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Big-name competitors? Whatever Joe Liemandt did what every ambitious young upstart dreams of doing ? he caught the big-name competition sleeping. As a college junior he recognized a market niche that few others had addressed. In 1990, Liemandt and his associates dropped out of Stanford University to found what was then called Trilogy Development Group. Armed with years of research on sales and distribution and the experience of his entrepreneurial father, Liemandt and company developed configuration software to help manufacturers streamline the ordering process. Based on algebraic algorithms, the software configured the product for each order based on individual specs. Skyrocket Demand for that product, Sales Builder, skyrocketed immediately, and within two years Trilogy had completed a $3.5 million deal with Hewlett-Packard. More were soon to follow, and Trilogy now provides its software and business support services to major customers including AT&T, IBM, Intel, American Airlines, and Boeing. Trilogy has nearly doubled in size each year of its history and, despite the entry of competitors into the lucrative market, it remains at the top of a heap it created by using legendary recruiting techniques and endless on the job perks. And Joe Liemandt, who built up hundreds of thousands in credit card debt to finance the startup, is one of the youngest people on the Forbes 400. The company has spawned several other companies including pcOrder.com, carOrder.com and applianceOrder.com. Have you bought a Ford online lately? In February 2000, Trilogy and Ford Motor Company announced a joint venture for Trilogy to develop all of Ford's web sites to enable to car giant to sell its fleet online. The website will allow car owners or prospective owners to customize not only their cars, but their web sites. Other car companies are employing similar web strategies. In order to finance this venture and others, Trilogy plans a long-awaited IPO late in 2000.
Trilogy hungrily pursues bright college grads with technical and liberal arts backgrounds. It also hires candidates with computer modeling expertise and higher degrees in computer science. Sources tell us that about 50% of recent hires have liberal arts degrees. As founder Joe Liemandt told Fast Company magazine, "We can take English majors who know nothing about software and make them great marketers. What's important is that you're very good or the best at something. It doesn't matter what." Trilogy posts recruiting information for college students and experienced workers in the career section of its Web site. The company hires for positions in development, consulting, and marketing. Resumes and cover letters may be submitted via e-mail, regular mail, or fax. Our sources do note that the company likes referrals, so if you know someone on the inside, use them! After an HR screening, candidates generally interview with "the people in the trenches" as opposed to managers. For non-campus interviews, Trilogy often pays for candidates to come to its headquarters for both their first and second round interviews. Be prepared: The second round of interviews is "an all-day affair that may be the same week as the first round." In 1998, Trilogy recieved 15,000 resumes from graduating seniors. Of those, 4,000 got first-round interviews, 850 made it to Austin for on-site meetings, and 262 were hired. Thirty-three of them were students from Carnegie Mellon.
Screw tenure Trilogy employees say they share an "unrivaled spirit of camaraderie," largely because "nothing brings people together better than risk." The "talented overachievers" at Trilogy are pretty young - the average age is 26 - and tend to be the entrepreneurial type. The company gives new employees "unprecedented amounts of responsibility" and makes them "take chances" to meet the challenges of their work. One company recruiter remarks that new hires "don't have to sit around earning tenure before [they] can see a customer." They're thrown into work from Day One. Go home at noon While such demands occasionally require employees to "work into the night," they are free to arrange their schedules as they wish. "If you are done for the day," says one employee, "you can go home at noon." If your projects take a bit longer, be assured that at the very least, you won't starve - "the company kitchen is always well-stocked." In terms of income, our contacts praise Trilogy's "high" salaries and rave about the "unorthodox" social events including company outings to the movies, scavenger hunts, and a weekly happy hour dubbed the POP - or "Party on the Patio." Welcome to TU New hires get a crash course in corporate culture at Trilogy University, located "downtown" - literally down the hill from company HQ. Launched in 1995, TU was created to train people who are extremely talented but unfamiliar with the business world. For three months, recent college grads "ramp up," or increase their knowledge. They learn about software, business, teamwork, and life at Trilogy. This is not just class time, mind you - insiders also work on projects for the company. Fast Company describes it as an "intense, extremely unorthodox orientation program," and that it is. One source describes the experience thusly: "At college, you're taking sips from the fountain of knowledge. Here it comes so fast, it's like a fire hose." And a witty insider recently pasted up a small sign at TU that reads: "Business hours: 8 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Saturday; Noon to 8 p.m., Sunday."
Human Resources
Software;Professional services;Training;Technical support
Clarify;Elcom International;Firstwave Technologies;Vantive More Company Profiles For more career information, go to Vault.com ©2000, Vault.com Inc
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