Lately we did a lot of product centered posts, sort of forgetting about the people behind and around Refined Ads. After being active in the search industry for about 8 years it feels like time just flies by, but one thing that amazes us every single time is how great the search community really is.

During last weekend a great friend of the company, Shakil Khan, made it down to Munich to talk with some of us about Online Marketing, running a business and being more successful. Together with him we managed to hang out with Lukasz and Kolja as well as some other bright people from the German Online space. A second good reason for this to happen was DLD, which took place earlier this week and once again proved to be a great conference. Meeting new people that were interested in sharing stories as well as meeting business partners and friends from all over the world made it really worthwhile. One of the better coincidences was walking by Marissa Mayer and her greeting, even though we met the last time in Zurich back in 2005.

After DLD the week went on with a big BVDW meeting where I had the chance to show more people how great Refined Ads is.

Unfortunately during the course of the evening it also became public that a friend, one of the first people parts of our team met, died in a tragic plane accident. Martin Schaedel was one of the brightest people that I ever met, his networking skills were unbelievable and the way he lived was as most people would love to if they had the chance. I guess it’s safe to say that Martin inspired thousands of people around the world and I have to admit that Martin always seemed like a hero with his talent and seeing that go is one of the saddest moments in my professional and personal life.

If you are interested in improving your PPC skills and based in Europe, you should consider blocking March 19th in your calendar. We’re currently working on a nice, free(!) event that day in Munich for PPC Managers. If you’re already a client and using Refined Ads, make sure to also block March 20th for a second day of Advanced PPC knowledge. More details will follow within the next month, but rest assured it will be worth coming to Munich. Also make sure to check back frequently as we have a maximum number of seats and expect them to fill up quickly.

Da wir in den letzten Monaten eine Vielzahl von Neuerungen implementiert haben und neue Kunden von der Leistungsfähigkeit von Refined Ads überzeugen konnten, ist es hier leider etwas ruhiger geworden. Wir planen jedoch für die Zukunft bei jedem Release ein Post zu machen um die neuesten Entwicklungen direkt zu erfahren. Wer noch näher an der Entwicklung von Refined Ads und dem SEM Markt sein will, dem sei ein Blick auf die Refined Ads Twitter Seite empfohlen:

http://twitter.com/refinedads

Wir haben einige tolle Features geplant, die zusammen mit unseren Events die Effizienz unserer (zukünftigen) Kunden noch weiter erhöhen werden. Mehr dazu bald hier und auf Twitter.

Zudem wünschen wir allen Lesern ein gutes und erfolgreiches 2009!

Last week we did our first ever partner event with Blue Summit Media in Munich. Our goal was:

• Team members from both companies see faces of people they call/email
• Have an event that brings fun for all people involved
• Involve numbers and benchmarks
• Make sure that nobody gets hurt
• Don’t miss the soccer game

So we came up with the idea of having a kart race at Munichs Kartpalast, followed by food and drinks while watching Italy play against France.

I feel really guilty for not writing anything for what feels like … years … well it’s not quite as bad but guess what, we are just busy doing the coolest thing on earth.

• About 6 weeks ago we launched “Refined Ads“, which is a great, some would say the best SEM Management software on the market right now.
• We found a few more genius minds
• Are trying to hire even more people
• Started licensing Refined Ads to the first clients
• Decided to support the TechCrunch Berlin Meetup on June 11th
• Got whiteboards – still debating on whiteboard fridays
• Are still in love with our new office
• Have some stock of ice cream in the fridge
• Can’t wait to announce the clients we’re working on
• Are looking forward to SES Hamburg, which will be a blast
• Are giving away three tickets for the high-demand, long sold out TechCrunch-Meetup in Berlin to the first three who send an email to info [add] refinedlabs.com with “Stuttgart is nicer than Berlin” in the subject line.

Look forward to a few good SEM posts as well as intros from colleagues shortly – I promise!

Just a little update on our new office. We moved in just one month ago and it is a really cool place! 5 rooms and plenty of space for the whole team, a nice conference-room. Still a bit untidy as boxes standing around, kitchen missing and such. But it is getting better. At least the Nintendo Wii and the PS3 are set up.

