Rapleaf integrated with SwapThing. It’s official. All systems go.

We have alot of partners (and we don’t mind getting polygamous), but this one is extra special. Founded by Jessica Hardwick, the inspiration for the company came after Jessica traded computer consultation to a veterinarian in return for much needed surgery for her cat. See this is where great ideas come from.

Essentially, you can swap a used bicycle for a Lakers Championship t-shirt. An XBox for a PSP. Anything whatsoever. And you get to display your Rapleaf badge. Sweet!

You can also join a consistent group of swappers, or a SwapCircle, to trade like items. For instance, I joined the SiliconValleyEntrepreneurs to trade entrepreneurship related books, etc. I told my parents to join the BollywoodEntertainment SwapCircle since they watch way too many Indian films.

Overall a great company. Much kudos to Jessica and her team and we look forward to this ongoing partnership.

What’s the mantra of any startup?

Work hard. Have fun. Make an impact and change the world.

Work hard.

Have fun.

Change the world??? Come again?

The first two are really easy. It’s the “changing the world” that boggles the mind. Compared to other companies, we have it easy since it’s inherent in what we’re trying to do. Our team envisions a society where your reputation is completely ubiquitous…where you can ping someone’s Rapleaf score, while away from the computer, and consider if you should buy or sell to the individual. That’s just an example but that’s very plausible, no?

To answer my own question, it is possible of course, but the process of getting to that point personally frustrates me. I, the author, can’t speak for the entire team when I say this but, it really infuriates me when I hear about these new cases of people getting ripped off, scammed, etc.

Phony Katrina story scam

Auren blogged about a previous Katrina scam. This one occurred recently. Basically a women scammed a church, nonprofits, and others into giving her alot of money by making up a story about her children dying during Hurricane Katrina.

Check from a scammer bounces victim in Jail

This guy was the victim of a Nigerian 419 scam that occurred while trying to sell his bike through craigslist. The result? He was apprehended by the police while trying to cash the check at BofA. He was then thrown in jail, had to pay bail, all while going through hell (obviously trying to rhyme).

Arrrrgh!!! Seriously, who are these people that commit these acts? Just adds fuel to the fire for sure. It makes me think if only this victim knew about Rapleaf, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Who knows.

Sorry I had to unleash the beast. And thanks for listening to me vent. Now I need to get back to changing the world with my team members (just gotta keep on trucking…).

After speaking to a former senior executive at eBay, I found that eBay merchants are getting more and more saavy. They’re no longer focusing their energies on selling through eBay and are actually leaving eBay in some cases. But where are they going? What marketplace is compelling enough to escape the totalitarian leash that’s been in place since ‘95?

How about somewhere without the oppressive walls in place? How about no fees, no restrictions, and the ability to use a portable reputation system? How about some place “worth” more than eBay? How about craigslist?

Yeah, eBay is scared…and they should be. Have you heard of The Unofficial Craigslist Book? Yeah neither did I, until today. But I’m thinking about purchasing a copy. In fact I probably will. For only the price of eight Subway $2.49 specials, honestly, that’s not a bad deal (In case you couldn’t tell, we pretty much eat Subway for lunch everyday).

Just checking out the author’s blog, I found extremeley useful advice such as:

“Upon the first exchange of e-mails never use your real name. There have been instances in which a person’s identity was assumed once they got detailed info about the seller.“

Oops. Good thing I know that now. Is this book going to single-handedly take down Meg Whitman’s empire? Probably not. But this book does look interesting and I’m guaranteeing that it can save you not only a ton of money, but save you alot of grief as well.

Now for all you eBay-turned-craigslist merchants (and everyone else out there), couple these craigslist tactics with online flyers from vFlyer and your Rapleaf reputation and you’re ready to rock ‘n’ rock. In a few years, you’ll forget what it was like to be harnessed to the ground with exorbitant listing fees.

Anyways, buy this book and let us know of any success stories. And be sure to rate your successes with a positive Rapleaf rating

Rapleaf officially wecomes Dayo Esho to the team as co-founder and our fifth person. Dayo (pronounced “dye-yo”) comes to us straight from UC Berkeley where he received his M.S. in Systems Engineering (software/civilian focus) and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.  He also received a minor in being ethical.

