If you remember KODA as the clever, irreverent, and often-entertaining Gen Y business connection site, you’ll be sorry to hear it’s gone.
It closed down officially a couple weeks ago. That no one much took notice until blogger, author, and LinkedIn champion Lindsay Pollak tweeted the news Saturday speaks volumes about the reach of the site. As tuned in to the Gen Yers as it was, Koda.us simply couldn’t get up the critical mass to really ignite.
The final blog post says nothing about the reasons for the closure, other than it came as a surprise to the staff. “The winds of change are swift,” says the final post, written by Lauren McCabe, who was Koda’s marcom specialist.
In truth, though, it had ceased to exist at the end of February. A note then said it was being taken offline while the team designed “a brand new product, one that is substantially different from the current version that you see today. As a result, we’ve decided to go “dark” while we build our new site.”
Koda had promise and $3 million in angel dollars. Launching in the summer of 2009, into the worst recession since the Great Depression 80 years before, Koda aimed squarely at the young worker. It’s a crowded market, but Koda declared itself a different kind of site. It was a place where the entry-level Gen Yers could establish a professional presence, providing a personal — in some cases a very personal — look into who they are and they promise they hold.
“KODA is more professional than Facebook but more personal than LinkedIn, letting both sides of the hiring equation get to know each other,” declared co-founder and CEO Jeff Berger in the launch announcement.
Alas, the economy was bad then and is only starting to look better now. As I wrote in a launch announcement then, “Although KODA reports having relationships with some 350 companies and non-profits, the majority on the site say they aren’t hiring and have no listed jobs.”
That didn’t appreciably improve. But it didn’t keep the site and its young writers from doling out career advice that was direct, and sometimes brutally honest. One I recall suggested networking while doing yoga, surfing, playing basketball, and other such activities. Silly, until you start to think about the meaning behind it: networking can happen anywhere, anytime.
Fortunately, the blog is still online. Check out the Gen Y wisdom there while it’s still available.