Talking the talk
In photographs, DeRose, 36, conveys a shaven-headed, cold-stared toughness. In person, he’s soft-spoken, his dress ultracasual: jeans and a cream-and-forest-green baseball jersey. Back in the company’s New York office, he rambles a little, sounds bemused to find himself sitting in a cool cubicle in Lower Manhattan while the machine he built churns around him. Despite his outward calm, those who have worked with DeRose describe him as a well of frenetic energy and intelligence.
DeRose deflects the criticism that Jupiter receives as the byproduct of a research industry that is every bit as competitive as the companies it covers. DeRose says that Jupiter is not interested in information technology per se, but in how consumers use it and respond to it. “We’re only interested in technology at the point it becomes invisible.” As with older and bigger firms, what Jupiter sells is its deep understanding of the interaction between consumers and markets. What it tells individual clients is: Hire us as guides and you’ll get the advantage of our years of research for a fixed price that will be far less than hiring your own staff.
Of Jupiter’s 220 employees, about half are in research and analysis. Their responsibilities are spread “horizontally” (the company’s terminology) across eight research practices: bandwidth and access strategies, consumer content strategies, digital commerce strategies, European Internet strategies, online advertising strategies, site operation strategies, Web technology strategies, and MindShare Research Practice. Analysts also work on a series of vertical “market modules” that focus on traditional retail segments undergoing transition under the influence of the Internet: consumer goods, financial services, health, music, shopping, television, travel, classifieds, France, Germany, United Kingdom.
A quick rundown of Jupiter’s roster of senior analysts shows a sizable number with DeRose’s journalism background, and Jupiter’s big thinkers are typically young. Vice President Nicole Vanderbilt, who is spearheading the company’s new executive advisory service, MindShare, explains that she veered away from architecture, in which she was trained at Princeton University, toward business because, “I decided I didn’t want to be a starving artist.” She’s 25.
But really-so what? Scratch some Jupiter critics, such as NetRatings’ Weiner, and you’ll find someone else with a startlingly Jupiterish resume: Weiner is founder of the San Francisco Newspaper Agency’s Website, The Gate.
Both DeRose and vice president and senior analyst Adam Schoenfeld emphasize that Jupiter’s hiring pattern has changed, that there is an emphasis on bringing in those with business and engineering experience. Frequently cited examples are Ken Cassar, an ecommerce analyst who worked for Ames Department Stores, and travel specialist Fiona Swerdlow, who came aboard from Sabre’s AMR.
Schoenfeld has mixed feelings about the transition: “Gene and I often joke that we don’t know if we could get hired at the company today.”
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Tags: consumers, employees, research industry