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Mastering Personal Taxes

Preview of 2012 Course Calendar

#5 Next CEO Talk Apr 3rd - 1pm EST

Simon Sinek available to family members now

#1 Charles Best DonorsChoose.org

#2 Rob LoCasio LivePerson

#3 Charlie Kim Next Jump

#4 Janet Hanson 85 Broads

January – March 2012

Next Jump University Publication See More Inside…

Conducting Technical Interviews

CEO Talks are a Hit!

Tech, Biz and Life courses

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© Next Jump, Inc. 2012

From the Team… We are excited to bring you the first edition of NxJU

Magazine. Next Jump University (NxJU) has taken

off to an awesome start this year. Our mission is to

provide Next Jumpers with opportunities for

Education and Inspiration. NxJU is one of the

leading Human Capital Engineering (HCE)

initiatives for continuous learning. NxJU is turning

out to be a great platform for Next Jump’s vision of

Better Me + You = Us.

NxJU CEO Talks have been a big hit. This is an

exclusive and unique privilege for all employees

(recently extended to family) to hear directly from

the best minds and leaders – every month. In this

magazine we have featured four recent CEO talks.

In just three months, we have showcased four CEO

Talks, two tech courses and one life course.

We hope that you enjoy reading the first issue of

NxJU magazine covering the events through 2012

Q1. We would also love to hear your feedback.

Please send your comments / suggestions /

feedback to us at [email protected]

Best,

Team NxJU

Team NxJU

Strategy Lead

TOM FULLER

MV21

KALYAN JAKKA

JOOE KIM

RUS MAXHAM

Leadership Dev Committee

MARISSA BECK

NADIA BAJAN

NICOLE DEPAOLA

RHEEMA PEDNEKAR

TOM JAUNCEY

mailto:[email protected]

CEO Talk #1: Charles Best – DonorsChoose.org Page 7

CEO Talk #2: Rob LoCasio – LivePerson Page 11

CEO Talk #3: Charlie Kim – Next Jump Page 15

CEO Talk #4: Janet Hanson – 85 Broads Page 19

Tech #1: John H, Kalyan – Tech Interviews Page 23

Tech #2: Anil, Caleb – Empire PHP 5.3 Upgrade Page 25

Life #1: Geoff – Taxes 101 Page 29

2012 Course Calendar Page 31

Contents


Technology CEO Talks

Business Life Skills

Education &Inspiration

What is NxJU?

4 Course Types

3 Course Formats

Next Jump University provides employees access to education

and inspiration with a series of workshops, structured courses

and guest speaker talks. NxJU sessions cover a breadth of areas

including technology, business and life skills.

Workshops

• Interactive hands-on

• Personalized 1-on-1

Structured Courses

• Group setting

• In-house experts

Guest Speaker Talks

• Thought leaders

• Extended to family members

Charles Best was impressed with NxJ’s SA500 Kids product engineering using

DonorsChoose.org APIs


Charles Best

Founder & CEO

Charles Best founded DonorsChoose.org at Wings Academy, a public high school in the Bronx

where he was a social studies teacher for five years. He thought up DonorsChoose.org during a

lunch conversation with colleagues, and his students volunteered to help start the

organization. To entice his fellow teachers to try out the new website, Charles offered them his

mother's famous pear dessert.

Oliver Hurst-Hiller is responsible for the technology and user experience that power

DonorsChoose.org's unique philanthropic marketplace. Prior to joining the team, Oliver

managed product engineering projects for Microsoft's new Internet search engine, now called

Bing. He is the co-inventor of 11 issued U.S. patents related to Internet search technologies.

Oprah Winfrey says “DonorsChoose is a fantastic organization, and they're a super-cool way to

give”.

Fast Company listed DonorsChoose.org as one of the “50 Most Innovative Companies in the

World” in 2011.

To date, DonorsChoose.org has impacted the education of over 6 million students by funding

270,185 projects from over 50,000 public schools across the country.

