I am the CEO of Svpply, Inc., a social shopping S-Corp operating out of New York City. My company has been the recipient of over half-a-million in investor dollars, for the stated purpose of building an unknown, 3,000-member web service into a cultural phenomenon, and I truly have very little understanding of what I am doing.
I went to school for Graphic Design. I was supposed to graduate in 2004, though I didn’t complete the necessary Algebra class until 2009. Put me in front of Illustrator and give me something to design and I’ll execute the hell out of it. I’ve spent years of hard work developing systems in my brain for tackling visual solutions to communication problems. I’ve designed some nice logos and some nice websites. I enjoy naming products and I think I have a talent for it. I have an understanding of design that extends well past the aesthetic. I am proud of all this because I have worked for it.
But I have zero experience or expertise in building a company. I’ve never worked at a web or product startup, I’ve never worked in a healthy team environment. The design studio I co-owned was flawed to its core, and the companies I’ve worked at have had mediocre management.
So I’m learning on the fly.
Things I don’t know how to do that I have to learn soon or Svpply will fail:
- How to find and recruit talent
- Recruiting the appropriate kind of talent
- Managing people and keeping them fulfilled in their work
- How to develop and design a work schedule
- How to communicate a visionThankfully I have Mo on my board. Thankfully I have Zach on my team. Thankfully I have investors who believe in my potential and have provided me with the opportunity to educate myself. My situation is blessed and I rarely let a day go by that I don’t say a silent prayer in thanks for the position in which I’ve found myself, but good gracious is this hard.
The most frustrating part is that it is difficult to get into a rhythm in your work when you have no real understanding of the next steps you need to take. There’s no opportunity for flow if both outcome and process are foreign experiences. There’s just a lot of poking around and mystery and inadvertent negligence.
Svpply has been open to the public for six months now. Our progress has been slow for a variety of reasons. We have not launched as many new features as I would expect, or even drastically improved the ones we launched with. I own these problems, they can be traced directly back to my inabilities and inexperience, sometimes directly, other times in the form of my not having anticipated or recognized situations for what they were as soon as I could have.
But my understanding of the product and the market has leapfrogged the vision that I pitched. Our traffic has quadrupled and our product database has quintupled. We’re starting two awesome junior hires on Monday and I’m courting three incredible candidates who do me an honor by considering a position with us. Many of our deep technical problems are in the process of being solved by our only non-founder employee, whose presence on our team is a deep compliment to our product and to me personally.
So my level of personal confidence is appropriate. Skeptically hopeful. The bouts of depression and self-doubt are reasonable and inevitable. The market and its masses will be the judge of the degree to which I am able to build my expertise. A jury of peers so large it gives immediate, impartial feedback on my performance any time I think to ask for it. I couldn’t ask for better. I am thankful for the opportunity. It is an amazing challenge.
Well, maybe not evil, but “highly problematic.”
First, let’s remove what we all *think* Lego is (i.e. our own nostalgic memories, our aspirational beliefs, or $250 robot sets), and instead concentrate on what Lego today is, for the most part: It’s movie-tie-in model sets marketed pretty much exclusively towards boys.
We’ve gotten my son a Lego advent calendar for the last few years. It’s typically a pretty sweet affair: figures with ice skates, a snowman, a Christmas tree, that kind of thing. This year’s choice, on the other hand…
It features a bunch of robbers stealing stuff, some cops, a catapult for some reason, and a nice log cabin you can build. Except it’s a jail. Oh, but you get Santa on Christmas Eve. Ho ho ho.
We ended up getting the Lego Star Wars calendar instead, which is awesome except that it’s not particularly Christmassy (though you do get a Yoda dressed as Santa at the end (that’s in continuity, right?)) and it cost an unbelievable $40 because of the licensing fees (it’s like $10 more than the normal calendar).
This is par for the course in old Legoland now. Outside of the Movie tie-ins (Star Wars and Harry Potter being the marquee products, Pirates of the Caribbean and (inexplicably) Prince of Persia holding up the rear), they’ve created a series of in-house brands like Ninjago, Atlantis, and Alien Conquest that hew pretty closely to the spaceships-n-guns success they found with Lego Star Wars. Ninjago goes the extra mile, with a spin-off DVD series.
Lego City, the one readily available (read: you can go to Target to buy it) Lego series that hasn’t traditionally hewn to the ships-n-guns model has gone deep on cops and robbers this year.
