Linden Lab sets sights on government
by Tateru Nino 
Nov 1st 2008 at 11:00AM
Filed under: Business models, News items, Second Life, Politics, Virtual worlds
Not all that long ago, if you wanted a piece of Second Life Linden Lab would be just about the last organization to deal with you. Linden Lab was all about the platform. If you wanted help setting up shop, or a marketing presence, to the Lab you were no different from any other customer.
Those days, apparently, are over. Linden Lab has partnered with Rivers Run Red, and is now in the business of marketing and selling solutions. While a jump in new sales and marketing staff (like European Marketing Director, Clare Rees) are now old news, Linden Lab has a new hire from Washington DC.
That's Scott Sechser, former Operations Manager at the White House. That's the one at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW.
Sechser is the new Government Accounts Manager at Linden Lab, which involves the care and feeding of government clients, as well as marketing and sales work to land new government customers.
It isn't any stretch to assume that Immersive Workspaces 2.0 is going to be the chef's special on that menu.
Sechser's career kicked off in 1995 as an intern for US Senator Larry Pressler, then Field Director for the Bob Dole for President campaign the following year. Then a stint at Aspect media, before spending nearly five years as the Operations Manager at the White House. Finally, Sechser worked in Special Projects for the US Department of Health and Human Services before being hired by Linden Lab last month.
All in all, we've seen a profound psychological and philosophical shift at Linden Lab this year, essentially not only reversing their overall hands-off policy, but growing a sales, marketing and account management team that may soon exceed the size of the Linden Lab's core development team at this rate.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Eris said on 12:40PM 11-01-2008
"a sales, marketing and account management team that may soon exceed the size of the Linden Lab's core development team..."
As has been pointed out by business leaders before, the day the Sales staff take over is the day your products stagnate and you lose your way. It's the beginning of the end for some companies, especially the innovators.
Look at Microsoft under Ballmer (the former Sales guy).
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Jacek Antonelli said on 4:26PM 11-01-2008
LL should set up the U.S. Congress with that Immersive Workspaces thingy. Then the politicians could look at LOLcats and play sudoku online when they're supposed to be paying attention, just like I do during my own meetings in SL.
Five sudoku puzzles solved during one session of congress = massive productivity increase!
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rightasrain said on 5:38PM 11-01-2008
Bush staffers clearly not satisified in ruining the country or the world...onto the metaverse and beyond.
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Alicia Stella said on 3:24AM 11-02-2008
Linden Lab is a company and companies need to make money, isn't that the point?
Isn't that why M Linden was hired in the first place, to make this world make money using his marketing experience? I am happy to see LL trying new ways to bring in the bucks...
Because then they will not be forced to tax us little guys to death. (Like, I dunno, raising tiers and such ya' know.)
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Ann Otoole said on 1:39PM 11-03-2008
I recall making a clear and unambiguous suggestion to Linden Lab that they learn the Beltway Two Step. Looks like they are learning the steps.
Of course doing things to attract a regulatory agency, empowered to both create and prosecute regulations, to potentially come in and create new suffocating regulations on the metaverse industry and then having to pay off all the people needed to change those regulations later is a serious noob sign. Of course the additional expenses will be passed on to the residents in the form of price increases anyway so I guess that doesn't matter.
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Gigs said on 12:16AM 11-04-2008
I watched the same thing happen to Red Hat. Alienate the community, hire some big shot government-connections guy, and then stop making a product that anyone actually wants to use without being forced to by agency or corporate edict.
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