@CharlesBest www.donorschoose.org

CE

O Ta

lk

Friday, December 16th, 2011 Live at Next Jump HQ – 261 Fifth Ave, New York NY

2pm – 3pm EST and via Video Conference to Boston, SFO and London

Oliver Hurst-Hiller Chief Technology Officer

@oliverhh www.donorschoose.org

http://www.twitter.com/CharlesBest

http://www.donorschoose.org/

http://www.twitter.com/oliverhh

http://www.donorschoose.org/

Charles Best and

Oliver Hurst-Hiller


Top 3 Takeaways

Believe in your

vision with

passion and go

make things

happen!

Experiments are

great for

innovation – be

prepared to fail

fast and learn

Investment in

technology is a

key driver for

growth and scale

Q & A with CEO We do a couple of things to ensure it. (1) We screen every project

before it goes live on the site. We also purchase all the material

ourselves and deliver it to the classrooms. We deliver only to

addresses of known public schools that we get from the

Government. (2) Also the way feedback loop works, most of the

times you see the students using the resource, even with the

handwritten thank you notes - it is pretty reassuring that it is

being used for the right purpose.

For example - when a project gets funded, our system sends a fax

to the Principal & 2-3 random teachers of that public school,

saying "Congratulations! Your teacher Mrs. Smith just got funding

for an iPad.” Subtext of this text is - please make sure the iPad is

being used by the students. So, if you were a teacher looking to

run away with that iPad, you would have to convince your

students to write thank you notes and click pictures of them using

it. You would also have to have your school Principal and every

other colleague of yours to be in on the game.

Employee Testimonials

“The process of starting from an idea to an entire website like

donorschoose.org is applicable in many areas at NxJ.”

“A healthy dose of motivation and inspiration. It gave me more energy.”

“Inspired me to do a better job.”

How do you ensure

the integrity of the

resources that the

donors have bought

for the classroom?

- Matthew DePascale

Network Services

CE

O Ta

lk

Rob Locasio with

Charlie Kim


Robert LoCasio

Founder & CEO

@RobLocascio www.liveperson.com

CE

O Ta

lk

Friday, January 13th, 2012 Live at Next Jump HQ – 261 Fifth Ave, New York NY


Rob Locasio is Founder and CEO of LivePerson, a leader in Intelligent Engagement

Solutions that help thousands of top brands and websites around the world monitor

and connect their consumers online. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, he sold

his first company IKON, in 1995, and went on to found LivePerson in 1998.

LivePerson is now a thriving public company headquartered in New York City with

offices in Tel Aviv, Atlanta, London and San Francisco. It has 600 employees, $100

million of revenue and multi-million market cap.

More than 8,500 companies are using LivePerson technology to facilitate real-time

sales and customer service, including Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Verizon, Sky, Walt Disney,

PNC, QVC and Orbitz.

LivePerson has been named one of America’s 25 Fastest-Growing Tech Companies by

Forbes in 2011, and Company of the Year by Frost and Sullivan in 2010.

Rob was named Person of the Day by Huffington Post on Thanksgiving day, 2010 for

the feeding families in need program he started called FeedingNYC.org. They have fed

over 40,000 families since 2001.

http://www.twitter.com/RobLocasio

http://www.liveperson.com/

Rob sharing one of his

many stories


Top 3 Takeaways

Stay humble, be

open to

guidance,

mentorship

Be willing to try new

things, especially if

what you’re doing

feels like it isn’t

working or could

work better

Roll with the

punches – get back

up even when it is

difficult. Believe in

your cause and stay

the course

Q & A with CEO When we started the restructuring, we went through two

different times and we finally got to a place where we

made a list with everyone – “skill and will” and I asked

myself the question: can these people check both of

those boxes? When the stocks went down, people lost

their motivation, so pre 9/11, we terminated many

people, which got us to 9/12. We then went through a

healing period, because after terminating so many

people, we wanted to keep it cool.

