Description
RedBlueYou needs a crack FS or BE Python lead developer immediately (remote OK)Founded by an ex-Google Product Marketing Manager, RedBlueYou is building a web business focused on the open access of government information in a different way than is S.O.P in Silicon Valley. This is a unique opportunity for a single *highly-skilled* full-stack or backend Python engineer to take over primary development responsibilities on a contract or contract-to-hire basis.
Our product is ~65% code-complete, and the current lead remote contract engineer is transitioning off the product to work on his own startup.
Minimum commitment is half-time (20-25 hours per week). Compensation will be a mix of hourly and an incentive share of the cash profits over a specific duration of time post-launch.
THE LONG: Why building RedBlueYou is a unique opportunity
RedBlueYou, on the face of it, is well-thought-out-but-totally-copycat product in a mature, opaque, seemingly unexciting space that's been totally ignored by entrepreneurs and investors for years (for some good reasons, and many bad ones). We have reliable intel on the competitors in the space (a number of whom are in the Compete Top 200), and the principals of "competing" products are out-to-lunch former affiliate marketers, just cashing checks from the beach and running stale marketing campaigns.
We are a self-funded business (no angels, no need or interest in VCs), with two primary and sequential business goals: 1) Leverage the private competitive intelligence we have to build a subscription-revenue service that maximizes the cash-on-cash IRR of an experimental and founder-led paid acquisition marketing strategy (capitalized at $100,000+ of initial spend). i.e., this is a "cash-flow" focused business (it is an S-Corp), but the brand and product positioning has been carefully conceived so that the option of building a traditional (and potentially very valuable) equity-focused business is retained if customer adoption data make that the right decision.
You will have sole complete-the-product responsibility, and total control over all engineering decisions, with the initial goal of getting a FVMP (fully viable minimalist product) out the door within 4 weeks (6 weeks if you handle FE skinning from design files as well). Compensation will be commensurate with skill, experience, and execution ability — and will be a mix of profit-share/equity and cash hourly comp.
RedBlueYou's aim is to construct and then capture the figurative "arbitrage" available between the cost of addressing a large-but-underinvested/ignored market and the ability to monetize the public's concern over government intrusion into the lives of its citizens. We will do this by refactoring the current demand in our market along some dimensions and with some data that have yet to be used, rebranding and repositioning the commodity, "copycat" product in ways that are more emotionally arousing, and that directly address consumers' underlying concerns that drive prospects to convert in this market.
We aim to capture the literal arbitrage by running a very specific paid-acquisition marketing strategy at a lower CPA than the competitors' campaigns, and signing customers up for a subscription service that retains users at a higher rate over time than competitors by expanding the variety of unique, interesting, and useful information we provide to our paid user base.
As a marketer with an engineering background who has worked for Google and a couple of built-to-flip startups, the founder is sick and tired of people launching products that 1) have not been thought through with enough of a long view 2) gate business-building marketing activities due to engineering bottlenecks and product over-prioritization 3) can't be effectively marketed, measured, and optimized from Day 1. RedBlueYou's launch criterion is that it is FVMP which can support extensive and extensively optimizable marketing efforts from day 1.
RedBlueYou's goal #2 is launching a specific future product, already conceived, to the current paid user base. Branding and product positioning and first-phase customer segments theoretically align well with the future product: a super-cool, shoot-the-moon concept which would require significant resources to successfully build and support....but which might (sigh) "change the world" — or at minimum.....make the founder an enemy of the state.
You would be a good match for this project if you are: a bit of a rabble-rouser; believe in the full and open access to government information; OK building something that might down the road engender anger from the government, possibly your friends and family, and others; nauseated by the proliferation of vanity startups; OK with flying under the radar (we won't be putting glamour-shots of anyone the about page); believe in the reality of evil in this world.
Skills & Requirements
YOU ARE: (This is a non-exhaustive list)
WE (I) ARE (AM):
COMPENSATION:
Cash hourly + incentive share of cash profits over X period or equity, negotiable based on skill, execution speed, and preference. All incentivized comp would be contingent on a short trial-contract period.
About RedBlueYou
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Email with 1) a link to your LinkedIn profile 2) your resume/CV 3) a little (a little is fine!) bit about yourself and your experience 4) why job post caught your attention 5) a reasoned guess what precisely RedBlueYou actually *is*. Interested? Full details available to serious, qualified candidates only. Just curious? Recall the fate of the cat... :p