I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a huge fan of Jason Calacanis. The entrepreneurial CEO of Mahalo, and the co-founder of Weblogs, Inc and TechCrunch50, Calacanis is the epitome of self-promotion and flag-waving. However, that’s not to say it’s wrong – it’s just an approach I’ve never favored.
Additionally, there’s no doubting that Calacanis has a never-say-die attitude that, while potentially grating, is better than the fatalistic approach that too many people take when faced with any kind of crisis. However, a recent jobs posting for his company Mahalo seems to contradict everything he advises his readers.
Posted on the Fresno area job board of Craigslist, this is the description for positions available at Mahalo:
- Mahalo.com seeks freelance remote writers to build search results pages on breaking news, politics and entertainment topics. Candidates must be excellent writers capable of creating perfect, concise copy at a fast pace. Familiarity with online research, journalism and wiki markup language strongly recommended. Shifts are flexible, ability to work weekends/nights a plus. Pay: $10 – $12 / hour. Please attach your resume and writing samples in an email with subject line: “Remote Guide Application” to evanb@mahalo.com.
While any company hiring in these times of uncertainty should be applauded, the job posting raises other questions, due to the views Calacanis shared with his email subscribers in a recent newsletter (also available at his website). When talking about how to improve your company’s success, Calacanis writes:
- 3. Firing the average people: Again, it?s totally politically incorrect, but I highly recommend firing anyone who is good or average. Startups are an Olympic sport and every slot on your team is critical. You wouldn?t put a ?good? swimmer in a relay, would you? Don?t have one in your startup. Fire the good and replace them with the great.
If indeed the right thing to do is fire anyone that’s doing a good job at a company (something I’m against – I tend to find the good workers are the ones that give the superstars the solid platform from which to work), then the economic crisis must be really hitting home. I can’t think of how else Mahalo will attract superstars with an hourly pay rate that may be able to buy a movie ticket.
Unless it’s an example of another piece of Calacanis’s advice: “Cut spending everywhere you can.”