Mr. Walker

Foursquare's vice president Tristan Walker, perhaps one of the company's most public faces--along with Denveen and engineering lead Harry Heymann--just announced his departure from the company on his personal blog. That's the second early employee to depart from Foursquare since Naveen Selvadurai was defoundered in March. Mr. Walker, who lives in Palo Alto and was Foursquare's first employee in the Bay Area, will be headed to Silicon Valley powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence.

We guessing this time around, he didn't get the gig with an "awesome, awesome" fanboy letter to Marc Andreessen.

In a statement emailed to Betabeat, Foursquare wrote, "Tristan's big thinking and drive have been invaluable assets to foursquare over the last few years. His work has helped solidify foursquare as a strong marketing tool for brands and a data-driven loyalty platform for merchants. We know he'll continue to do incredible things with our friends at Andreessen Horowitz."

On his blog, Mr. Walker discussed his experience at Foursquare, thanking cofounder Dennis Crowley:

Once in a lifetime, if you’re lucky, you nail your dream job. It happened to me a little over two and a half years ago when I walked onto the 5th floor at 36 Cooper Square. From day one, the opportunity at foursquare enabled me to think big, take risks, re-imagine what’s possible … and following an incredible journey, I have decided to resign from foursquare to pursue my next big dream.

The past two and a half years spent with the foursquare team have been nothing less than life-changing and it has left me incredibly thankful and inspired. It’s been an amazing experience to watch us grow from 3 to over 100 and my love for the company runs deep – it always will.

I am extremely proud of the hand I had in shaping foursquare’s future and helping us with a bunch of first-evers for the company and industry as a whole. I thank Dennis for his incredible support, partnership and friendship every step of the way.

Mr. Walker's new role is notable in part because he is one of the few high-profile entrepreneurs to speak out about diversity issues in tech investing and startup culture. A miniseries by Soledad O'Brien called "Black in America: The New Promised Land: Silicon Valley," recently explored the idea of whether pattern-recognition (the assumption that the next big thing will come from a 20-something white male) has led to an institutional bias within the industry. Around that time, he told CNN, "There aren't very many folks who look like me in positions of leadership all around the Valley and I think that's something that needs to be discussed and hopefully changed."

Mr. Pollack, in a tux.

Business development professionals still don't have their own noun. It's either "I do biz dev for ____" or "she's in biz dev" or, our favorite, "they're biz dev folks." Maybe business... developers? Bizzy devvers? Bizzy dev bees? Hustlers-in-chief? Someone should come up with a phrase quick, because biz dev folks are increasingly visible and sought after, and more and more job listings are asking for biz dev rockstars and ninjas.

Nowhere does the business developer shine more than at the small, scrappy startup with a million users whose revenue possibilities are basically anywhere between zero and infinity. "Business Development is a mysterious title for a little discussed function or department in most larger companies. It's also a great way for an entrepreneur or small business to have fun, create value and make money," the marketing pundit Seth Godin wrote in 2009. "And often it's a little guy who can be flexible enough to make things happen."

While biz dev is still somewhat behind the scenes, some of these players are moving into the spotlight. Foursquare's Tristan Walker is usually cited as the Platonic biz dev ideal—tenacious but not too obnoxious, energetic but not too manic, and super creative. Under his direction, Foursquare has closed deals with tiny East Village restaurants all the way up to chains like Payless and mega, global companies like American Express. Betabeat recently noticed some restaurants have their menus in Foursquare now, thanks to Battery Park startup SinglePlatform (and their EVP of biz dev, Kenny Herman). Keith Rabois is another star, of course; locally, Aviary's Alex Taub and Foursquare's Eric Friedman both write blogs.

Scott Pollack, who does biz dev for American Express, teaches a class on business development through Skillshare and General Assembly. He hosted one last night, he told Betabeat by phone, for newbies from all backgrounds who want to get into the biz dev game. Students include startup founders and freelancers.

"The term applies broadly across startups or big companies," said Mr. Pollack, who is contemplating writing a book about biz dev called The Start of the Deal. "The challenge with it is one of the reasons I started this class is, I dont think there is one consistent definition out there as to what exactly business development is."

