http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/theapprentice http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/theapprentice Star editor-at-large, having failed to make a splash in blogging, is now pinning her hopes on reality TV. Julia, if you're going to make it on the small screen, you need better advisors than a handbag designer and a former hedge-fund analyst. How about someone who's been there? LinkedIn marketer Surya Yalamanchili, a veteran of Donald Trump's The Apprentice, is the guy you need to talk to. Sure, he was fired from the show. All the more reason to seek him out, Julia. Let's be honest: If IT Girls is the best you can come up with, you're going to face a lot of rejection on Sand Hill Road.

]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=371672&view=rss&microfeed=true I was a bit surprised when Surya Yalamanchili, the former reality-TV star fired by Donald Trump from The Apprentice, told me he'd landed at LinkedIn. One would think his broadcast-TV star turn would afford him more than enough introductions in the Valley. Perhaps he likes a challenge. Yalamanchili, who previously worked for Procter & Gamble and started this week as LinkedIn's director of marketing, has traded packaged goods for social networks. His first task: Figuring out how to brand LinkedIn as new and improved. Despite the differences between the two sites, people won't stop talking about how Facebook will soon move in on LinkedIn's turf.

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