 Aaron Strout
Vice President of New Media
Citizen Marketer
Aaron Strout : Citizen Marketer |
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I'm a Leavin' on a Jet Plane...
Yes, you read that right. After two and a half years, I'm leaving Mzinga. Before any rumors get started, let me clarify two things: - I still love Mzinga and all of the people who work here.
- Leaving was a difficult choice as Mzinga is a great company. One that is clearly on the road to doing big things. At the end of the day, I got an offer that was too good to turn down. Oh yeah, it's in Austin, TX. At a company called Powered and I'll be the new head of marketing there. The good news is that while I will oversee things like lead generation, brand awareness, PR, product marketing, etc. I will continue to focus on a lot of the "social" things I currently do (blogging, podcasting, twittering, speaking at events).
Now that I've got that part of the way, I thought it would only be fitting to pay tribute to the company and people that have given me a wonderful opportunity over the last few years to grow, learn and excel in the world of social media and community. To that end, I've decided to put together a list of my top ten highlights of my time here at Mzinga. Some of the highlights are personal accomplishments. Many are the result of many smart, enthusiastic, passionate people working together. Without further adieu, here goes: | 10 | Launching the WE Show podcast series. To date, I've done over a hundred podcast interviews. I'm not sure whether I'm any good or not but I've at least gotten much more comfortable with them. To date, five interviews that really stand out in my mind were: 1) with Jeremiah Owyang, now at Forrester, because he was such a fountain of knowledge 2) Michael Arrington, mainly because I was a nervous wreck 3) Robert Scoble of FastCompany.TV because I was thinking to myself, "holy crap, I'm talking to Scoble and he's a pretty down to earth guy." 4) Cali Lewis because she was so bubbly and easy to talk to and 5) Gary Vaynerchuk mainly because his enthusiasm is so infectious (plus, the guy has been on Ellen and Conan O'Brien).
| | | 9 | Finding my voice on Twitter, getting my colleague Jim Storer re-invested in Twitter and then pulling the whole Mzinga team along with us for the ride. One of the most exciting uses of Twitter for us was getting people excited about coming to our weekly Thursday BBQs.
| | | 8 | Mzinga's "tour de force" at SXSW with colleagues Colin Browning, Heather Strout (also my sister) and Jim Storer. My friend Sam Lawrence of Jive (yes, THAT Sam Lawrence) said it all in his blog summary of the event.
| | | 7 | My Hiring in a 2.0 World blog post that resulted in dozens of interviews and press for Mzinga including an article in the US News and World Report and an above the fold feature story on the front of the Boston Sunday Globe's Money and Careers section. It's funny because this was my first real break through post. Going back and looking at my virgin post on Big Papelbon.com and then on Shared Insights makes me chuckle at how far I've come. | | | 6 |
Creating and executing on the concept of the Community 2.0 Conference in March of 2007 (the conference now belongs to our friends at IIR USA). A huge shout out goes to Francois Gossieaux of Bee Line Labs and former colleague, Iris Fliegleman for this one. Additional props to former colleagues Mark Wallace and Pauline Brannigan for selling sponsorships for something many people didn't quite grasp yet. A final kudos to Stephen Marcus for having the stomach to ride out the storm. Of course Barry and Jim had a heavy hand in this one too but they are getting their just due elsewhere. | | | 5 |
Our successful launch of Mzinga as a company after merging Shared Insights and Knowledge Planet. The two fondest memories I have of this occurence are: - Meeting many of our new KP colleagues down in Mechanicsburg, PA for two days of orientation, brainstorming and fun. See pics here.
- Launching the company the night of TechCrunch Boston. In retrospect, it was a bigger moment than many of us realized as Mzinga has grown into one of the leading providers of online community services and software in the space.
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Getting up on stage at the ACORD/LOMA conference in front of 2,500 people to moderate a panel on online community following Barry's keynote on the Power of We. Did I mention that I arrived 15 minutes before I was supposed to go on stage? Yes, Vegas traffic at its finest. | | | 3 |
Announcing our merger with Prospero in March of this year. Not only did we bring aboard 60 awesome people and a great technology, we got some unbelievable press coverage in TechCrunch, The Industry Standard, Mashable, The Boston Globe, ReadReadWeb and dozens of other well known publications. Another big win from this merger was our leadership role in doing a blog post interview with Rick Faulk and Rusty Williams as part of our press release and a live "press conference" on Twitter (one of the first of its kind).
