Noah Kagan has worked at Microsoft, Intel, Facebook and a number of assorted projects working on marketing and building communities.

His life goals include helping others, creating meaningful things he enjoys which live on without him, and getting on the front page of google when people search for Noah (which he accomplished in March 2006).

He blogs at OKDork.com and is currently working at Mint.com - a free web app that effortlessly organises your money.

What exactly is it that you do day-to-day?

Do marketing at mint.com.

You’ve been blogging at OKDork.com for seven years, there are now 4,000 comments on over 750 posts. What are the top five most popular posts?

• Facebook Fairy Tales: The Jenn Sterger Interview
• Michael Arrington of Techcrunch.com is a Millionaire!
• Facebook launches Social Timeline
• The 2006 Guide to the Internet
• Carnival of Finance

Has publishing your blog helped you in life? And has there been any downside?

Yes, consulting work, new friends, trips places. Great comments. Downside has been private but yeah a few unfortunate things.

Your CV boasts time at companies such as Microsoft and Intel. What are the most important things you learnt from working in the big tech companies?

That i don’t enjoy it. I like small fast paced teams/companies, but there are great people there.

Since 2005 you’ve worked at Facebook, Community Next and a number of other community organisations. How has community building evolved with the internet?

Not sure. I know for me its just gotten easier to communicate with larger amounts of people.

When you are starting a new community how do you get started? What are the steps that you take to get the word out that it exists?

You get started by seeing what is around. If it exists join it, if it doesn’t then make friends with similar interests. Getting the word out is figuring out your objectives first then figuring out what you have to do to get there. Spreading flyers, emailing friends, asking groups in other areas…

Can you share a few of your top sources for news, inspiration and ideas?

Read dailyom.com, news.ycombinator.com, techmeme.com, cnn.com.

Myspace made it big, but was ugly. Facebook was the next big thing, and they have grown lots and now everybody knows about it. Twitter is still hot among the tech geek crowd and has recently been funded. What will the social network industry look like in 2010?

Who knows honestly. I think it needs to get more offline and outside the house but it will likely go the opposite. I think mobile will be huge and more integrated into online/offline lives.

What is your definition of success in life?

Success is different for each person. I think just meeting the goals/objectives you have for yourself and being satisfied/fulfilled with the work you’ve done/doing…

Noah also spoke at the UC Berkeley Technology Business Forum about some of the projects he has been involved in - you can see that video below.

Thanks for the interview Noah. Noah blogs at OKDork.

Next interview Jarrod Brake from Atmosphere DJs »
Prev interview Brennan Ryan from Black Dog Promotions »
Take a look at the archive »
Spin the wheel and try something random »

Posted on August 16th, 2007 by Ross