Last week at Startonomics, the final speaker I was able to stay for discussed the importance of building out a good team, and what he looks for in team members for his company, the Rubicon Project. As I listened to how much he cared about his employees, I said to myself, “wow it would be awesome to work in that sort of environment”. While walking to my car it occurred to me that an old friend of mine from rockclimbing had mentioned a new job at a cool company called Rubicon and upon contacting him I learned it was in fact the same group. He invited me to take part in their catered lunch and to introduce me to their team leaders and HR representative. It was a good time, and who knows what will come of it, but I learned about their company and the services they provide first hand, and the value there is worth a thousand burritos.

If you’ve never heard of the Rubicon Project, you’re missing out… as they say, they can help you make mad cash. How? (Paraphrasing my friend’s explanation here) They give web publishers (anyone with a website) a very small piece of code to put in the space you would traditionally put ads in. Then, using great technology that ping the hundreds of ad networks out there to get an ad that fits in your space and you get paid for it. They optimize which ad networks make you the most money and make sure those are the ads that end up on your page. Currently, they are working on a number of patented processes that make sure pornography and competitor advertisements never show up on your site, but they are rare even with their algorithm that is in place today.

Now that I understand what they do, I’ve become one of their biggest advocates. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m willing to give up 10% of a lot of money to make the pool it’s being taken from larger to begin with. Why not have someone who’s vested in making that 10% as much as possible be working on making the bigger pool as big as possible. They are an automated commission based sales program, and you don’t even have to buy them lunch

Mint.com is this great website I found out about at Likemind a few weeks ago.

They help you organize your finances for FREE. They keep track of your spending, organize it for you, and help you understand where you might be spending too much. How do they know you’ve been spending too much, or that you’re a great budgeter? They allow you to compare your expenditures with everyone else who uses them. Very big brother meets web 2.0, I know.

But here’s how they do it. They anonyize everyone’s data and compare your spending and suggest ‘Ways to Save’. Yes some of these are driven by advertisements, but the person who suggested the site said that it tracked his car insurance payment and realized he was overspending. Now that’s valuable information.

For me, after the two-minute sign up process, it noted that I spend too much on bills and utilities in comparison to other months. When I looked to see what fell into this category it was because of the City of Los Angeles charges on my credit card ($340 in tickets later I will never park in a red zone again!!!) We’ll see what else I learn about myself in the coming days. Supposedly Trader Joe’s is my most common vendor… what’s yours?

Side note- lowermybills.com in theory is supposed to help out with this too, but they are way more ad/lead driven and don’t analyze personal spending. I have an interview with them tomorrow, maybe I’ll find out more interactive things are in the works.

2/27/09 Update…Mint just told sent me an email reminding me that my credit card bill was due… LOVE THEM!!!