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Being a part of the We Are Smarter Than Me project. To be honest, this was one of the three reasons I joined Mzinga's predecessor companies, Shared Insights, in the firest place (the other two being Barry Libert - I was blown away the first time I met him - and the team of Stephen, Jim and Mark). This has been a labor of love but hands down one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Project highlights include: - Launching the original We Are Smarter website to collect ideas from our partners at Pearson, Wharton, MIT and the Web at large. Props to Jim Storer, Isaac Hazard, Gary Bellardino, Erika Halloran and of course, Barry Libert, for making this a reality
- Getting our first major press hit by landing on the front of WSJ.com and on the front page of the Business section in the printed version of the Wall Street Journal with coverage of the We Are Smarter story (thank you Peter Himler for your help on that one).
- Nailing our greatest media coup to date -- Barry Libert and Jon Spector on NPR's Morning Edition telling the "WE" story. I'll never forget listening to that interview and then watching traffic to our site spike like crazy.
- Finally launching the book (to additional press) during the summer of 2007. So far the book has sold over 30,000 copies and we're in the process of wrapping up book number two.
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Working with such a fabulous group of people like Barry, Rick, Jim, Patrick, Shannon, Eve, Randy, Drew, Dave W., Mike P., Heather, Collin, Rachel, Robin, Erika, Chip, Rusty, Sabrina, Joe, Josh, Alicia, Brian S., Randy, Ashley, Shannon, Shuckri, Brian M., Mike M., Stephen, Charlie, Derek, Mark W., Pauline, EJ, Doug, Erika, Gary, Jeff, Isaac, Jodie, Jody, Joel, Julie, Mark A., Matt, Mel, , Stephanie, Nav, Virginia, Dave C., Eric, Allen, Katherine, Dan, Robert, Matt, Gene, Nikki, Priscilla, Jasmine, Gina, Tadd, Nancy, Lawrence, Anna, Rob, Tamie, Gwen, Mike W., Meredith, Jen C. Steve B., Steve M., Jon, Michel, and a bunch of other super smart folks that I'm sure I'm leaving off this list. Opportunities like this don't come often so I will take some time to savor this one in particular. | That might be a long way of saying, "WOW" but I wouldn't do it any other way. I can honestly say that I've learned more about business, the value of community, start up culture, leadership, writing, social media in the last two plus years than you can possibly imagine. Of course I'll be around for a couple more weeks and anyone that knows me even a little bit will find that I'll still be quite "findable" on places like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Friendfeed , Flickr and of course my personal blog, Big Papelbon! Thank you Mzinga for a wonderful run. I won't forget you or any of the great experiences I've been a part of during my stay here!
Mon, Oct 20 2008
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Comments |
 Aaron - Great post - brings back some terrific memories. As always, it has been a pleasure working with you. Although you won't be with Mzinga, I fully expect I will see you as often as I have in recent months. Looking forward to catching up some night soon for dinner. Best wishes and congrats.
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@lizwebpage thanks Liz, I'll miss you/Boston peeps too but there's always SXSW ***** @derekP ***** you are a social media rock star in your own right, keep that torch alight! ***** @ronC you are too kind, look forward to seeing YOU AT future ForumOne events ***** @fairminder Glad we reconnected too. Let's be sure to keep in touch! ***** @pauline my pleasure and agreed! ***** @jeffreydachis thanks man, I'm looking forward to the "Austin" experience and being part of the AV family ***** @JohnCass thanks - looking forward to still collaborating on that blog! ***** @asquillace you'll always hold a special place in my heart - be sure to keep in touch on IM, Twitter, e-mail, etc. ***** @shuckri some day you'll get my damn name right - it's a good thing you've taught me so much about social media otherwise I'd block your @ss in a New York minute ***** @MarkScribner thanks - I like that analogy a lot! sorry we won't be in the same zip anymore but you know where to find me. I look forward to watching your LA blog! ***** @goodridge thanks Ty - definitely no "good byes" - see you around. ---- Best, Aaron | @astrout
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can't believe it's taken me more than 24 hours to find this out! Fantastic news for you and the family- Austin is going to be great. It's not goodbye, just see you later... Love this blog too..tyson (@goodridge)
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Man, if that is not a walk-off home run speech I don't know what else is. Coming at it from someone who grew up near you, sad to see you leave the zip in terms of having you near by! Best of luck Pal!Mark Scribner
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Good luck, Aaron, and definitely keep on twittering.
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Astroot - Good luck at Poowered. You have been a good fiend. Shuckri.
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Aaron. You will be GREATLY missed. You've been an inspiration and breath of fresh air since we met at Duke's after the merger. You have earned and deserve all the best. I will always be your invisible friend (or visible!). @asquillace
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Congratulations Aaron on the new job at Powered. That's a big change, but you will have some local Boston people to keep in touch with there.John Cass
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Welcome to Austin, looking forward to meeting you in your new digs... jeffreydachis@me.com
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Good luck with the move. We _really_ need to get that coffee going now. Good thing I've visited Mzinga a few times this summer, or I wouldn't know what to do about those BBQ's next year.
