port to Python of a custom MVC framework originally developed for FindMeOn and non-profit clients

My expertise is in:

• Digital Marketing / Strategy
  • create compelling campaigns for end users
  • leverage the power of different social networks to meet measured goals
  • tailoring media messaging and experience to discrete social network audiences
  • create value-added ROI streams from existing or new digital campaigns
  • fostering brand loyalty through digital initiatives
• Product Management
  • Ten years experience - I've seen what works and what doesn't for users and brands... first hand.
  • In terms of project management duties : I've worked in and managed design, development, and marketing departments for web endeavors. Given a goal, I know what is needed, who can do it, and how long it should take them - for each department. I also know how to get them back in shape to meet goals.
• Startup Bootstrapping
  • I've been through it all multiple times : incorporation, seeding, fundraising, financing, prototyping, operations, monetizing.
  • licensing, trademarks, patents; Friends joke about how many patents I've filed, I joke about how many I didn't. I analyze technologies, stacks and competitors -- instead of patenting everything, I figure out the strategic areas you most need to protect and are likely to successfully litigate on.
• Leading Web Technologies
  • Python , Perl , PHP , Nginx, BSD, Linux, Apache, PostgreSQL, Oracle , Vertica, MySQL , JavaScript stuff

In the past I've done stuff like:

• author copy & creative for major CPG product and high-end beauty launches & rebrandings.
• manage digital strategy for well-known entertainment brands
• prototype in-store and in-warehouse hardware/software technologies in RFID
• create broadcast footage and titles for major cable channels

I can't help you with:

• project management, unless that is a function of your product management role.
• faux opt-in / mass email / spambot marketing campaigns
• windows 'stuff'

What I charge:

I usually only take on projects that make me as excited about the product as I am about the team. To keep working on projects that really motivate me, I've adopted the following billing formulae to keep my rates ridiculously competitive.

I believe in full transparency for my practices so here we go:

• I don't charge an 'expert' fee
• I use a standard contractor formula of 1,000 billable hours/year.
  For those that think that is low number of hours, please keep in mind:
  • Agencies base salaries on 1640 billables a year
  • 1,000 hours is the industry standard for contractors
  • 1099 billing status means that I pay the typical employer share for taxes, health and misc benefits
  • I'm responsible for overhead: office space, computers, admin functions, new business, clients going bankrupt (that happened 3x this year, ouch!), etc
  • If I were an agency employee and did 4 1hr off-site meetings in a day, I would be paid 8hours wage for 4 1hr meetings and 4 hours of travel. As a contractor I don't bill for in-city travel, or for sales meetings. So I would only have 1-4 billable hours that day! Similarly, many groups I often work with give their employees 2 weeks off for the New Year Holidays - when working with them around these or other holidays, I have to factor stuff like that in.
• To be fair, I use industry standard in-house rates, for the job that I am primarily contracted to do, based on current salaries in the NYC and SF area. I get these by looking online at published openings, or when recruiters try to bribe me. I take these numbers, add basic benefits to the base salary, then divide by 1000 hours.
• Instead of only taking high paying jobs, I scale my compensation to what you need me for. If I wanted to make a set-rate, I'd be working fulltime, not contracting. The rates I charge are only about 30% over the actual hourly costs to do the work I perform internally, if you had a Full Time person based on current NYC or SF salaries.
• These rates currently are:
  • CTO/VP of Technology/Director of Technology : 200-350/hr depending on services description
  • Digital/Ad/Social Media Strategy : 200/hr
  • IP Portfolio Analysis: 250/hr
  • Experienced Web Development / Engineering : 175-225/hr depending on services
• I will discount for dayrate, weekrate, and monthly rates if contracted in advance. The longer you need me, the less I charge per hour. My goals are based on a 1,000 hr utilization of my time. Longer contracts free up the time I need on new business and other overheads. If you can help me exceed yearly goals, I am personally grateful and give generous discounts.
• I do not carry over a discount for contract extensions, and handle them separately. I'd love to , really. But in the past people have abused this. As a contractor I need to ensure my own utilization. If we negotiate a four-week rate, and then you decide three weeks in that you need me for five weeks, it's only fair that I charge you for the extension at a new one-week rate. Chances are I've already started lining up new business; and if we think of the 'slippery slope' idea...
• On rare occasions, I've worked out deals in the past where people pay me in cash + equity grants or equity grants alone. When this happens, I require deals like this to fully vest within 6-12 months if not immediately. I consider deals like this vendor-services contract with payment as equity, not as a management employment offer.
• As a dose of perspective: My lawyers charge between 450 and 750/hr for their services. My doctor charges 500. My dentist charges 300. My accountant charges 200. People I contract with 3-5 years experience charge me 150. If you're billing me out, you're still marking me up 50-100% to your client; and the rates I charge are considerably lower than bill-out rates for interactive and tech at NYC agencies.
• In terms of billing, I unfortunately have to be proactive after several clients had cashflow problems or bankruptcy in 2008:
  • If you're a largish corporation or agency , and have me come in as a consultant or contractor, I bill in 2 week intervals for work completed , with Net-15 payment; Net-30 may be negotiable.
  • If you're a smaller firm or we're talking about a product based engagement, I require an upfront retainer and will peg billing to mutually agreed upon milestones or dates.
  • If you're a startup, I require contracts to have a clause where I am notified of any financial hardships or management changes; and I require that clause to allow me to elect breaking the contract and receiving a pro-rated payment. I hate requiring this, but I've had a few clients that had organizational restructuring following a failed financing, which left me with unpaid bills and management teams that I don't exactly trust.
  • I require a clause for 6% interest monthly on invoices past due within the calendar year. This is the same interest level that my suppliers and professional services firms charge me.
  • I require a clause that if payment on an invoice rolls over to the next calendar year, it triggers an additional 10% surcharge on that amount. I hate doing this, but some companies have inconvenienced me in the past by holding up invoices until their next calendar year. In concept this is annoying. In practice, this has meant that I pay about 10% more in State/Federal/Local taxes on that income. As an independent contractor, I don't have large cash reserves to offset this -- and I can't declare late or defaulted bills as a 'loss' on my taxes -- so I'm stuck holding the bill.
• I keep meticulous, detailed time-sheets on every project and will gladly furnish them to you on request.

Clients tend to love me. Many try to bribe me or hire me away; one recently succeeded!

I've only had two clients ever that things didn't go so well with -- and i'll even tell you about them. One issue stemmed from a deep 'friends and family' courtesy rate (which has led to the end of that practice) , and another issue stemmed from a client trying to leverage payment of seriously ourstanding invoices to get free work (which, in part, has required my retainer policy).

How you can contact me:

Consulting & Contract opportunities should be addressed to Jonathan Vanasco

Enquires about FindMeOn technolgy, R&D and patent issues should be addressed to Jonathan Vanasco

I maintain a blog where I talk about social media, technology, coffee and stuff. - http://destructuring.net

You can view my professional network on LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanvanasco

Or connect with me on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=728395557&ref=profile