Target Corp. is looking to hire 20 engineers and product managers in Silicon Valley to join a technology-based start-up called "Goldfish," but it's still fairly mysterious as to what the new project is all about.
"We are ambitious and bent on disrupting the way people shop," said one of the job postings.
The project will be housed out of the Minneapolis-based retailer's tech office in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Goldfish is the brainchild of West Stringfellow, who joined Target last year as one of three entrepreneurs in residence who were charged with bringing out-of-the-box ideas to help push Target's innovation agenda. Target liked him so much that it ended up promoting Stringfellow in December to the more permanent position of vice president of internal innovation and operations.
When he sat down with the Star Tribune in October, Stringfellow said he was working on a couple of ideas for new businesses that could be folded into Target or be spun off as their own companies. He gave those projects code names — one was "goldfish" and the other "bling." His work space was littered with physical mascots of those projects, stuffed goldfish and gold chains.
"It will make sense in the future," he said then. "I'm being cryptic because I can't talk about it yet."
Fast forward several months and Target is still being discreet about what Goldfish is about. A Target spokeswoman on Wednesday confirmed that the retailer was hiring for the project.
"At this point the project and what it is, is still confidential," said Jenna Reck, the spokeswoman.