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Aaron, congratulations on your new position. I wish you the best. I appreciate the call outs. You are a terrific person and although we have both left the nest... Mzinga will always have a special place, Pauline Brannigan @pbrannigan
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Bold moves bring bold rewards. Congratulations! Certainly glad we reconnected over the past year. Say hi to Bryan and John in Austin, which seems to be the place to be. @fairminder
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Congrats, Aaron. I'd wish you good luck, but you don't need it - 'cause you've got style, class and chops. Ron Casalotti
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Woohoo!!! Knock 'em dead, kid. One of the best things I can say is that you did so much to introduce me to so many people in our organization that I feel connected and part of a relationship. That's homage to how you do what you do. : )Best of luck to you, sir.
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Congrats Aaron! Austin is awesome, but you will be soooo missed on the Boston scene. My very best to you in your new adventure! --Liz Page @lizwebpage
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Wow! Congratulations on that. There'll be some great breakfasts down in Austin now with Brian Person! See you at SXSW.
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@Patrick thank you. I look very much forward to staying in touch. ****** @shelley I hope I'll see you at SXSW! ****** @tomhumbarger real BBQ indeed. And plus, I'm now 1,800 miles closer to you and the Halos! ****** @adjustafresh thanks for your kind words and wish me luck on selling my house ****** @geechee_girl will miss you too but still know where to find you! ****** @newjerseyliz thank you! ****** @ariherzog yeah, that's a story we'll have over a beer someday ****** @lewisgreen you are welcome any time! ****** @dough I will be patiently awaiting that case of Yuengling ****** @SusanAlbrizio/@wayneNH I'll miss my Boston peeps dearly! ****** @bryanperson, watch out bro, here I come! ****** @dmitrigunn we expect that you'll be down visiting soon! ****** @vanhoosear thanks man - let's stay in touch. Very small world. ****** @adamcohen yes, I'm heartbroken after last night's loss. No choice but to leave town! ------ BEST, AARON | @astrout
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Dude, you're taking the Red Sox loss way too hard. Miss you already.Cheers and beers, Adam
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Congratulations, Aaron! Sounds like a great opportunity! Boston will miss you, but it's a very small world! - Todd Van Hoosear, SocialSphere Strategies @vanhoosear
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Congratulations Aaron! Could not be more excited for you and your family. Looks like Austin, TX is reaching critical mass with Boston social media friends & professioals. Looks like a trip is in order soon! ;-)@dmitrigunn
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Aaron: A big congratulations to you on landing the new gig at Powered, which is clearly hiring a a very smart and social guy! And from a personal point of view, I couldn't be happier that you're joining the Boston > Austin crew. I can't wait to resume our weekly coffee sessions in a couple of weeks. --Bryan Person | @BryanPerson
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Congrats! We'll miss you in the Boston area! @WayneNH (Wayne Kurtzman).
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Boston will definitely feel the loss Aaron, although not surprised since we are all aware of your talent! I wish you and your family well!! ---Susan Albrizio
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The colonization of Austin continues... Congratulations and best of luck! I'm not sure they have Yuengling in Texas, you know...
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Congratulations Aaron. We haven't known each other long but you will be missed by me and all those you touched here in New England. That said, now I have another reason to visit Austin.Lewis
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What?!? Wow! I'm at a loss of words, Aaron, so let me ask one question: Did this job come about through social media and how many "old world" processes were involved?Good luck... we'll be in touch. -- Ari Herzog @ariherzog
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Congratulations, Aaron! Best of luck with your future plans.--Liz@nwjerseyliz
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No. Freakin. Way. Shocking news. Was it because of the Sox loss to the Rays? Did you simply lose heart in Red Sox Nation? Say it ain't so!Just kidding, Aaron - this was a great post from a great guy, and your former neighbors and colleagues in Boston wish you all the best.Both Powered and yes, even all of Austin, TX will be made better for your presence. Good luck!
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Boston will miss you, Aaron. Leslie Poston@geechee_girl
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Aaron, congratulations on the transition. Best wishes with the move (in this real estate market you're a brave man) and new position at Powered.As a sidenote, this post is an excellent example of how corporate blogs can handle this type of transition. Nice job.Scott Kiekbusch
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Congrats Aaron - it was fun getting to know you through our work together, through Twitter and through our friendly sporting wagers. Good luck with the new gig and now you can have some real BBQ! Tom Humbarger @tomhumbarger
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Congratulations Aaron! As always, I'm thrilled when Twitter friends find great new opportunities and challenges to conquer but so sad to see them go!You'll be back to visit though, right? As they say down south, "ya'll come back now, ya hear?"Shelley Greenberg@thespottedduck
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Great post.. and best of luck at Powered, Aaron.You will be SORELY missed here at Mzinga. I am still reeling from the news, but I know you are moving on to great things.Enjoy Austin!--PatrickCMO, Mzinga
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