Look: I will fully admit that these sets are really, really cool. My son is getting a gigantic Millenium Falcon set from Santa this year (DON’T TELL) and both my wife and I are excited to play with it too.
But it’s a model kit. We will put it together once and we will play with it a lot and that will be that. It won’t get remixed, won’t get hacked. Eventually it’ll come apart and be put away and not rebuilt because 1000 pieces is a pain in the ass.
The reality is that the unisex, open-ended, building and imaginative creation sets that my peers normally associate with Lego are gone. Look at this ad
That ad is remarkable for two reasons: First, it presents Legos as a playset where you can just make stuff, and it revels in it. But even more remarkable is that it features a girl holding Legos. I seriously can not remember the last time I saw a Lego marketing image of a girl holding their product. The girls in my son’s first-grade class? Only the tomboys play Lego—all the rest “used to.”
Legos are still held up as a gateway to engineering and science, and despite my misgivings about the current state of their kits, I still believe they are (I bought my son a Mindstorms kit with my book advance). But if they’ve become toys marketed to a single gender, then we’re just reproducing the already awful gender imbalance in STEM education and employment.
Oh wait: Today NPR says “With New Toys, Lego Hopes To Build Girls Market.”
“The new Lego girl minifigures have names like Stephanie, Olivia, and Emma, and the building sets include a veterinary clinic, a hairdressing salon, a horse academy and a clinic.”
Oh. Dear. God.
I don’t want Lego to end up like Nerf (Don’t. Get. Me. Started.), I DO want it to be a great thing for every kind of kid. But right now it’s not. And that makes me depressed and uncomfortable.
PS. As usual Omar says it best.
Today’s selected features from the broadcast include an interview with The Guardian’s Hugh Muir who speaks with Marco about the Lawrence case in Britain and race relations in the UK.
We also have a conversation about why China is clamping down on “entertainment” programming, an effort to get conflict-free iPhones and a move to focus on the “mouth-to-mouth” part of CPR (with a song that you’ll be singing for the rest of the day).
The daily selected features is something we are experimenting with. Like it? Can it be improved?
Amilcar Cabral (1924–1973), an agronomist and Marxist nationalist, led the fight against Portuguese colonial rule in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. At the head of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (PAIGC), which he co-founded in 1956, Cabral launched a guerrilla war in 1963.
The independence movement was supported by Kwame Nkrumah and the U.S.S.R. In January 1973, Cabral was assassinated in Conakry, Guinea, by a former rival in the PAIGC at the instigation of the Portuguese authorities. Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde declared their independence in 1974, and Luis Cabral, Amilcar’s half-brother, became the first president of Guinea-Bissau.
For more information, visit www.africanaage.org
dld:
- - The smartphone penetration in UE5 (France, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain) is 42% when it’s only 39% in the United States
- - In 2011, the share for Android Operating System grew by 330%
- - However, Apple still has the biggest share of traffic with 30% in the UE5.
- - 75% of smartphone owners used mobile media in 2011.
- - Only 5% of the whole EU5 Internet traffic comes from mobile devices
- - There is a rise of mobile retail usage.
- - Germany was the fastest growing mobile retail market accross the EU5; +112% in 2011
- - Mobile payment: 20% of smartphone users have accessed bank accounts from their mobile. 11% accessed shopping guide
- - NFC contactless payment are causing the shifting marketing budget. Traditional players are on the losing side.
Facts courtesy of Veit Siegenheim from StrategyFacts, René Schuster from Telefónica Germany and Linda Abraham from comScore.
A group of veterans poses at the Bushnell General Military Hospital in Brigham City.
The practice of institutionalization began in the mid-1800s in the United States. People with intellectual disabilities would often live out their lives in a facility. Children with intellectual and other disabilities learned skills in special schools which may or may not have been residential.
The role of institutions for people with disabilities has evolved over the years, as “special” schools and programs fell out of favor. In some highly publicized national cases, they became havens of neglect. They also segregated people with disabilities.
Families advocated for options that would allow their children to get an education close to home. Today residential institutions are mostly reserved for people who are medically fragile or severely disabled.
1884: The Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind begins serving students with sensory impairments throughout Utah for over 100 years. The schools began in 1884 by the Territorial Legislature after a message from Governor Eli Murray which emphasized the need for a school for the deaf. Twelve years later in 1896, as Utah attained statehood, the members of the Constitutional Convention created the school for the blind.
