It's been 10 years since I launched Babylist as a side project on HN. We're now a team of 100. Babylist is a top 1,500 visited website in the US, generating $500M in attributable commerce across retailers. We're stable and profitable. We're looking for talented Engineers across all levels that are excited to build out a world-class consumer and ecommerce experience.
Our web application and backend systems are at the center of the Babylist experience - an experience our users love as they prepare for one of life's biggest events. The Babylist engineering culture is one of learning and knowledge sharing. We are passionate about experimentation, automation and shipping value to our customers. Our stack is based on Ruby on Rails and React. We continue to expand our toolbox to use the best technologies for the job.
I have a lot of thoughts about this! A lot of effort over many years has gone into our content. It's very good and I'm very proud of it. We have an in-house editorial team (including video) that currently reports into marketing but for years reported directly to me as peers to marketing. A couple of lessons over the years that has made this successful:
- Our editorial team has some content marketing goals, but their primary goal is long-term audience development. (We want you to keep opening our newsletter over years.)
- There is a lot of operational work to keep this content up to date. (Our content is primarily about product recommendations. This gets stale over time.)
- I believe in good, better and best content and that this can be qualitatively evaluated. Content development hasn't gone as well when we looked to the data to tell us is content was good or not.
- An intern wrote the first version of our guides. She sent out a survey to users about their favorite products and used that as the editorial basis for our "best product" guides. We tracked that they were making it to the front page of Google and decided to fund an in-house team.
Over the entire 10 years it's always felt like we have been too slow to hire and needed a person in a role 3-6 months earlier.
We were a team of 5 when we hired our first full-time customer service agent. Until that hire, we would each take a day of customer support which eventually meant that our iOS engineer was answering user emails for ~6 hours a week.
Great question. I really struggled with that decision. For me it was really whether to raise a seed round or not. I went back and forth about what kind of business I wanted to run.
I finally made the decision to raise the seed round and grow a team because I felt that I would learn the most. I optimized for my own learning and growth.
Are you facing a similar decision? It's a steep and long learning curve to actually lead a team, but now it's the part of my job that I love the most.
It's been 10 years since I launched Babylist as a side project on HN. We're now a team of 100. Babylist is a top 1,500 visited website in the US, generating $500M in attributable commerce across retailers. We're stable and profitable. We're looking for talented Engineers across all levels that are excited to build out a world-class consumer and ecommerce experience.
Our web application and backend systems are at the center of the Babylist experience - an experience our users love as they prepare for one of life's biggest events. The Babylist engineering culture is one of learning and knowledge sharing. We are passionate about experimentation, automation and shipping value to our customers. Our stack is based on Ruby on Rails and React. We continue to expand our toolbox to use the best technologies for the job.
It's been 10 years since I launched Babylist as a side project on HN. We're now a team of 100. Babylist is a top 1,500 visited website in the US, generating $500M in attributable commerce across retailers. We're stable and profitable. We're looking for talented Engineers across all levels that are excited to build out a world-class consumer and ecommerce experience.
Our web application and backend systems are at the center of the Babylist experience - an experience our users love as they prepare for one of life's biggest events. The Babylist engineering culture is one of learning and knowledge sharing. We are passionate about experimentation, automation and shipping value to our customers. Our stack is based on Ruby on Rails and React. We continue to expand our toolbox to use the best technologies for the job.
It's been 10 years since I launched Babylist as a side project on HN. We're now a team of 100. Babylist is a top 1,500 visited website in the US, generating $500M in attributable commerce across retailers. We're stable and profitable. We're looking for talented Engineers across all levels that are excited to build out a world-class consumer and ecommerce experience.
Our web application and backend systems are at the center of the Babylist experience - an experience our users love as they prepare for one of life's biggest events. The Babylist engineering culture is one of learning and knowledge sharing. We are passionate about experimentation, automation and shipping value to our customers. Our stack is based on Ruby on Rails and React. We continue to expand our toolbox to use the best technologies for the job.
It's been 10 years since I launched Babylist as a side project on HN. We're now a team of 100. Babylist is a top 1,500 visited website in the US, generating $500M in attributable commerce across retailers. We're stable and profitable. We're looking for talented Engineers across all levels that are excited to build out a world-class consumer and eommerce experience.
Our web application and backend systems are at the center of the Babylist experience - an experience our users love as they prepare for one of life's biggest events. The Babylist engineering culture is one of learning and knowledge sharing. We are passionate about experimentation, automation and shipping value to our customers. Our stack is based on Ruby on Rails and React. We continue to expand our toolbox to use the best technologies for the job.
BabyList is making it easier for new parents to prepare for one of the biggest events in their lives. We have an extremely engaged user-base, we’re growing quickly and making real money. Our core product is a universal baby registry, and we are developing our own e-commerce platform and content site.
Our HQ is in the Old Oakland neighborhood, 3 blocks from the 12th Street BART. We're a smart and diverse team of 15. Our users actually notice and love what we do (read our AppStore reviews for proof).
