It's a jungle in there: At the former Menlo Park, California, warehouse housing Diba Inc., the support poles have been turned into giant palm trees, and balconies run around the second floor. "People like to hide behind the trees and shoot each other from the balconies," says Joe Gillach, VP of marketing, who seems to consider Nerf guns standard office equipment. "Once someone missed and hit a Korean visitor in the head with a Nerf bullet," he recalls, sounding only slightly repentant.
All the goofiness doesn't seem to have hurt this software start-up. Begun a year ago by Farzad Dibachi, a former Oracle exec, and his brother Farid, CEO of Wavetron Microsystems, Diba is staffed with engineers from Oracle and Apple, and has partners like Samsung, Zenith, and Panasonic to produce its "information appliances." Earlier this year the company created a buzz with Farid's chronicle of life in a start-up for Upside On-line, and grew to 85 employees by fall. Diba was flaunting its prototype email telephone at Comdex last week, and its Internet-enabled television will be on the market in Korea this Christmas.
What Windows is to the PC, Diba wants to be to the consumer electronic market. "Everything we do is built off a single operating system," says Joe. "One platform, many appliances." Diba is going head-to-head with WebTV to bring the Net into a kitchen near you. "We're talking about a whole range of appliances that have the power of a computer and the ease of use of a blender," says Gillach. But Diba has a unique approach - employees dragged their parents to the office when it came time for prototyping, to make sure Grandma could use the products.
Joe's looking for a marketing type who can create a Diba brand, develop a logo, and work with advertising and marketing to push the brand. "I need a person who understands the software business, who's worked in consumer packaging for companies with strong brand names, and who can drive the creative process," he says.
The hours at Diba are "long and odd," says Joe, but apart from the danger of being shot by a Nerfer, employees seem well taken care of. Salary range is from US$68-92,000 depending on experience; stock options and 401(k) plan are included. And Mom Dibachi comes in on Wednesdays to cook lunch for the whole crew.
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