1885: The Utah State Hospital started with a mission that remains unchanged: to treat people with mental illness and return them to a normal level of functioning. In the 1950s it served more than 1500 patients. In 1969 community mental health centers took over the role of primary service provider. Today the state hospital’s 324 beds are reserved for people who need a more structured setting.
1938: The Utah State Developmental Center (formerly the Utah State Training School) was established on the outskirts of American Fork. The campus has been home for up to 1200 individuals at one time. Currently it serves 235 people, most of whom have severe mental and physical disabilities, and many of whom are medically fragile.
1942-1946: Bushnell General Military Hospital offered rehabilitation to World War II veterans. It specialized in treating amputations. The veterans lived on-site and their families often stayed in Brigham City to be with them, sometimes renting out rooms from the locals.
1972-present: The Center for Persons with Disabilities (then the Exceptional Child Center) began holding special education classes when it opened. Beginning in the mid-1980s those classrooms were phased out, and the school districts assumed the responsibility of educating school-aged children with disabilities in Cache County. The CPD’s Up to 3 and Project PEER programs continue to provide services to very young children and adults with disabilities ages 18 to 21.
photo by Corinne Arndt Girouard
The Daughters of Dartmouth find the 2011-2012 academic year to be one of the most momentous in the history of Dartmouth College. Forty years ago, the first female students matriculated to Dartmouth College. This year’s anniversary of coeducation demands reflection, celebration, and pride. While this milestone has escaped the attention of many, for others the contributions made by our distinguished alumnae to our College, our country, and our world are far from unrecognized. We, the Daughters of Dartmouth, are unwavering in our sincerest admiration for this phenomenal body of alumnae, and for the diverse experiences they represent in the history of coeducation at our College. To the past, present, and future sons and daughters of Dartmouth: this letter is for you. Forty years have come and gone, and the time has come for us to develop a strong and enduring structure that will serve the interest and welfare of our Daughters, as well as the larger campus community.
We are not the first effort to seek the creation of an official alumnae network, but we are determined to be the last. It is time for this aspiration to become a reality. The combination of student turnover and bureaucratic inertia has thus far yielded nothing but perennial, undirected support for the project. In order for us to succeed together, we must move beyond repeating the mistakes of the past; we must have leaders and advocates on every front. It is time for alumnae, undergraduate students, and College administrators to unite behind a universally beneficial project.
Our vision of this group is drawn from the works of other groups that have gone before us, such as the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association (BADA) and Dartmouth Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Alumni Association (DGALA), who have successfully petitioned the College to recognize their community’s need for an organized forum. We hope that a women’s alumnae group will facilitate greater communication between alumnae to connect regionally and on the basis of other interests, as well as give undergraduates and alumnae greater opportunities to connect through mentorship programs. Ultimately, the ability to organize and articulate the priorities of Dartmouth’s alumnae will strengthen our ability to shape the future of the College. For the first time, with the creation of this group, the full concentration of alumnae potential will be brought to bear through enhanced development efforts and streamlined coalition-building.
We have reached a critical point in the history of coeducation at Dartmouth. We owe it to current and future alumnae, as well as to the institution that binds us, to recognize the untapped potential of our female community. It is time to move forward with the creation of an official alumnae network.
It is with great humility that we, upperclassmen women united by a common goal, ask you to assist us in bringing this ambition closer to a reality.
We hope to hear from you soon.
===========================================================
This letter was written collaboratively by several dozen upperclassmen women and recent alumnae including:
Afia Obeng ‘12, Amy Stanesco ‘11, Ana Bowens ‘12, Anastassia Radeva ‘12, Angela Zhang ‘12, Anna Villarruel ‘12, Carla Castillo ‘11, Charlyn Brea ‘12, Chelsea Perfect ‘12, Christine Goldrick ‘11, Claire Hunter ‘12, Dallis Fox ‘11, Danielle Levin ‘12, Deanna Portero ‘12, Elizabeth Parker ‘12, Emma Routhier ‘12, Emily Liu ‘12, Emily Carian ‘11, Jamila Ma ‘12, Jyotsna Ghosh ‘12, Hannah Jeton ‘12, Hikaru Yamagishi ‘12, Karen Orrick ‘11, Kathleen Mayer ‘11, Katie Lindsay ‘11, Leah Scrivener ‘11, Maria Carolan ‘12, Mayuka Kowaguchi ‘11, Meagan Leddy-Cecere ‘12, Mia Jessup ‘12, Ryan Trimble ‘12, Sapna Chemplavil ‘11, Suzanne Kelson ‘12, Shan Williams ‘12, Sophie Novack ‘11, Stephanie Takeuchi ‘12, Sydney Schmus ‘12
Additional Signers:
To be added please email us. This list will be updated periodically.
