Posts Tagged ‘cultural values’

Supporting the Brave

October 16th, 2012

Courtney Chapman

In honor of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, 7 members of our New York office participated in the Tunnel To Towers Run. The run retraced the steps of Stephen Siller, an off-duty firefighter who, on September 11, 2001, returned to his firehouse, geared up and headed to Ground Zero. Finding the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel closed to traffic, he sprinted in full gear through the tunnel to the World Trade Center, where he eventually lost his life.  The Tunnel to Towers run brought in over 30,000 participants (including current firefighters in full gear, Marines, families who lost loved ones on September 11th, New York residents) and raised over $1 million to support the  “Legacy of Love” and “In the Line of Duty” foundation. With the dedication and support from the company, the Rubicon team was able to raise over $1,000 for this amazing event.  On September 30th, 2012 the New York office embodied Rubicon’s cultural value of Community. It was an emotional day for many, and we were proud to represent the company in such a positive way. We look forward to participating next year and many years to come.

 

Bowl-o-Rama 2010 Team Challenge

December 16th, 2010

Mallory Maske

The MyAds team recently organized a team outing at a  bowling alley near our LA HQ. Megan Hartman, MyAds Support Specialist, shares with us the highlights.

Megan Hartman

Megan Hartman

“The transition from working for a startup under the umbrella of a major corporation to an independent startup is a journey filled with consolidation, new experiences, trials, and a test of character. And one of the greatest aspects about learning to work for a startup? The intimacy and transparency that is shared between a smaller group of cohorts. While this intimacy and changed work environment takes time to acclimate to, a couple of tools to breaking down the barrier of learned behavior and preconceived notions are group outings and team building exercises.

With this in mind, ‘Rubicon Bowl-o-Rama 2010 Team Challenge’ was manifested by Steve Wilcox and Amber McCarty, and executed by Allison King and Nicole Smith, with some assistance in facilitation from myself. This was not only an event created to boost morale and to show off bowling skills, but also one for introductions, as well to teach us the importance and benefit of working together as a team.

All teams were a combination of  legacy Rubicon members and legacy MyAds team members. Each team was allowed the creativity of coming up with kitschy team names: ‘Split Happens’, ‘Two Guys & Three Girls Walk Into a Bowling Alley’, ‘RTFB (Roll the freaking ball!), ‘The Incredi-bowls’, ‘Alley-OOPS!’, ‘Big Balls of Fury’, and ‘RTB (Real Time Bowlers)’. And creative we did get. Team ‘Alley-OOPS!’ was so enthusiastic that they wore purple sweatbands to show their competitive streak.

Awesome prizes that consisted of holiday-themed baskets filled with eats, sweets, treats, martini-mixers, and more were passed out for wins such as top scores, most strikes, most spares and most enthusiastic.

As a testimony from one of the bowlers himself, it appears that Ryan Bulaon had a bowling-good time:
“Bowling with everyone was awesome! I only really knew one person on my team, so it allowed me to get to know people from other departments in a competitive team setting. Especially enjoyable: bowling while holding a partner’s hand. Not so enjoyable: fearing for my life as I stood in line in front of the bowler as the bowler attempted to bowl between our legs. Other than that, I had a blast!”

This outing was a shining example that those on the other side of the building are just as fun as many of us know we also are! It also planted the seed and the desire for many of us to want to learn more about our colleagues, our company, our business, and our industry. As a wise woman once quoted a very wise man: “The whole is more than the sum of its parts” -Aristotle. While this is a quote that I acquired sometime during my school years, I found it to be reemphasized during my time working with Amber McCarty, MyAds Support Manager, as she is an advocate for teamwork.

Through this group activity, I learned that it’s okay to loosen up around my peers because we all like to get a little crazy sometimes, and we all need to get a little crazy sometimes. I also learned that the union of MyAds and Rubicon is more like pieces to a puzzle coming together, rather than a formal business acquisition. And that’s how we should look at it- as though we’re working together towards completing the puzzle/goal: giving power to the publisher. After all, we spend more time together than at home, right?” – Megan Hartman

Some team members are a little competitive....

The Road to 1 Trillion Impressions!

November 19th, 2010

Vanessa Rottet

988,000,000,000…989,000,000,000… and closer and closer to 1 trillion impressions! Yes, 1 trillion impressions! 1-trillion_3-300x1501

Everyone at the Rubicon Project is so excited to hit 1 trillion impressions – and it is obvious throughout the Rubicon building. Big numbers of 5, 4, and 3 have been falling off the walls as the team counts down until the presumed day that we will hit 1 trillion “imps” – Monday, November 22nd!
A survey with an amazing prize was created by Solomon Ko of the Demand Support team. The survey is to guess the exact date and time when our ticker will hit 1 trillion – in Pacific time. But don’t worry, the Pacific time does not throw off our team members from overseas and 3,000 miles away in NYC. Everyone is still battling for the $200 VISA card prize and also for the bragging voice to say, “I chose the exact day and time that Rubicon hit 1 trillion impressions!” The survey concludes at 5pm today – good luck everyone! 1-trillion_52-300x2252

With all of this excitement, we at the Rubicon Project, still act like a family – continuing to conquer the market and work hard at focusing on what is going on in current time. But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t having a little fun in the office as well. Steve Lundby, the manager of the account managers, tried to keep “hush-hush” about his secret in how to find the winning date and time, but of course, it started a little stir in the office. Members of the team, including Casey Smith and Brian Buttray were interested to find out what his plan was… 1-trillion_4-300x2251

The expected date to hit 1 trillion impressions is Monday, November 22nd. But everyone will have to wait until Sunday or Monday or Tuesday to tell what the exact date and time is. And until then, we will all keep counting…  994,000,000,000… 995,000,000,000… 1-trillion_1-300x2252

Introducing Culture Blog

April 20th, 2009

Devan Fearman

We’re a hard-working bunch: we log a lot of late hours; spend weekends in the office; and strain over strategies to completely change the industry. But the key to life is balance. So we play as hard as work: our house events, quarterly community service, and regular team outings keep the office warm and welcoming. Check here for regular updates on what we’re up to and how we’re making this a great place to work.

The environment we create here makes all those long nights and cut-throat deadlines worthwhile. We’re doing something special here, and it’s not just in our innovative technology. We’re upholding our company’s cultural values, and that makes all the difference.

  1. Innovation: We invest our thinking and resources into change that will propel the industry and company forward.
  2. Transparency: Knowledge is powerful. Transparency keeps us honest. We believe in the highest level of transparency possible with our team, investors and customers.
  3. Active Communication: Communication makes or breaks relationships. We will devote time and effort in making communication a priority.
  4. Humility: While we enjoy winning, we will not let our success get to our head.
  5. Respect: Team development is a top priority for us. We hold each other in high regard and have zero tolerance for disrespectful behavior.
  6. Community: We consider ourselves to be fortunate and believe in paying it forward to those in need.
  7. Competition: We are driven to win and are highly competitive; externally not internally.
  8. Pride: Personal pride in our work is the number one criteria for our team members.
  9. Speed: We go fast but don’t hurry.
  10. Do More with Less: Constantly find ways to do twice as much with half as much time, money, and resources.
  11. Mistakes are OK: If we aren’t making mistakes, we aren’t moving fast enough. Making mistakes is the key to innovating and learning.
  12. Fun: We will celebrate our wins together, big and small.