Author Topic: You are just appointed CEO of iStock, outline your first 3 actions (Read 7536 times)

michealo · « **on:** November 30, 2011, 06:36 »

You are just appointed CEO of iStock, outline your first 3 actions ...

1) Introduce a code freeze
2) Pay Rob whatever it takes to come back and be the head forum mod
3) Create new post of contributor czar, personally drive over to Sean's house and beg him to take the job, have him appoint under czars for video, vector, audio, etc

lagereek · « **Reply #1 on:** November 30, 2011, 06:45 »

Boot out all indies! to hell with them all. Viva la exclusivitee. F###ing joke!

aeonf · « **Reply #2 on:** November 30, 2011, 06:49 »

1. Fire all of the IT department.
2. Fire everyone else.
3. Move IS from Canada to a country with higher working and business etiquette. (USA or germany maybe).

microstockphoto.co.uk · « **Reply #3 on:** November 30, 2011, 06:51 »

20% base for all, effective immediately
33% base for all, effective 1st Jan 2012
Realistic levels, up to 50% for independents
No preferences in search results
Optional pp (even if I would opt in, we must be allowed to choose)

aeonf · « **Reply #4 on:** November 30, 2011, 06:53 »

Quote from: microstockphoto.co.uk on November 30, 2011, 06:51

20% base for all, effective immediately
33% base for all, effective 1st Jan 2012
Realistic levels, up to 50% for independents
No preferences in search results
Optional pp (even if I would opt in, we must be allowed to choose)

He said CEO of IS, not head of the indy contributor union.

microstockphoto.co.uk · « **Reply #5 on:** November 30, 2011, 06:54 »

Quote from: aeonf on November 30, 2011, 06:53

Quote from: microstockphoto.co.uk on November 30, 2011, 06:51
20% base for all, effective immediately
33% base for all, effective 1st Jan 2012
Realistic levels, up to 50% for independents
No preferences in search results
Optional pp (even if I would opt in, we must be allowed to choose)

He said CEO of IS, not head of the indy contributor union.

Sorry, then I resign as CEO

PS: I forgot:
FTP
No cv (or if they want cv as it "could" make sense for translations, THEY must do the work of disambiguating)

Perry · « **Reply #6 on:** November 30, 2011, 07:03 »

1. Throw a big party
2. Buy a new Mercedes
3. Have a vacation

(alternatively: 1. Throw away the whole redeemed credit thingy and set a new base royalty percentage at 21% (or more). 2. Make sure the bugs are fixed 3. Write a sincere letter to contributors.)

rubyroo · « **Reply #7 on:** November 30, 2011, 07:22 »

1. New policy of 'You get back according to what you give out'. Therefore, 50% to all contributors + Christmas bonus.

2. Get site working, and re-jig programming in modularised format, so that fixing one bug doesn't create knock-on effects elsewhere.

3. No more claw-backs of contributor payments if security fails on website, and previous claw-back reimbursed to all those affected.

(Oh and reinstating Rob at a price he names is a 'given', therefore not included in this list

)

Zerkalo · « **Reply #8 on:** November 30, 2011, 07:59 »

1) Fire IT Manager/Chief Information Officer. Rollback the application and code layers to the latest date before the royalty % problem occurred.
2) Freeze the working code until the end of busy season (let's say until February). Make a development plan to simplify the site functions. Make sure an effective Business Continuity Plan has been established.
3) Fire Lobo. Assign a "Chief Communication Officer" for both clients and contributors. Make sure Lobo never comes back.

Bonus) Fix the video side: Solve the technical problems around uploading and shorten the inspection times (Even two weeks is OK).

All the rest is just small details

ThomasAmby · « **Reply #9 on:** November 30, 2011, 07:59 »

1.)

