An Interview With Rapleaf CEO Auren Hoffman
Auren Hoffman is changing the how social media affects us. His company, Rapleaf is the current market leader in mining the billions of data about our social media habits and in turn helping companies sort this out. Here's our very interesting interview with him.
In Alan M. Webber's book, Rules of Thumb, he described YOU as one of the most connected persons he's met, please tell us more about it.
Wow. I had no idea. I am really flattered. I have not read the book yet but it is on my reading list.
In YOUR line of work, give us an idea on how should each company maximize social media to help them?
Social media is a really important means of communicating for hundreds of millions of people ever day. Ignoring it will marginalize your business. And social media is not just about teenagers ... my mother is now on Facebook and Twitter ... and she had never even typed until four years ago (the first thing she asked me when we got her a keyboard is “why aren’t the keys in alphabetical order”). Your customers are using social media so you need to be too.
What does Rapleaf do? How do YOU help companies?
Rapleaf helps companies learn more about their customers so they can serve them better.
What's the best way for companies on the web to provide amazing customer experiences?
The best way to provide amazing customer experiences is to first take the effort to get to know your customer. Whether on the web or not, people want an experience that is tailored to them. If you show up to your friend’s house for brunch and you’re a vegan, they probably will not serve you a ham and cheese omelet. They won’t do that because they know you. Companies should similarly take the time to get to know their customers to provide them a customized experience.
How can HungryPeople improve our readers' experience?
You might want to try to acquire the domain name for hungrypeople – your current domain name, hungrypeople.posterous.com, is hard to remember.
We really like this quote "Teach a man to fish and you've fed him for a lifetime ... unless, of course, he doesn't like sushi -- then you also need to teach him how to cook." How did it come about?
I probably come up with that while consuming too much sake.
The quote I am most famous for is “an entrepreneur is someone that steals office supplies from home and brings them to work.” I like that quote because it shows that anyone can act like an entrepreneur and take charge of their situation. Some of the best entrepreneurs I know are elementary school teachers.
Why is YOUR blog named summation?
Because “hungrypeople” was already taken.
Who are YOUR personal heroes? Why?
My personal heroes are Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Alexander Hamilton. They were all great revolutionaries who bettered society. They worked unselfishly their entire lives to accomplish great things. And, unfortunately, all three of their lives were cut short by a bullet.
My other personal hero is my brother ... mostly because he’s had to deal with me all his life.
What are YOU hungry for?
I’m hungry to:
... help companies give their customers a better customized experience.
... build a great company at Rapleaf. We’re on our way.
What's next for an Auren Hoffman?
I have the best job in world. I work with incredible people who are smart, nice, and get things done. I plan to be at Rapleaf for a very long time. And if your readers want to work with us, encourage them to apply at www.rapleaf.com/careers.
About Auren Hoffman
Auren Hoffman is CEO of Rapleaf. Rapleaf helps companies learn more about their customers. Rapleaf analyzes data on over 300 million consumers worldwide.
Auren is also a non-employee cofounder of BrightRoll and serves on boards of AdRocket and Retargeter.com.
He was formerly Chair of Stonebrick Group and the Connector Group. Previously, he founded and sold three Internet companies before age 30: BridgePath (sold in 2002), Kyber Systems (sold in 1997), and GetRelevant (sold in 2002). He is the founder of the Dialog Retreat. He's an active angel investor or advisor in: Aardvark, Blip.TV, CrowdFlower, Delicious Brands, GoodRec, Grouply, Huddler, Kontagent, LabPixies, Lefora, Logik Systems, Meebo, MesmoTV, Offbeat Guides, OtherInbox, Playlist, Play Megaphone, Proclivity Systems, RichRelevance, Sharethrough, Structural Wealth Management, Thread.com, VoxPop.tv, Yotify, Zoom Systems, and more. Auren holds a B.S.E. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the UC Berkeley. He writes a blog called Summation (http://blog.summation.net).
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