As a conclusion, important lessons: after hard time, stay

focused, keep it simple, work with the core people and

grow, be profitable, and own destiny in your hands.


“What I liked about today’s talk was how honest Rob was. It was great to

hear his perspective. Very inspiring.”

“Thank you for a great NxJU. Having the chance to hear about the

obstacles behind Rob’s success was a truly eye-opening experience.”

“Rob was funny, knowledgeable, and a wonderful addition to the NxJU

series.”

Your story is awesome,

despite all the difficulties

(9/11, getting out of your

lease, with the market and

stocks where they are, etc.),

I am curious to know what

lessons did you learn, what

did you do different to start

growing more successfully?

- Greg Kunkel

CE

O Ta

lk

Charlie at NYSE addressing

SA500 participants


Charlie Kim

Founder & CEO

Charlie Kim founded Next Jump in 1994 in his college dorm room while going through

school on financial aid. He didn’t become an entrepreneur in order to go from rags to

riches; but instead to maintain a long distance relationship with his high school

sweetheart. Next Jump grew through the first dot-com bubble to 150 employees. And

more importantly, survived the dot-com bust shrinking down to four employees in

January 2002. The company became profitable that same year, he continued to invest

when no one else was and hasn’t looked back since. Charlie never took a dime from

VC’s and private equity firms; however, raised an unusually large amount of money

($45mm) from over 100 angel investors. Charlie attributes much of his success to

incredible mentors, advisors and board members, always helping him build a great

company.

Charlie is active in the NYC technology community. He serves as mentor to NYC Venture

Fellows and serves on Mayor Bloomberg’s NYC Applied Sciences Committee. Charlie is

passionate about Human Capital Engineering and building a culture of high

performance. He lives and breathes Next Jump’s WHY of Better Me + You = Us.

@CharlieYKim www.nextjump.com

CE

O Ta

lk

Friday, February 3rd, 2012 Live at Next Jump HQ – 261 Fifth Ave, New York NY


http://www.twitter.com/CharlieYKim

http://www.nextjump.com/

Charlie Kim, Founder

& CEO, Next Jump, Inc.


Top 5 Takeaways

Focus on Action vs. Activity

Good leaders will not just give orders, rather, they will lead by their work and show the great path

Best Leaders are Pattern Thinkers. They realize all good

things are repeatable (and similar challenges exist within

different groups). They want to get better. They’re avid

learners. They soak up everything so they can become the

best possible leader and then share with others


“I really appreciated this NxJU today. Rarely do you get to hear what drives

your boss/how he betters himself and what he and the company value in

leadership.”

“I came out of this with a ton of better ideas for myself.”

“Charlie is an amazing presenter – one of the best CEO Talks we can ask

for.”

CE

O Ta

lk

Best Leaders Get Things

Done. There is a

hierarchy of effectiveness:

(1) Results (2) Leading

indicators to results (3)

Effort

Deliberate practice to better

yourselves, it is not about the

end goal, but during the

whole process of practicing

you get better

Janet Hanson with Meghan

Messenger and Charlie Kim


Janet Hanson

Founder & CEO

Janet Hanson is Founder & CEO of 85 Broads, a network community of 30,000

trailblazing women across 82 different countries.

After graduating from Wheaton College and Columbia Business School, Janet joined

Goldman Sachs in 1977. In 1986, she became the first woman in the firm’s history to

be promoted to sales management.

Following her 14-year career at Goldman Sachs, Janet founded Milestone Capital

Management, a $2 billion institutional money management company. From 2004 to

2007, Janet was a Managing Director and Senior Adviser to the President of Lehman

Brothers.

Janet is a former member of the Board of Trustees of Wheaton College and a current

member of the Board of The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. She is an

Associate Fellow of Pierson College at Yale University and serves on the Advisory Board

of The Center for Work-Life Policy’s Hidden Brain Drain Task Force. She has received a

number of awards and honors, including an honorary degree from Middlebury College

in 2007. She is also the Author of “More than 85 Broads.”