Front-end Software Engineer - Our front-end is driven by React with Ruby on Rails on the server, and we are beginning to use React Native for mobile app development. You would join an excellent product team of 4 software engineers and 2 designers. There is more info here - https://babyli.st/jobs#front-end-engineer
Head of Product (Product Manager) - We're looking for a talented product manager to lead our product strategy. There is more info here - https://babyli.st/jobs#head-of-product
BabyList is making it easier for new parents to prepare for one of the biggest events in their lives. We have an extremely engaged user-base, we’re growing quickly and making real money. Our core product is a universal baby registry, and we are developing our own e-commerce platform and content site.
Our HQ is in the Old Oakland neighborhood, 3 blocks from the 12th Street BART. We're a smart and diverse team of 15. Our users actually notice and love what we do (read our AppStore reviews for proof).
Front-end Software Engineer - Our front-end is driven by React with Ruby on Rails on the server, and we are beginning to use React Native for mobile app development. You would join an excellent product team of 4 software engineers and 2 designers. There is more info here - https://babyli.st/jobs#front-end-engineer
Head of Product (Product Manager) - We're looking for a talented product manager to lead our product strategy. There is more info here - https://babyli.st/jobs#head-of-product
We are also hiring an Editor-in-Chief, Advertising Director and Managing Editor - https://babyli.st/jobs
BabyList is making it easier for new parents to prepare for one of the biggest events in their lives. These parents-to-be look to us to help them make decisions about what to buy for their baby and where.
Product Manager/Interaction Design - You will own user research, interaction design for our service, our website and mobile apps. This role combines improving our current offerings and leading major new product initiatives.
Head of Content Strategy and Merchandising - BabyList is an online baby registry on which $5M products are being purchased every month. Your job will be to also make BabyList the #1 destination on web and mobile for baby gear product advice.
Why should you consider BabyList?
- fascinating work that users actually notice and love (read our AppStore reviews for proof)
- extremely smart, diverse team
- actual work/life balance
- benefits of an early stage startup (autonomy, fast pace, many hats...), without the risk of the an early stage startup (i.e. our revenue is paying for our growth)
- great office location - Old Oakland neighborhood (3 blocks from 12th street BART)
- we're a team of 10. Everyone has a big impact and is great at what they do. Our team punches way above our weight.
BabyList is making it easier for new parents to prepare for one of the biggest events in their lives. These parents-to-be look to us to help them make decisions about what to buy for their baby and where. We have an extremely engaged user-base, we’re growing quickly, making real money and building new products that will take us to the next level.
Frontend Developer - Lead the development of our website. Obsess over user-experience, A/B testing, code maintainability and page-speed. Our stack is Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and Backbone/CoffeeScript/Javascript.
Why should you consider BabyList?
We offer:
- fascinating work that users actually notice and love
- extremely smart, diverse team
- actual work/life balance
- benefits of an early stage startup (autonomy, fast pace, many hats...), without the risk of the an early stage startup (i.e. our revenue is paying for our growth)
- great office location
- Old Oakland neighborhood (3 blocks from 12th street BART)
- we're a team of 9. Everyone has a big impact and is great at what they do.
I would love to tell you more over the phone or coffee. Email me at [email protected]
BabyList is making it easier for expecting parents to prepare for one of the biggest events in their lives. These parents-to-be look to us to help them make decisions about what to buy for their baby and where. We have an extremely engaged user-base, we’re growing quickly, making real money and building new products that will take us to the next level.
Frontend Developer - Lead the development of our website. Obsess over user-experience, A/B testing, code maintainability and page-speed. Our stack is Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and Backbone/CoffeeScript/Javascript.
Why should you consider BabyList?
We offer:
- fascinating work that users actually notice and love
- extremely smart, diverse team
- actual work/life balance
- benefits of an early stage startup (autonomy, fast pace, many hats...), without the risk of the an early stage startup (i.e. our revenue is paying for our growth)
- great office location - Old Oakland neighborhood (3 blocks from 12th street BART)
- we're a team of 8. Everyone has a big impact and is great at what they do.
BabyList is making it easier for expecting parents to prepare for one of the biggest events in their lives. These parents-to-be look to us to help them make decisions about what to buy for their baby and where. We have an extremely engaged user-base, we’re growing quickly, making real money and building new products that will take us to the next level.
We are hiring for two positions:
1. Frontend Developer - Lead the development of our website. Obsess over user-experience, A/B testing, code maintainability and page-speed. Our stack is Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and Backbone/CoffeeScript/Javascript.
2. Supply Chain & Operations Manager - BabyList is a platform on which $2.5M products are being purchased every month. We are starting to experiment selling products ourselves. We want someone who can get us from our first sale to our 1,000th. Your initiative and experience will take us through this new business vertical quickly and efficiently.
Why should you consider BabyList?
We offer:
- fascinating work that users actually notice and love
- extremely smart, diverse team
- actual work/life balance
- benefits of an early stage startup (autonomy, fast pace, many hats...), without the risk of the an early stage startup (i.e. our revenue is paying for our growth)
- great office location - Old Oakland neighborhood (3 blocks from 12th street BART)
Babylist is making it easier for expecting parents to prepare for one of the biggest events in their lives. These parents-to-be look to us to help them make decisions about what to buy for their baby and where. We have an extremely engaged user-base, we’re growing quickly, making real money and building new products that will take us to the next level.
