My first few weeks as CEO of BLiNQ Media

On May 12th 2014 I started a new adventure as CEO of BLiNQ Media, and 18 days later I couldn’t be happier with the decision I made to take this role. I feel incredibly privileged to be leading a group of very talented BLiNQers who have welcomed me into their family.

The past few weeks have been fun, and I’d like to share some highlights.

My first day started off with opening remarks to the company. Hopefully I made a few folks laugh and I gave everyone insight into who I am, what my leadership philosophy looks like, and what they could expect from me. I also felt it was important for them to know right off the bat what I expect from them. I  introduced them to a feedback report called 15five that I put in place to gain insight each week from our folks and I can tell you, it’s been very insightful to listen to our people and understand the wins, frustrations, and ideas that come from the hard working group of folks, spread across the country.

Outside of conducting some 1-1’s (still have a lot more to do), I also got exposed to the core products, future products, team structures, tools, financials, HR + Recruiting, and more. What you’d typically expect. I can tell you, BLiNQ has some exciting things in the oven I can’t wait to share soon, but more importantly we have some incredible solutions today and a group of talented professionals using our tools to deliver incredible results for our clients.

Over the last few weeks I also had group breakfasts, lunches and drinks with the majority of the staff in Atlanta and New York. I had a blast getting to know folks and hopefully they got to know me as well. I learned some interesting things.

• We have 5+ competitive fencers. One of them was a Junior Olympic fencer. What other company has that many fencers, really? 4 of them were on the same group lunch table and didn’t know that about each other. Amazing.
• We have a lot of talented musicians, folks who love to travel, folks who love to dance, folks who love to act.
• One of the guys in Atlanta is actually from Atlanta, in-fact his family have been here since the 1800’s.
• One of the ladies was Wonder Women at Six flags, not saying who.
• Our engineers are bad-ass in so many ways. A lot have creative outlets, crazy good at math, and ridiculous at ping pong.
• We have someone who played professional poker in Vegas at a very young age, made a good amount of cash and put it into a 401k. Actually, that’s not true, he did make a lot of money, but no idea if he actually put it into a 401k, that’s something I might do. Not… Maybe a BMW i8 and a “round the world ticket” again 😉
• One of our new team members in the Chicago office got engaged last weekend. Congrats!
• Everyone loves dogs, some more than others.
• Everyone has a unique background, with a different journey that has brought them to BLiNQ.

What’s amazing about BLiNQ is that you don’t realize how great these people are and the potential this company has, unless you are in the company. From the outside, the perception is so different and I’m here to change that! Yes BLiNQ has had some hard times (and some great times), but the past is behind us and ahead of us we need to be fearless and forge a new future.

I invite the staff of BLiNQ, their family and fiends, our trusted clients and partners, and supports to come on a new journey with me and to discover a new BLiNQ.

Thank you,
Raj Choudhury
CEO – BLiNQ Media