@janethanson www.85broads.com

CE

O Ta

lk

Wed, February 29th, 2012 Live at Next Jump HQ – 261 Fifth Ave, New York NY


http://www.twitter.com/JanetHanson

http://www.85broads.com/

Janet Hanson answers

questions from NxJumpers


Top 2 Takeaways

Be curious, it’s the basis of

all relationships and a form

of paying respect to others

See the good you have, be

grateful and appreciative, it’s

a choice to survive & thrive


“I loved it. Janet is quite inspiring. She seems to be a straight shooter that

says it like it is. I particularly loved her down to earth nature, comments on

networking, and the necessity to keep a "glass half full" mentality.”

“Felt like she really connected with all of us. Her journey was fascinating.”

“I thought she was an amazing woman. Her story really motivated me and I

am already finding myself using terms that she used.”

CE

O Ta

lk

Q & A with CEO You have to find out what are you really interested in:

mountain climbing, bungee jumping, learning more about

your family tree, etc. You have to know what truly matters

to you. If not, you become incredibly boring. You have to

define what matters and what does not. Find people with

common interest. The two people who fascinate me the

most are my two children.

What and who

fascinates you?

- Molly Parker

Network Services

The way to derail to your career, not specific to women, I made

the executive decision to leave. I was burned out. Two to three

years later my manager said, “why didn’t you come to me, we

could have worked things out, this is really how women derail

their careers.” This could have all been avoided if I had been

smart enough. Go to your bosses and talk about what’s

important to you and do it way before you’re messed up. The

way you derail your career is to make a decision without the

guidance of the people you work for. It all comes back to trust.

What is the one behavior

or trait of women that

could derail their career,

or one mistake you made?

- Keerthana Hanumanthagowga

Mobile Applications

John (via video conference) and Kalyan share

interviewer best practices


John Hilliard

Software Engineering Lead

John Hilliard is a Software Engineering Lead at Next Jump, known for his skills in JavaScript, API design

and architecture, software design patterns and data visualization and analysis. Over his four year tenure

(first year as an intern), John has held many leadership roles, such as the POD Lead on Health and

SA500Kids, an active role in recruiting as a captain for his alma mater (MIT), a lecturer at MIT on 6.470

on Node.js / Socket.io, a manager of the intern project competition and the lead of the code quality and

standards initiative. With regards to recruiting, John leads technical assessments, such as coding

challenges for Super Saturday. John loves movies, music from movies and photography, as well as

running. He has completed two marathons and is currently training for his third.

Kalyan Jakka holds a position at Next Jump as the Software Engineering Manager, advancing fast in his

career over his four year tenure. Kalyan is known for making a significant impact on Tracking & Payment

Systems, Overwhelming Offers, and Merchant eCommerce API integrations for in-path checkout. His

major leaderships roles include being a member of Team MV21, the TYLC, the lead on NxJ University

HCE, and a frequent Top 10 employee of the month. His interview skills are paramount in selecting the

best candidates to join Next Jump, which include being a Saturday Technical Test designer/grader, a

CMU recruiting captain, and completing 40+ campus, phone and in-person interviews. When he has

spare time, Kalyan enjoys working on puzzles and word games. Kalyan graduated from Carnegie Mellon

University and worked as a graduate studio project intern at Google and Software designer at Hewlett-

Packard prior to joining Next Jump.

[email protected]

Tech

Technology NxJU Session Conducting Technical Interviews

Friday, February 17th, 2012 Live at Next Jump HQ – 261 Fifth Ave, New York NY

2pm – 3pm EST and via Video Conference to Boston

Kalyan Jakka Software Engineering Manager

[email protected]



Anil and Caleb share

insights of PHP5.3 Upgrade


Anil Varghese

Senior Software Engineer

Anil Varghese graduated from Carnegie Mellon and started work at Next Jump as a

software engineer in March 2009. In his three years at Next Jump, Anil has worked in

many different teams including, Email, PHP Migration, AIM, Architecture and Capacity

team. He is now part of Site Performance team. One of his awesome achievements

was to reduce page load times from over five seconds to less than a second. Other

than coding, he enjoys watching movies, TV, reading books and listening to music.

