You are amazing.
I’m stunned.
Bowled over.
Amazed.
And optimistic about our future (and yours).
The applications I received were astonishingly good. Thorough and honest and clear and direct. They were motivating and demonstrated just how much people can do when they put their minds to it. I read every word of every application and I learned a lot.
If I had 60 seats, I still would have had too many people awe-inspiring applying. Unfortunately, I have nowhere near that, and so I had to make difficult, irrational and not particularly fair choices. Alas, I’m going to be unable to work with you in 2009. There are still interviews and such to go through, so I don’t have the final group selected, but I thought the fairest thing to do was let you know as soon as possible.
The good news, and I hope you think it’s good news, is that you don’t need me. As I said before, I have no magic wand, no secret recipe. Your decision to just make it happen, to push forward, to change... that was the hard part.
Go. Do that. Blow them away. I fully expect it will happen.
Thanks for taking the time and thanks for understanding.
Seth
PS I’m going to post on my blog about how stellar each of you are... and I’m linking to a Google listing of applications (all of them, accepted and not). If you don’t want to be seen by others, you should delete your lens (if you made one). But I think you should be extraordinarily proud of what you’ve built and what you’ve done... and you might even get a new gig because of it.
Part of what's wrong with so many of these internet-marketers is that everything seems to be positioned as various degrees of "super rockstar ninja greatness". There is never any bad, unmarketable, stupid ideas. IE: no one wants to put their reputation on the line by making a potentially bad call. So, he won't say that your proposal was disagreeable, only that other proposals were even more "super rockstar ninja great".
IMO, if he actually had something great to offer and was bowled over-amazed-stunned at just how great an idea was, he'd find a way to nurture that, not blow it off.
Bad move overall, imho. I've lost some respect for Seth Godin because of that letter. A more normal rejection letter would have been more appropriate. This letter makes him sound a bit too kitsch.
Oh, and Tribes needed way more than one sentence in the acknowledgements mentioning Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky. I'd just reread HCE before I picked up Tribes and I kept waiting to see something like "So, every example in the last three chapters and next two chapters came from this excellent book... "
Or maybe that's just because I got this reply not half an hour after sending in my app. :) Zing!
All of Godin's work is over-dramatized crap. That's his shtick.
Getting a personal "you are amazing" is very different from "you are amazing" sent to few hundred people. This is a bad choice of words IMO.
When I was applying for jobs I used to get back all sorts of crap like this.. it's silly. One company got back to me within 24 hrs with a simple: "sorry your not for us because xyz"
I reapplied instantly and in the "why are you applying" space put "because your the first company not to reject me with complete bull and just gave me a straight honest answer. I trust you."
I got the job too :)
Rule 101 of rejections: don't be nice. Be kind certainly but tell them where they went wrong. They've already been rejected - sucking up helps neither party....
His response was personal and compassionate. It stung at the time, but long term I've got a lot more respect for the man for it.
Two quick stories:
1. Once emailed a prominent venture capitalist/technologist a question. It was maybe 15 words long. He responded in 5 minutes with a one word answer that truly answered my question and helped tremendously.
2. Another time I was taking a data mining class while working and I asked my professor a question. It was regarding a situation at work and a solution that I proposed. After not hearing back from my first email, I sent him a follow up email asking if he had received it. He finally replied and said that if I wanted the answer, I would have to hire him at $250/hr, his going rate. Sure, I can understand his stance in that just b/c I paying for his class and instruction does not mean that I can get free consulting. But, why couldn’t he tell me that with a reply to the first email? Why couldn’t he just tell me if my proposed solution was in the ball park or not? Here’s the zinger, I wrote the same email to the author of the book we were using in this class. He responds in 24 hours with sincere and honest feedback regarding my proposal as well as a PDF of 4 pages of the upcoming edition that covered this topic. My respect for the author sky rocketed (and now I cannot recommend his services and books fast enough). Not so much for the professor.
Naturally, I'm sending this from a blackberry...
I've always either gotten either "We are pleased you interviewed but we are continuing the search" or no response at all.
Was I terrible? Was I awesome, but you cut me out for unfair and irrational reasons? I'll never know, and never know how I can improve. Does a great job of wrecking your psyche when you've been doing it for months straight.
The no response at all shit is lame. I've had that happen to me twice, and it's just rude. Even a curt form letter is better than simply discarding a person once a company decides they have no use for someone.
I was at the point where it took me awhile (3 weeks?) to get the hint, desperately clutching to any sort of lead.
But the day-to-day people I worked for/with were trustworthy.
But, I suspect he has the same problem PG has. Rejection doesn't mean that something went wrong. And, in a high-volume scenario like this, he sure as hell doesn't have time to give people thorough responses.
I think Godin could learn a bit from the devotion Gary Vaynerchuk shows to his audience.
It seems like it's just a fancy word for "how-to" or "neat bit of information / call to take some sort of action".
While this sounds like a revolutionary idea, if you're willing to work for free, and can sell yourself well (the two basic acceptance criteria for this program), there is a high probably you can weasel yourself into some simialr position a number of different places.
His work seems to be mostly about making us rethink the way we approach marketing, especially on the web. That is coming from the other end of the "actionable" spectrum. It is a strategy, not a tactic. All the old tactics still apply, but you use them for different ends.
His examples are, of course, simple and "obvious" in a style that many (myself included) appreciate. I've found writing a series of succinct, obvious statements that convey a greater wisdom is much harder than people give it credit for.
And, like any exploratory thinker, I don't think Seth himself would claim he's never wrong. It's all about if you can learn something about the <i>approach</i> to marketing, not memorize a bunch of steps.
Definitely a fan, not a fanatic, but I've heard this point enough that I wanted to state a counter.
"Hi!
[this is a form letter- Given that I preach honesty in marketing, I figure I owe you that!]
I reviewed your app and am declining you for this opportunity. Overall, I was _incredibly_ impressed with the quality (and volume) of the applications. Unfortunately, because I am just one guy, I had to read through them quickly and go a lot on "gut feeling". I had to pass over some fabulous applications in favor of some slightly-more-fabulous ones. I'm sure I declined some great people. I'm sure I'll be interviewing some duds.
Due to the volume of apps, I can't send any personalized feedback on your application. I really wish I had the time to, but a guy's gotta sleep. Thanks again!"
Not to mention, I was pretty turned off from the whole thing the moment I read the internship he was offering. It all seemed a little self-serving (with kool-aid), and I get a little sick of MBA guys knocking MBA programs. Seems like a shallow self-marketing gimmick...
(His blog is on my reader)
If it were delivered in person, I'd expect a lollypop and a pat upon the head after hearing it.
The sad thing is that he's only had one hit -- the idea of permission marketing. From there on, everything he has done is vaporous Seth brand building. I once sat in on a social media webinar with Seth and all he talked about was permission marketing. I wasn't impressed. Same old stuff.
I think today I learned a lot more about this character than reading all his books.
I think anyone rejected from his program really dodged a bullet. Can you imagine a daily dose of this guy up close?
How about that Seth?
Steve Sammartino - www.startupblog.wordpress.com
