If you aren’t a big TechCrunch reader, you may not have noticed that we’re in the midst of another Internet startup boom. Some are calling it a “bubble,” while others say that the growth is for real this time. We think both sides have valid arguments, but we have noticed that this time around the online advertising revenue that is driving this boom is based on real sales results.

Back before 2000, most advertising networks were based on a CPM (Cost per Mille/Thousand) or CPC (Cost per Click) model, meaning that advertisers paid every time someone saw or clicked their ad. Those campaigns often had mixed results depending on a number of factors. Often companies spent big money on advertising that didn’t lead to sales. When they eventually realized that they were wasting their money, they stopped advertising. This put a lot of people out of business. Now many companies are making the move to a CPA (Cost per Acquisition/Action) model that only charges advertisers when they get results.

Hydra is a performance-based online advertising network that runs only CPA campaigns. Through partnerships with affiliate publishers (aka web sites), Hydra delivers these CPA campaigns to a huge audience of online readers. While other networks charge advertisers based on ad views and clicks, Hydra is only paid when the ads that they deliver lead to sales or sign ups. So let’s say that TimeWarner, Omaha Steaks, or DirecTV (all Hydra clients) launches an advertising campaign on the Hydra Network. Hydra and its affiliates only get paid when an ad results in someone buying steaks or signing up for television service (the payouts differ greatly depending on what the desired customer action is). It’s completely meritocratic. Clearly the Bevery Hills based company is on to something, they’ve grown their revenue at a rate of 6,030.8% over the past 3 years to $43.1 million.

Hydra is a small company (only 50 employees) that is rapidly growing. They currently have two openings, and both require some experience. Still, these jobs could be appropriate for some entry-level candidates. Hydra is looking for both an Affiliate Manager and a PHP Programmer. The Affiliate Manager position is probably a little too advanced for most recent or upcoming grads; however, if you have a background in online advertising and are up for the challenge of managing relationships with 100-200 of Hydra’s affiliate publishers on a day-to-day basis, go for it! The PHP Programmer job is probably a better fit for recent grads who have strong software development knowledge and the ability to work on a variety of in-house, enterprise-level marketing and ecommerce applications. For more information on Hydra’s job opportunities, visit their Careers page.

Note: On April 22nd we revisited entry-level jobs at Hydra.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• The Hydra Home Page
• Hydra’s Careers Page
• About Hydra
• Hydra Network for Advertisers and Publishers (get to know the business better)
• Hydra Featured in the Inc. 500

If you’re looking to see if you won our Find a Job, Win a Wii Contest, come back a little later today. We’ll be announcing the winner this afternoon. If you have trouble remembering to check back, why not subscribe?

We've identified Hydra as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• advertising
• affiliate marketing
• all employers
• California
• software development

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