We’re extremely excited to have Dayo, as we’re rounding out our team and getting one step closer to having our founding team be complete.

We’re still looking for one more software engineer and one network engineer. Notice the MacBook Pro on Dayo’s desk? Yeah that’s his courtesy of Rapleaf. That’s why he’s grinning in the picture. Just another incentive to join Rapleaf!

It feels good to not be restricted. This is the new home of our blog.

Hope you like

This week we welcome super-intern Sean Carr to Rapleaf. He’s a Senior in computer science at UC Berkeley and a great guy … we’re lucky to have him.

Sean is a buddy of Vivek’s and we’re excited to have him, his problem solving skills, and his readiness to tackle big problems.

Welcome Sean!

Some guy is accused of defrauding victims of Katrina to the tune of $500,000

See: Contractor charged with fraud

A local contractor remained jailed Monday after deputies chased him down, tackled him, then charged him with bilking Baldwin County residents out of about $500,000 in a series of construction-related scams targeting the elderly, Hurricane Katrina victims and others.

“He would come in and get some money up front to do some things. Then, when it came time to do it, he would never complete the job or do what he was supposed to do,” Murphy said. “He was very smooth. He was very convincing. He pretty much knew what to say. He would say things like, ‘We’ve got to act fast. I won’t be able to get materials at the prices for much longer.’”

This article was sent to us by Rapleaf member Ben Smith. Ben mentions that while most contractors are very ethical, there are a few bad birds in the pile. To separate the good from the crooks, Ben checks the Rapleaf scores of anyone proposing to do work on his house. Ben has a great Alabama summer vacation home that he rents out and often uses local contractors. Thanks Ben!!

yes .. we’re searching for employee #6.

systems engineer / operations engineer / network architect … all rolled into one.

You will set up and run all of Rapleaf’s infrastructure. And you’ll start from scratch. You get to build the system and don’t have to undo someone else’s mistakes.

About Rapleaf:
Rapleaf (www.rapleaf.com) is a portable ratings system for commerce. We allow buyers and sellers on sites like craigslist to rate each other. We’re in San Francisco, CA near all the best lunch and dinner spots. Very accessible via BART, bus, and bike.

Rapleaf recently raised a $1 MM angel round from the top angels in Silicon Valley led by Peter Thiel (Fmr founder and CEO of PayPal) and Eric Di Benedetto, Jeff Clavier, Aydin Senkut, and Ron Conway. We are hiring 3 more people right now. So this is an opportunity for you to join the founding team. You will be considered a co-founder of the company.

Our goal: to make it more profitable to be ethical

The role:
- managing all Rapleaf servers (Linux), backups, web servers
- managing relationship with hosting provider
- systems administration
- scalability and expansion
- database (MySQL)
- learning how to scale Ruby on Rails
- managing millions of images being served
- changing the world and making it more profitable to be ethical

Criteria:
- you’re a kick-butt systems engineer / operations engineer. You take no prisoners. You’re a master of all things Internet and Linux.
- you can learn new platforms fast (we use Ruby on Rails but if you don’t know this, you can learn it fast)
- you should have a strong desire to build a more ethical society
- intensely driven and proactive person
- extremely hard working. This is a start-up. We work 70-80 hour weeks – you should too.
- quick learner and real doer (and you err on execution over strategy)
- you thrive on working with A-players and you’re too good to spend 70+ hrs/wk with B-players
- people like you and like working with you
- you thrive on chaos, risk, and uncertainty
- should be easy to get along with, nice, fun, smart, ethical, and low-maintenance
- all levels of experiences should apply

Location:
- downtown San Francisco (New Montgomery and Mission)
- you should want to live in or near San Francisco (we’ll move you if you’re not already here)

Compensation:
- high cash comp | high equity — we are willing to pay for the best talent.
- we’re happy to pay you significantly more than your current job
Our philosophy: A players rock. So have fewer people and pay them more.

We’re only looking for people that really want to work with A-players, push themselves, and change the world.

interested? Please email jobs@rapleaf.com
(and be sure to sign up for Rapleaf if you are not already a member)

p.s. if you are not interested, we pay $5,000 referral bonus if you refer us to the person we hire (happy to pay you directly or to send the money to your favorite approved charity)

Jobs