It’s fair to say we’re growing quickly here at Federated – in the past month or so four great people have joined our ranks, and we’re still looking for more. Those joining the team include Celeste Chin, who I worked with way back when at Wired. Celeste was in finance at Wired, and I was managing editor. That meant she had to deal with all the nutty contracts and payment deals I struck with authors back before anyone really understood what “digital rights” was really all about. She was a great colleague then, and now, as FM’s controller, she’s once again breaking new ground in helping us take care of authors. And, by the way, she’s an accomplished painter as well.

The tech team is growing as well. Justin Watt joins us as an Author Services Engineer. In 2005 Justin packed up his things in North Carolina and headed west. He had lived there for seven years, six of which he spent at UNC Chapel Hill earning two degrees, finishing with a Masters of Science in Information Science. Both during and after school he did database work for an international health project that sent him to countries as far flung as Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Tanzania, and Ghana. Before joining Federated Media, he worked on syndication and blogging technologies at O’Reilly Media, Inc. You can read about Justin’s adventures in Northern California on his personal blog, justinsomnia.org. Here’s his post about joining FM….

User Interface Engineer Andy Yang joins us from the user experience group at Genentech Inc. With his background in human-computer interaction, he is focused on interaction design, usability, and user research. He’s focused on rev’ing our author platform right now, and yes, his brother is Dennis, one of the folks behind FM site TechDirt. Check out Andy’s personal site at http://www.yizzle.com.

Our latest addition in our growing sales group is James Gross, who joins us from Feedster as an account executive. James has extensive sales and business development experience, and he writes a great blog as well (jamesgross.com). I agree with his recent post, we really do need a Peets in Sausalito. Let’s start a petition….

Chas Edwards, our man in sales and market development, celebrates his one year anniversary this week. Chas had his second child earlier this year, so he feels a lot older than he really is! We’re honored to have him here – his integrity and leadership is simply unmatched in my experience in startups. He’s built a team of five – soon to be ten – and the results are extraordinary. Here’s to another great year!

Good ol’ Jason declares FM’s model all wrong, based on his insights about moves Om and Rafat have made, and his experience running Weblogs Inc. He explains – with the wonderful, sweeping presumptions for which he is so well known – that when a site goes over a million pageviews, there’s no reason why the author won’t start running his own media empire, hiring sales staff, and he or she won’t need FM anymore.

Sigh. As much as I’d love to spend the next 1500 words or so reminding you Jason that – more than two years ago – I considered these economics, and this argument, and that the past year of operating FM has given me great comfort in the face of these simplistic and underthought musings, I think I prefer to not lay it all out for ya here, buddy. Any of you reading this who might want to know my thoughts and responses on this, you know how to get in touch. I’d be happy to talk about it.

Asha Dornfest, one of our authors in the parenting federation (Parent Hacks), recently asked me about terms of service – she had none on her site, and she wanted to figure out rights and responsibilities as her site grew. I put her in touch with our legal team at Fenwick, and we bounced a bunch of ideas around, and after a lot of hard work, Asha’s worked out TOS and privacy policies for her site which I like very much. In fact, I plan to adapt them for Searchblog as well!

I also like the way she asked her community for input and concerns. Very much in the spirit of transparency and open conversation. As blog sites grow and become more professional, the questions of who owns what, what a site may and may not do with personal information, etc. become important to address. Thanks to Asha for helping define these terms for and with FM.

(professional photo by Jason Weisberger)

New digs a bit further South in Sausalito, about a block off the water. The garage was in Ross, then we moved to Sausalito to a great captain’s house, but we outgrew it. Now, we’re in a real office. Well, as real as it gets in Marin….

(BTW, our VP Ops Jason has a webcam off his deck. Which happens to be about 100 feet from our office. Not bad, eh? And James, from our sales group, has posted some killer shots as well. I like this one best – the view from our patio).

Yeah, it was a garage. A very nice garage, but still….

(professional photograph courtesy Andre Torrez)

Our extraordinary Office Manager Jennifer Charette has her one year anniversary today. She’s the heart of this operation, and we’d be lost without her. Thanks, and congrats, Jennifer!

We’re growing, and adding a third position to support our nearly 60 or so authors.

The Author Services Manager at Federated Media takes care of authors – making sure they know what ads are coming and what services are available to them, and that they always feel comfortable with FM. The Author Services Manager keeps close track of a growing number of authors, moving each forward on a continuum of engaging with the Federated Media network. The Manager will send out instructions and requests, and will follow up with authors to ensure that the instructions and requests are understood and implemented. The Manager will also search for new authors for this growing company, and respond to queries from others.

The ideal candidate needs to be organized and have an eye for talent. He or she should be able to cope with a rapidly changing amount of data from various sources. A passion for the world of blogs – in particular for the world of search, media, and technology – is required. The ability to work comfortably with a wide variety of personalities is a must. Editorial experience is critical. Meticulous accuracy and attention to detail is essential, as is the ability to work on numerous projects simultaneously and under tight deadlines. We need you to be resourceful and have the ability to work independently with minimal supervision.

If you are interested, please contact John Battelle or Bill Brazell.

Andre Torrez, our fearless leader in all things tech, celebrated his one year anniversary with FM this week. When he joined, we had an idea, but no code, no customers, and an office above a garage in a friends house. Now Andre has a team of four and a very real platform in beta, and FM is about to move to its third office, with more than 15 employees, hundreds of customers and scores of authors. Now that’s one hell of a year! Thanks, and congrats, Andre!

Om Malik, an early FM author, is joining the ranks of many wonderful voices (like Cory Doctorow, Mike Arrington, and Matt Haughey) and leaving his steady job to strike out on his own. Best of luck, Om, we’re right here behind you!