<?php
header("Location: http://www.shutterstock.com");
?>

rubyroo · « **Reply #10 on:** November 30, 2011, 08:17 »

@ Thomas

Problems solved!

hiddenstock · « **Reply #11 on:** November 30, 2011, 09:02 »

1. Divert all payments to my personally account while no one can see what is going on.
2. Transfer money to Swiss Account
3. Move to a country without an extradition treaty to either the US or UK.

hiddenstock · « **Reply #12 on:** November 30, 2011, 09:11 »

Ok now the real answers

1. Find out if it is possible to do a roll back to the working site. If it is see what functionallity will be lost and make a decision from there.
2. Find out whether the site problems are skill related to the team working on it or technology related. If it is the former see if it is feesable to add more people to the team to get a stable site. If it is the latter bite the bullet and buy some hard drives in spite of the Thai flood hard drive price hike

3. Employ someone to make sure this crap never happens again.

imageegami · « **Reply #13 on:** November 30, 2011, 09:13 »

iStock is not an independent company with any kind of authority to make any real decisions, therefore a CEO is not required. It`s an empty shell of its former self with no soul that has been taken over and gutted, they just didn`t remove the iStock banner because it used to have value. In the good old days it was a fair place and it used to be fun to hang around in their forums. Fast forward to today, its turned into a place that charges onerous commissions to their own demise and the forum is a place you go to to get censorship, insults and verbal abuse.

Microstock Posts · « **Reply #14 on:** November 30, 2011, 09:20 »

1. Declare that unlike my predecessors, I will be a more honest CEO.
2. Announce that I need to buy a luxury yacht and the latest Mercedes Benz, and therefore present royalties are too high and will have to be lowered in order to sustain my lifestyle. 5% sounds good.
3. Promote Lobo to second in command, for his outstanding service to the company.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #15 on:** November 30, 2011, 09:28 »

1) Award myself a "Golden Hello"
2) Negotiate three years' pay and bonuses for myself if I leave the job.
3) Quit

The rest of you don't seem to have your priorities right.

rubyroo · « **Reply #16 on:** November 30, 2011, 09:31 »

Ah yeah sorry.

I didn't realise my job description was to kill the golden goose and eat it.

Must go and write that down...

Sheridan · « **Reply #17 on:** November 30, 2011, 09:59 »

Send photos of the top managers at IS HQ to the FBI's most wanted.

Re-interview everyone for their current position - panel made up of totally independent people.

Hire an IT company to create a stock website.

PeterChigmaroff · « **Reply #18 on:** November 30, 2011, 10:10 »

Quote from: aeonf on November 30, 2011, 06:49

3. Move IS from Canada to a country with higher working and business etiquette. (USA or germany maybe).

Of course you realize Canada is one of the few countries not caught up with all the global banking fiascos and that the problems at iStock only began AFTER they sold out to the band of thieves from the US? NO? Of course not.

cthoman · « **Reply #19 on:** November 30, 2011, 10:29 »

1. Go to work.
2. Cash My Checks.
3. Enjoy the money.

RT · « **Reply #20 on:** November 30, 2011, 10:31 »

1. Apologise to buyers for previous arrogant behaviour.
2. Apologise to contributors for - well everything really
3. Hire a new IT department and forum moderator then keep my fingers crossed that 1 & 2 work, otherwise look for another job.

cthoman · « **Reply #21 on:** November 30, 2011, 10:43 »

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on November 30, 2011, 09:28

1) Award myself a "Golden Hello"
2) Negotiate three years' pay and bonuses for myself if I leave the job.
3) Quit

The rest of you don't seem to have your priorities right.

I forgot to include my fat severance package. Doh!

I think I want to change my answer anyway to:

1. Get a comfy chair.
2. Buy a fiddle.
3. Watch Rome burn.

Sorry, I just don't have enough optimism to have a real answer.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #22 on:** November 30, 2011, 10:46 »

Quote from: michealo on November 30, 2011, 06:36

You are just appointed CEO of iStock, outline your first 3 actions ...

1) Try and negotiate an independent status for iStock, sort of like Native American treaties for nation status within the US (although we all know how well that worked out for the Native Americans even when they got it in writing).