See some of my coworkers in the IT-Dev-Room:

Another good thing is the location: 5 minutes over to the central train station, 5 minutes to get downtown, 2 minutes to get to our favourite bar and another 4 minutes walking to our favourite club… Couldn´t be better!

If you are around in Munich feel free to stop by.

There are also some news regarding our team: Britta and Birgit joined us on the first of March. Britta is our team-assistant caring for all minor and major problems except IT. And Birgit is just the opposite… caring for all minor and major issues only in IT. Birgit works as a Software-Engineer.

By the way, Tino got a new keyboard which he is really proud of. As Tino grew up in a small city (village?) in Franconia, he brought along his own dialect being slightly different to the way people pronounce letters like k and t over here. Therefore he was very happy that his new keyboard is in Franconia-style, i.e. no k and t but two times g and d… Edzadla

Well, it’s really sad, some of us really have tears in our eyes, but the end is coming close really fast.

A little over a year ago I started Refined Labs, trying to revolutionize Online Marketing. After a little while and thanks to some great minds I realized that an office would certainly help as it would be pretty hard to employ people otherwise. Therefore I signed the contract for a one year lease for Refined LAB I.

This is what our superb lab looked like after a day:

During day 2:

(see the pizza box in front? )

After day 10:

After 2 months we decided that it would be time for a beta test of the office and invited some friends & family to “Refined Lab I BETA” at the evening of SES Munich 2007:

And then we just started to grow into our office, had a wonderful summer with plants from friends and now have a very cozy home for eight people:

And tomorrow will be our last day in LAB I before we move over to LAB II, where we’ll have more space. But before that we had to visit some of our locals where we enjoyed great food over the past year. Our favorites were: Man Fat, Café Altschwabing, Alter Simpl and of course Lo Studente, the best Pizza in Munich. Tomorrow at 1:15pm we’ll go there for our last lunch to celebrate the “Maxvorstadt farewell lunch”.

Overall I feel like the entire team loved this office and I personally will definetly never forget this great spot! On the other hand we have more than twice as much space in the new office that we can fill with presents from our readers.

Bye, bye LAB I – We will miss you!

Thomas
(with a tear in his eye)

The countdown is on – not even 3 weeks, and we will be leaving the “Barer Strasse 53″. Due to our latest personnel acquisitions, our current office has become a little too cozy and is calling for a change into something bigger. Since the beginning of this year, our team has been strengthened by Stephan Daxberger, Markus Liedl, Melanie Grisch and Andi Liebig, thus almost doubling the headcount.

Stephan and Melanie will raise SEM to the next level. Markus will support Simon, Jochen and Tino in the development division. Thanks to Andi, as far as I have heard, our servers are now running smoother than ever.

The new office is thus urgently needed and will be available in February. We will then be able to stretch our legs in 5 comfortable rooms. The only catch is that it is not within my walking distance any more and we’re not sure where to put the shared printer…

So far – stay tuned. More about our new office next time.

Yesterday we had the chance to attend and exhibit at CDTM Grow 07 in Garching, thanks to Holtzbrinck eLAB. We were really amazed by how many students were actually looking for jobs as well as the differences of their experience and knowledge.

As this was really our first time we were exhibiting somewhere our booth looked rather basic, but playing Wii Sports (Thanks to guut.de) was definetly the favourite thing for all students at CDTM according to our impression. I think bringing some of the sweets (Knoppers, Hanuta, Lollies, …) was also quite appreciated.

The contacts we made, as well as the feedback we got, I hope that we can fill our job openings soon.

As some of you might have heard from various rumors we were recently exploring various ways of growing faster to offer better solutions to our clients. This search has come to an end as of tuesday.

Refined Labs and Holtzbrinck eLAB, part of Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group, agreed to a strategic joint venture for future developments. Holtzbrinck eLAB acquired a minority share in Refined Labs.

So much about the official part from our side. We are genuinely happy that we could find this agreement with an excellent partner that has a proven track record as well as great connections and expertise in this industry. We are extremely looking forward to work with them on creating tomorrows visions of the online marketing industry today. We went through lots of offers, possibilities and options in the last weeks and months and are confident that this was a good move for all parties involved.

One of our main goals was always to develop great services with happy employees in a fun environment. Looking into the office today I think that we achieved this goal so far and I am looking forward to welcome more great minds in our team soon. If you’re interested in joining, please have a look at our job openings.