Caleb Taylor first joined Next Jump as an intern in the summer of 2011. After

graduating from University of Illinois this winter, he joined us full-time software

engineer. He is a part of the Performance team and works closely with Anil. Before Next

Jump, he worked as web developer for the United States Geological Survey for two

years. Other than coding, he enjoys playing video games, piano and drums. He also

loves watching TV, movies and reading books.

[email protected]

Tech

Technology NxJU Session Empire platform upgrade to PHP 5.3

Friday, March 9th, 2012 Live at Next Jump HQ – 261 Fifth Ave, New York NY


Caleb Taylor Software Engineer

[email protected]



Anil shares challenges of

upgrading to PHP 5.3


What’s new with Empire on PHP 5.3?

20% faster than the

previous version of PHP

Moved away from old-buggy

Database Driver to a brand

new one


“Good presentation - prepared and knowledgeable.”

“Good to know what we’re moving to.”

“Very organized and prepared, but went through the material too quickly.”

Top 4 new features in PHP 5.3

Native Closures/

Anonymous Functions

Better Garbage Collector

Reduced risk of SQL

Injection

Late Static Binding

Tech

Geoff Martin is the Chief Accounting Officer and Controller for Next Jump, Inc. Prior to

Next Jump, he worked at Mahoney Cohen & Company CPA, Tommy Bahama, and

VicStar International, with much of his background in the apparel industry, both in

public accounting and in private industry. When it became time to find employment

elsewhere, the idea of working for an internet company was intriguing. And he thought

the internet may be around for a few more years. Some of his hobbies, when he isn’t

playing sports with his two children, Aidan & Colby, are to do projects around his house,

such as taking down walls & putting up walls (no not in the same place), built in

closets, etc. His neighbors refer to him as the “Accountant-Carpenter”. Geoff is a CPA

and has been working with Next Jump since February 2008.

Life Skills NxJU Session Taxes 101

Friday, March 23rd, 2012 Live at Next Jump HQ – 261 Fifth Ave, New York NY


Geoff Martin Chief Accounting Officer & Controller

[email protected]




“Very helpful and informative session.”

“The session was very valuable and recommend it to be held again next

year.”

“Understanding Standard deductions Vs. Itemized deductions, HSA and

options related information was very useful.”

Top 2 Takeaways

Standard deductions vs.

Itemized deductions

Tax information related to

employee stock options

Life

Geoff discusses Taxes 101

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2012 NxJU Calendar

NxJU session on alternate Fridays Monthly CEO Talk Tech Biz Life

Q2

Friday, Apr 06 2012

Excel Macros Workshop Peter W, Emily C

Simon Sinek Author of “Start With Why” (Apr 3)

Friday, Apr 20 2012

FastTrack Mentorship John N / Gautam

Friday, May 04 2012

R/R-Studio Workshop (Boston) - John H

Presentation Skills Workshop Jackie E

Beth Ann CEO Tracy Locke – Date TBD

Friday, May 18 2012

Developer Efficiency Nate G

Friday, Jun 01 2012

Nutrition for Working Women Marissa B

Friday, Jun 15 2012

Stock Options 101 Jooe K

Friday, Jun 29 2012

In Path Integrations - Kalyan

Q3

Friday, Jul 13 2012

Agile Development Nayan B

Jim Loehr Co-Founder Human Performance Institute (Jul 20)

Friday, Jul 27 2012

Re-engineering Engineers Marissa B

Friday, Aug 10 2012

Email Framework/Tech - Lokeya

Friday, Aug 24 2012

Client Relations - Arielle F

Friday, Sep 07 2012

Principles of UI/UX - Albert B

Friday, Sep 21 2012

[email protected]

Please send your questions / feedback to

www.nextjump.com


http://www.nextjump.com/

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