We are hiring for two positions:
1. Frontend Developer - Lead the development of our website. Obsess over user-experience, A/B testing, code maintainability and page-speed. Our stack is Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and Backbone/CoffeeScript/Javascript.
2. Merchandising & Operations Project Manager - BabyList is a platform on which $2.5M products are being purchased every month. We are starting to experiment selling products ourselves. We want someone who can get us from our first sale to our 1,000th. Your initiative and experience will take us through this new business vertical quickly and efficiently.
Why should you consider BabyList? We offer:
- fascinating work that users actually notice and love
- extremely smart, diverse team
- actual work/life balance
- benefits of an early stage startup (autonomy, fast pace, many hats...), without the risk of the an early stage startup (i.e. our revenue is paying for our growth)
- great office location - Old Oakland neighborhood (3 blocks from 12th street BART)
Babylist is making it easier for expecting parents to prepare for one of the biggest events in their lives. These parents-to-be look to us to help them make decisions about what to buy for their baby and where. We have an extremely engaged user-base, we’re growing quickly, making real money and building new products that will take us to the next level.
We are hiring for two positions:
1. Frontend Developer - Lead the development of our website. Obsess over user-experience, A/B testing, code maintainability and page-speed. Our stack is Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and Backbone/CoffeeScript/Javascript.
2. Merchandising & Operations Project Manager - BabyList is a platform on which $2.5M products are being purchased every month. We are starting to experiment selling products ourselves. We want someone who can get us from our first sale to our 1,000th. Your initiative and experience will take us through this new business vertical quickly and efficiently.
Why should you consider BabyList? We offer:
- fascinating work that users actually notice and love
- extremely smart, diverse team
- actual work/life balance
- benefits of an early stage startup (autonomy, fast pace, many hats...), without the risk of the an early stage startup (i.e. our revenue is paying for our growth)
- great office location - Old Oakland neighborhood (3 blocks from 12th street BART)
BabyList - Downtown Oakland, CA (2 blocks from 12th Street BART)
BabyList (http://babyli.st) makes having your first baby less overwhelming, more creative and most importantly more delightful. We have a large and rapidly growing user base of passionate parents-to-be who are making important purchasing decisions for one of the biggest events in their lives. The baby industry is massive and ripe for disruption. Our core product is an easy to use registry that let’s parents-to-be add anything they can find on the internet. Our users LOVE this product. We just launched a complementary product Little List (http://littlelistapp.com).
>> Senior Front-end developer:
We're looking for a senior developer to lead the development of our website. You know how to create great user experiences on the web using client-side code/frameworks and css. You will work with our designer and backend developer to add new features to BabyList and build brand new products from scratch. Our stack is Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and CoffeeScript/Javascript/jQuery. We're looking for someone who has a lot of coding experience and expert-level fluency in at least one programming language (you don't have to be great at Ruby right now).
We're offering meaningful equity, a competitive salary, benefits, and relocation expenses.
BabyList - Downtown Oakland, CA (2 blocks from 12th Street BART)
BabyList (http://babyli.st) makes having your first baby less overwhelming, more creative and most importantly more delightful. We have a large and rapidly growing user base of passionate parents-to-be who are making important purchasing decisions for one of the biggest events in their lives. The baby industry is massive and ripe for disruption. Our core product is an easy to use registry that let’s parents-to-be add anything they can find on the internet. Our users LOVE this product. We just launched a complementary product Little List (http://littlelistapp.com).
>> Senior Front-end developer:
We're looking for a senior developer to lead the development of our website. You know how to create great user experiences on the web using client-side code/frameworks and css. You will work with our designer and backend developer to add new features to BabyList and build brand new products from scratch. Our stack is Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and CoffeeScript/Javascript/jQuery. We're looking for someone who has a lot of coding experience and expert-level fluency in at least one programming language (you don't have to be great at Ruby right now).
We're offering meaningful equity, a competitive salary, benefits, and relocation expenses.
It's been 10 years since I launched Babylist as a side project on HN. We're now a team of 100. Babylist is a top 1,500 visited website in the US, generating $500M in attributable commerce across retailers. We're stable and profitable. We're looking for talented Engineers across all levels that are excited to build out a world-class consumer and ecommerce experience.
Our web application and backend systems are at the center of the Babylist experience - an experience our users love as they prepare for one of life's biggest events. The Babylist engineering culture is one of learning and knowledge sharing. We are passionate about experimentation, automation and shipping value to our customers. Our stack is based on Ruby on Rails and React. We continue to expand our toolbox to use the best technologies for the job.
Open roles: https://www.babylist.com/jobs
SOFTWARE
- Senior Software Engineer, React/Web
- Senior Software Engineer, Rails/Backend
- Software Engineer, Android
- Site Reliability Engineer
- Director of Engineering, Consumer
- Software Engineering Manager
(Here is my HN side project post 10 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2175757)
Email [email protected] with any questions.