2) When those negotiations fail, resign. With Getty's history of bare knuckle treatment of photographers, illustrators, musicians (Pump Audio), etc. and H&F's need for cash driving everything, I can't see any upside for anyone with a conscience.

3) There is no step 3 - who wants to be in charge of iStock vectors moving to clipart.com or other soul-crushing attempts to squeeze a bit of cash out of what's left of a good name?

helix7 · « **Reply #23 on:** November 30, 2011, 10:52 »

1. Slash prices across the board. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 credits for most vectors and large photos and comparable cuts for all categories.

2. Reinstate previous royalty system, with pay raise for black diamonds.

3. Simplify credits. 1 credit = $1, with slight discounts for bulk purchases (over 100 credits at a time). No lower than $0.90 per credit at the highest volume level.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #24 on:** November 30, 2011, 12:03 »

Depends.

If company is to be sold do everything possible that will be attractive to potential buyers including:
1. Perform system modifications for financial gain and band-aid everything else that's broken
2. Maximize profits by reducing internal and external (contributors, partners, etc) costs as much as possible
3. Increase revenue as much as possible (increase prices, create premium content, etc)

If the company is to be grown for the long term:
1. Review the organization's goals, determine if they're viable, and propose adjustments that match growth (increase loyalty efforts, improve customer service, improve member relations, improve public image, etc)
2. Review the financials for the past several years, determine if they're aligned with the goals, and adjust efforts as necessary
3. Evaluate existing technologies (Getty, TS, Photos, new system) and create a platform roadmap (reduce costs, improve stability - determine if all sites can be consolidated into one of the platforms, identify the scope and costs of the effort, etc)

ETA: What's interesting to me is that IS seems to be built on MySQL/PHP with never-ending problems and Getty is probably on SQL/ASPX and I never see any problems. Coincidence?

lisafx · « **Reply #25 on:** November 30, 2011, 12:18 »

Quote from: hiddenstock on November 30, 2011, 09:02

1. Divert all payments to my personally account while no one can see what is going on.
2. Transfer money to Swiss Account
3. Move to a country without an extradition treaty to either the US or UK.

ROFLMAO! Now this is the most likely scenario

michealo · « **Reply #26 on:** November 30, 2011, 12:24 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on November 30, 2011, 12:03

ETA: What's interesting to me is that IS seems to be built on MySQL/PHP with never-ending problems and Getty is probably on SQL/ASPX and I never see any problems. Coincidence?

Well written PHP is as reliable as any other language, Facebook use it extensively and use HIPHOP to transform it highly optimised C++

trek · « **Reply #27 on:** November 30, 2011, 19:22 »

1. Tell the overlords at Hellman and Friedman that their dividends are not sustainable.

2. Explain to the overlords at Hellman and Friedman that money isn't whats going to make them happy.

3. Restore contributor relations by matching the royalty percentages at other top tier sites.

Karimala · « **Reply #28 on:** November 30, 2011, 19:27 »

Quote from: trek on November 30, 2011, 19:22

2. Explain to the overlords at Hellman and Friedman that money isn't whats going to make them happy.

Ha!

jjneff · « **Reply #29 on:** November 30, 2011, 19:27 »

1. Go back to old canister system

2. Stop adding features until site actually works like it should.

3. Encourage community to promote IS around the world

Suljo · « **Reply #30 on:** November 30, 2011, 19:33 »

1. And only one RIP
world be the better place without you iSmacks...

LongHa2006 · « **Reply #31 on:** November 30, 2011, 19:46 »

1) rebuild customer and contributor trust.
2) hire competent programmers
3) cancel partner programs

markrhiggins · « **Reply #32 on:** November 30, 2011, 20:03 »

1)rename Thinkstock IS
2)Move all vetta/p+ to getty
3)Sell old software to someone you hate

OhGoAway! · « **Reply #33 on:** November 30, 2011, 22:54 »

1. Quit.
2. Start over with new site.
3. Give a fair cut, build community & allow discussion, rethink this whole mid-stock & tiered pricing b.s.

And . . . the next time the opportunity arises to sell out to the competitors, think a little harder.