That's actually how he opens his class, which he started teaching partially in order to explore opportunities in the startup world. Mr. Pollack, unlike some other biz dev people we know, is the opposite of abrasive. He speaks at a normal pace and does not seem overcaffeinated. He did not try to sell us anything. And yet somehow, at the end of the conversation, we decided we should really write an article about biz dev.

"I'm trying to be the diplomat of business development," he said. "There are a lot of
strong personalities out there. There's certainly a sales component to any business development job and traditionally sales people have strong personalities and it's like, close deals immediately! There's a proactive drive and aggressiveness that definitely serves a purpose and has lots of value, but you also need a desire to truly hear out the other side."

He says he's definitely noticed a growing number of business development-centric events around the city. It's pretty gender-balanced, he said, which surprised us—especially given the dearth of women on this list. Four guys and two women attended Mr. Pollack's class last night, but it's usually 50-50, he said, and he pointed out that Skillshare recently hired Abigail Besdin to head up brand partnerships and business development. Aol's Andrea Hong made it into the Betabeat Most Poachable list. (Huh, that sorta nixes our "BD Bros" slideshow idea.)

In fact, Mr. Pollack attended a business development breakfast on Tuesday hosted by Kristal Bergfield, who works in formerly did business development for Amex, that was "definitely populated by a good mix of genders." Her choice words for what it is, exactly, she does there: "Marketer. Connector. Deal maker."

I'm a hustla, I'm a I'm a hustla.

On the occasion of his two-year anniversary at Foursquare, Director of Business Development Tristan Walker posted the very first email he ever sent Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai--way back when he just a green b-school student going into his second year at Stanford. IA Ventures' Ben Siscovick reblogged it, noting that:

"In it we see a young, smart and obnoxiously hungry person *will* himself into a killer opportunity. If you are outside StartupLand looking to get in, read this then read it again - this is how it is done."

If Mr. Walker's path to gainful start-up employment is anything to judge by, applicants need not shy away from a liberal sprinkling of exclamation points, or the word awesome, or fret over an errant capitalization or two. "I spelled foursquare “FourSquare”…capital F and capital S….TWICE! (so taboo these days)"

They also have to be willing to send eight emails before they get one (tersely-worded) response. Oh yeah, and if Dens asks if you're ever in New York, pretend you were planning on being there the very next day, buy a ticket that night, and fly out. After that, just thirty days of working for free and, voila, life-changing job!

Hey Dennis and Naveen

How’s it going? Hope all is well!

My name is Tristan Walker and Im a first year student (going into my
second year) at Stanford Business School (originally from New York).
Im a huge fan of what you both have built and excited about what you
guys have planned for FourSquare. It is an awesome , awesome service.

I would love to chat with you guys at some point, if you’re available,
about FourSquare. This year, I’m looking to help out and work
extremely hard for a startup with guys I can learn a ton from. Dennis,
with your experience at Google and the Dodgeball product, and Naveen,
with your experience at Sun and engineering in general, I know I could
learn a great deal from you both!

Before business school, I was an oil trader on Wall Street for about
two years and hated it! Moved out to the Bay/Stanford to pursue my
passion for entrepreneurship and the startup world. This past spring I
had the opportunity to work for Twitter as an intern and learned a
ton. Solidified my commitment to working at a startup that I’m
passionate about, and FourSquare is one of those startups that I
believe in.

I know you guys are probably getting inundated with internship-type
requests, but thought it’d be worth a shot! I can assure you Im humble
and Im hungry! Let me know if you’d be interested in chatting further.
I definitely look forward to hearing from you.

Stay awesome!
Tristan
@tristanwalker

Mr. Walker's advice for folks who want "pretty cool spots at awesome companies"?

“Be so enamored with the product that you would work for the company even if they didnt hire you….more importantly find where the needs are within the organization and be willing to do whatever it takes to help them fill the need (work for free even!)…and MOST importantly make sure that youre filling a need that the organization doesnt have the resources to fill on its own."

Telling founders you think their service is "awesome, awesome" doesn't hurt either.