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Noah Kagan on "Why I Got Fired From Facebook - a $100 Million Dollar Lesson"...

Capitalist readers - allow me to introduce you to someone you should know - someone who surely hates bad HR, but might actually appreciate the readers of the HR Capitalist.

Meet Noah Kagan - he's a former early Facebook employee who went on to do great work at Mint.com, and more recently has founded a cool little site for entrepreneurs to learn what they need to know called AppSumo, which I've ordered from and I love.   Internetmarketingparty-noah-sumo

I don't know Noah and this isn't a paid post.  I just dig his world view.  Here's how to learn more about him:

Noah's Blog - OkDork

AppSumo - his current company

A great video interview with Noah which gets inside his head about growing a business and doing what makes you happy...

And finally, according to the title - his story about getting fired at Facebook in the early days.  Check it out:

"Let me start in reverse.

I can tell you every detail of the day I got fired aka “let go” aka “down-sized” aka “shit-canned.”

I thought I was going to a routine coffee with my boss and randomly saw Matt Cohler sitting at the table inside (surprising)!

I knew something was amiss. Matt broke the news quickly and I was in dead-shock as the words came out of his mouth. They walked me back to the office and removed my laptop and my cell phone.

Then I proceeded to the Verizon store to use their phone, called my gf (at the time) and drove to the house I shared with 6 other FB guys.

Packed up all my stuff in my CRX, smoked a 1/2 pack of cigarettes on the balcony and drove to my friend Johnny’s place. It took me a bit to let my mom know and I slept on Johnny’s couch for a few days, thanks J!

Later that night we had a bbq at this place and everyone was asking me how the job was going….#awkward

I kept drinking that night to pass out and pray this was all a bad dream."

After a period of self-reflection, Noah goes on to evaluate his responsibility in getting fired from Facebook, the types of employees he looks for as a result, and more.  It's a great read, so go check it out and take a look at his blog and AppSumo while you're at it.  

You'll be glad you did.  I think we ought to be more like Noah in HR.

Comments

Erin

Good Call! Dig this guy.

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So Thompson's lyrical process, and in turn its content, became more deliberate: though he still never sits down with the express idea of writing a song, on Pit Thompson tried to string together themes across the songs while spending more time on his laptop crafting the words (and drinking some good rum, I might add).

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