Abigail Macias ‘14
Adam Kaplan ‘12
Alexandra Schindler ‘11
Ali Procopio ‘13
Ali Tercek ‘11
Alison Reed ‘06
Allison Bosch ‘13
Amanda E. Duchesne ‘13
Amanda Keton ‘00
Amanda Rosenblum ‘07
Amrita Sankar ‘12
Ana Sofia De Brito ‘12
Andrea Jaresova ‘12
Angelo Carino ‘11
Anna Leah ‘13
Anna Nearburg ‘10
Anna Wearn ‘12
Archana Ramanujam ‘14
Ariel Murphy ‘12
Becca Boswell ‘10
Bianca Cloutier ‘09
Blair Bandeen ‘12
Blythe George ‘12
Caitlin Ardrey ‘13
Caitlin Boucher ‘10
Camila Hernandez ‘14
Camilla Rothenberg ‘13
Campbell Sechrest ‘14
Caroline Brandt ‘09
Charlie Governali ‘12
Charnice Barbour ‘10, TH’12
Chelsea Stewart ‘12
Chinedu Udeh ‘12
Christian Brandt ‘12
Claire Dugan ‘12
Claire Frazer ‘10
Clare Fortune-Agan ‘09
Concetta Lowery ‘10
Cory Kendrick ‘11
Courtney Davis ‘09 Tuck ‘11
Cynthia Akagbosu ‘11
Cyra Kang ‘11
Dana Daugherty ‘10
Daniel Whalen Jr. ‘12
Danielle Benware Thompson ‘97 MS ‘98
Davide Savenije ‘12
Devon Zimmerling ‘11
Diana Jih ‘09
Dulce Shultz ‘09
Do-Hee Kim ‘12
Edie Stuart ‘11
Eli Raphael ‘13
Elise Krieger ‘08
Elise Wilkes ‘12
Elizabeth Wilder Young ‘02
Eliza Relman ‘13
Ellian Liche ‘14
Emery Coxe ‘12
Emily Blackmer ‘13
Emily Bengtson ‘10
Emily Broas ‘11
Emily Huang ‘09
Emily Mason-Osann TH
Emily Unger ‘11
Emma Clement ‘10
Erin Jaeger ‘11
Erin Klein ‘13
Erin McDonald ‘09
Erin Weldon ‘15
Felicia Schwartz ‘14
Frederica Helmiere ‘04
Furaha Mushingi ‘09
Gabrielle Santa-Donato ‘09
Grace Tiedemann ‘12
Gretchen Gehrke ‘05
Grey Cusack ‘11
Haley Bolin Shellito ‘08
Heather Luther ‘09
Heather Reiley ‘12
Heidi Reich ‘89
Hillary Krutt ‘12
Hilary Spalding Fischer ‘80
Isabel Casariego Bober ‘04
Jane Kelson
Janet Kim ‘13
Jasmine Kumalah ‘12
Javed Jaghai ‘12
Jenna Musco ‘11
Jennifer Jaco ‘13
Jess Klaric ‘09
Jesse Moya ‘06
Jessica Morey 02
Jiwon Choi ‘13
Jordan Sedlacek ‘09
Julia Floberg ‘11
Julia Pinover ‘02
Julia Sooy ‘12
Karen Afre ‘12
Karen Iorio ‘10
Karenina Rojas ‘13
Kashay Sanders ‘11
Kate Thorstad ‘14
Katie Frett ‘05
Katy Briggs ‘10
Katherine Lindzey ‘13
Katherine Peck ‘12
Kathleen Cunningham ‘13
Kathleen Wallace ‘11
Kathryn Fay ‘09
Kayasha Lyons ‘12
Kellie MacPhee ‘14
Kelly M. Bonnevie ‘87
Kelly Erickson ‘11
Kelly Kennedy ´13
Kelly McGlinchey ‘12
Kimmy Paluch ‘04
Kiva R Wilson ‘04
Kristin Breiseth ‘89
Krista Oehlke ‘13
Krista Sande-Kerback ‘05
Kurt Prescott ‘12
Laura Andreae ‘10
Laura A. Hempel ‘12
Laura Kier ‘12
Lauren Foley ‘03
Laurie Woodman ‘11
Lavinia M. Weizel ‘04
Leah Feiger ‘14
Libbey Brown ‘10
Lisa Chau ‘06
Liz Salesky ‘12
Lou-Lou Igbokwe ‘10
Mackenzie Bohannon ‘14
Malia Reeves ‘12
Mary Ann McDonald Carolan ‘80
Mary Cipollone ‘02
Mary E. Cromwell ‘12
Mary Rockwell ‘11
Matt Cloyd ‘11
Meeta Prakash ‘13
Meg Heisler ‘14
Meg Houston Maker ‘87 MALS ‘11
Michelle Earhart ‘12
Michelle VanTieghem ‘12
Moira Scanlon ‘12
Molly Grear ‘11
Murktarat Yussuff ‘12
