Hello, I’m Jay Neely.
Boston Entrepreneur
I’ve attempted two startups, News Armada in early 2008, and EasyImpress (startup post-mortem here) from 2009-2010. News Armada was a news commentary community intended to take social news out of its infancy. And EasyImpress was a websites-for-realtors creator focused on simplicity and effectiveness. My role in each was primarily product management, marketing, operations, front-end design & development, sales, support, and customer relationship management, but I pitched in on a few other things, too.
I intend to start a new venture in 2012, but I’m currently looking for the right opportunity, and gathering the necessary resources, to make certain my third attempt becomes my first success.
Marketing Consultant
I find marketing a fascinating discipline that mixes soft skills (writing, psychology, creativity) with hard (data-based analysis, logistics, finance). I work as a freelance consultant providing services including social media strategy, content strategy, search engine optimization, and general business / marketing consulting. I’ve previously consulted for Netherlands-based Floorplanner.com, VC-funded imVOX.com, and global enterprise software company SDL.
Background
My self-made cardboard desks from when I first moved to Boston.
Thanks to early access to computers in my life, I’ve been a digital native since 1995. I had my first glimpse into startup life during high school as a customer evangelist & sometime-assistant for MindSay, Mashable Editor-in-Chief Adam Ostrow’s first startup. But in college, studying Information Technology & Sociology at Georgia Southern University, I felt unchallenged and uninspired by my environment.
I left and moved to Boston in 2007, drawn by Boston’s reputation as a major startup hub and mecca of education. Attending BarCamp Boston 2 shortly after I arrived, the connections I started making drew me in. Since then, I’ve been working on startups and honing my online marketing skills. Now living in Somerville, MA, you’ll often find me coworking with other young entrepreneurs & freelancers at Diesel Cafe.
