From one of Matts posts I recently got the impression that he might be getting a little sour taste in his mouth from the Google Kool-Aid and possibly looking for a change from Google.
My wife, being from the same home town as Matt’s wife, feels some connection to Matt and always reads his blog. She never comments but loves it whenever he mentions Omaha. She read the same post and asked me if I thought we should make Matt Cutts an offer to come work for ShoeMoney Media Group because maybe he would like to come to Omaha so his wife can be closer to her family. (sidenote: keep in mind my wife is a Anesthesiologist and she always thinks she needs to save everyone when she thinks they are in pain without knowing them or anything about what they do).
Anyway after laughing a bit and explaining to her not only would Matt not be interested in coming to work for me I doubt I would have a position for him nor could I pay him enough. I mainly build content or service oriented sites for users not for search engines so the whole SEO value really is not that important to me. Personally I think Matt should be or work for a political candidate. I have never seen anyone better at deflecting crap coming at there company. Jeremy Zawodny on the other hand I would hire in a minute and pay him 250-500k per year. He is probably one of the best mysql developers walking this planet and that is someone I could really use. I have seen and heard his rates for private consulting are as much as $1,000.00 per hour. I have no doubt he is worth that. (that is another post for another day though).
Obviously I am not one to really answer her questions so I thought I would send out a email to some industry friends who ARE in a position to offer Matt a job.
My question was this: Would you hire Matt Cutts? If you had to come up with a dollar figure to offer him what would it be? What would his job title and job description be?
Kris Jones – CEO Pepperjamsearch (Worlds Largest Full Service SEM Company)
Pepperjam would hire Matt Cutts in a fraction of a second.
TITLE: President of Software Development – Search Division
JOB DESCRIPTION: Matt would manage the day-to-day operations and direction of Pepperjam’s internet software development – search division. As President, Matt would direct the overall strategy of the division and would be provided with the flexibility and resources to build a team around his vision for the future of search.
SALARY: $250K Base + Profit Sharing + StockAs one of the fastest growing privately-held companies in the United States (Inc. Magazine, 2006), why wouldn’t Matt want to work for Pepperjam? He’d be crazy not too. Matt clearly wouldn’t go where the money is – he’s got more than he will ever need. Matt wants the flexibility and upside that a company like Pepperjam will give him. At Pepperjam he would be given free reign to build projects around his vision for the future of search. Aside from that, I just know Matt would fall in love with Roxy, Pepperjam’s English Bulldog mascot.
Patrick Gavin – CEO text link ads and other companies
We would hire Matt Cutts immediately after him signing a non disclosure 😉 As unrealistic as this scenario is of course we would want to hire Matt. I would have to imagine he would be worth $500k+ a year. Job title would be “Strategist” and job description would be
“Guide our publisher network and advertising strategies in a direction that gives our publishers and advertisers the best chance at success. Success measured from a monetization perspective for our Publishers and from a traffic and search engine rankings perspective for our Advertisers.”
Greg Hartnett – Best Of The Web
Sure, I’d hire him. His knowledge and contacts would make him an ideal addition to Best of the Web. In order to get him aboard, I’d probably offer him somewhere north of $200k annually, plus an equity kicker to keep his interests aligned with those of the company.
I’d probably make him Head of Search Quality, and have him be responsible for implementing plans to grow the BOTW offerings in a manner that would provide the most value to the user. Ultimately though, his job would be to get BOTW to replace DMOZ as the Google Directory.
Christine Kim
Yes I would hire Matt Cutts. i would offer him $150K a year. his job title would be head of natural search.
I would hire Matt, absolutely. Not just for his knowledge of Google, but because I believe he’s someone who’s become exceptionally good at managing a team in the same way that I like to do it – rewarding rather than punishing, creating an environment of fun, learning and possibilities, and inspiring people to give their best. He’s also a remarkable social networker and interface person. I’d consider hiring him as something akin to VP-level. I think in our organization (SEOmoz), he’d be great at talking to clients, organizing programmers and researchers and helping to set strategy. When your company’s as small as SEOmoz is, Matt’s role would be like everyone else’s here – do-it-all 🙂
Salary range – well since we released our earnings, I think it would be fair to say that even if we had no expenses and gave him everything we earned, it probably wouldn’t be adequate to other offers. The only real answer would be to give him a financial stake in the company (and a high one at that).
The insanity of the question, and my answer, is that Matt would be more likely to hire all of my staff than I would be to hire him.
Jason Calacanis Former CEO Weblogs INC & AOL Exec
Note: I’m not making an offer here, but just an observation. Matt Cutts is similar to Robert Scoble in that he’s built a brand around his name and his approach. When Scoble went to PodTech he brought instant credibility, an audience, and a bridge to any blogger out there. Cutts has a similar cache, as well as domain expertise in search, and he would bring a lot of value with him to any company.
Neil Patel – CEO ACS Web Consulting
Yes I would hire Matt. I would see him best fit in the role of Chief Evangelist or Search Strategist. He would either be a good front man for the company who could bring in a lot of business or he would obviously be great at figuring out strategies for clients.
I would offer Matt $200k plus bonuses and equity. I don’t think that is enough though, he is worth much more than that. I would imagine that the amount of business that he could bring in would be in the several million dollar range.
I’d totally hire him. But c’mon, Jeremy. No one’s going to be hiring Matt. The real question is who would be going to work for him (which I’d totally do as well).
I think his marketing and public relations instincts and fundamental understanding of the web are likely worth more than his search knowledge. With his knowledge of those fields I would love to see him working as a web based version of a Noam Chomsky.
I would love to hire someone like Matt, but am certain I couldn’t afford to pay him anywhere near what he is worth.
So there you have it. BTW Matt if you were to take a job with any of these people I want a fee k thx 😉
-Shoemoney Ace Recruiter
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Bookmark Murdok:
Years ago I found myself on unemployment and in debt but with many service oriented websites. Determined never to work for “the man” again over the next several years I learned how to monetize those websites through donation, subscription, direct sales, contextual advertising and affiliate advertising. People say that I have a knack for seeing marketing angles that most people do not. I work hard, party hard, and have a relentless work ethic when something catches my interest.
http://www.shoemoney.com