Nela Suka ‘04
Olivia Baptista ‘12
Olivia Sacks ‘11
Olivia A Stalcup ‘10
Paige Wilson ‘14
Patricia Barros ‘13
Patricia Berry ‘81
Rachel Rosenberg ‘13
Rebecca Powell ‘12
Robert Steinbock ‘14
Rohail Premjee ‘14
Ryan Dieringer ‘09
S. Caroline Kerr ‘05
Sage Dalton ‘12
Sarah Kler ‘12
Sarah Knapp ‘14
Sarah Rutter ‘13
Sarah Stone ‘13
Sarah Wildes ‘13
Semarley Jarrett ‘14
Sharon Zhang ‘13
Shivani Bhatia ‘13
Silvia Ferreira ‘09
Simone Greenleaf ‘12
Steffi Ostrowski ‘14
Stewart Towle ‘12
Stephanie Wolf ‘12
Sue Kahil ‘80
Susan Kepes ‘78
Tanisha Panditharatne ‘13
Tyler Frisbee ‘08
Uthman W. Olagoke ‘12
Vanessa Vega ‘05
Virginia Aprahamian ‘11
Yaa F. Obeng-Aduasare ‘10
Zainep Mahmoud ‘08
Ladies and gents, fellow humans — presenting Pixelfari, a pixely, 8-bitty version of everyone’s favorite browser. Enjoy chunky fonts, blocky graphics, and a general sense of giddy inefficiency. Spearheaded by yours truly and developed by a very clever friend. Free+fun!
Some photos from our excursion to prospect park!
Bismarck, ND
Cormac M. | Author | Lost in the chaparral, NM
One Star.
Wallace and old man Tucker sat the horses and watched the cattle cropping the tallgrass on the rincon blazed amber by the shallow and palegold morning sun. The horses pricked their ears in unison and soon Madison pulled up in the battered Ford. He stepped out in new boots and carrying a small paper cup. He said good morning to the others. Wallace turned to look at him but Tucker kept his eyes on the cattle.
What’s that, said Wallace.
What.
The cup.
This here’s a latté.
A what?
A deluxe coffee, Wallace. Four dollars of brown gold.
Wallace leaned down and grabbed the cup from Madison’s hand and took a drink. He spat it out. Goddamn, he said. Tastes like a pregnant mare’s urine.
No it dont. Give it here.
Wallace wiped his face with his arm. Tastes like spent cartridges in a pickle jar.
Come on now. It aint that bad.
Wallace leaned and offered the cup to Tucker. You try it, he said.
Tucker let the bridlereins rest on the pommel and holding the cup two handed took a drink. He handed the cup back to Wallace and continued looking at the cattle and the shimmering grass and the mountains knifing into the blue canopy above. Wallace and Madison waited but the older man sat there for a while and said nothing.
Well go on, what’s it taste like, said Madison.
Tucker leaned from the saddle and spat in the tallgrass. Tastes like snake venom, he said.
How do you know?
Was a time I had to suck the venom from a person very dear to me who was snakebit. That’s how I come to taste it.
What happened to them.
Her, he said. The old man dug his heels into the bay and they headed upcountry toward the cattle rivering the meadow, the horse pluming great steaming breaths in the chill morning air and the younger men watching in silence.
