Creativity and the Startup

Worked on two creative projects today, both in line with the needs of the startup, and feel great about it.

First, my colleague Camille and I discussed how she can evolve our monthly newsletter to maximise reach and impact, and to have fun creating each one. Together we came up with some great ideas about starting with an iconic image/photo for readers to look forward to, and to compile the spoken version of the newsletter into a video with watch-worthy visuals.

Second, I spent part of my evening writing an "Owl-iday Special" which is an annual tradition we started in 2017. I managed to bang out nearly twenty verses of prose in rhyming Christmas classic fashion. A combo of nerdiness, philosophy and tech trends with a humanistic touch. What a delight!

I recognise that the ability to mix creativity with work so fluidly is something I cherish. I don't think most workplaces, startup or otherwise, would value and encourage this as highly as I do. This aspect of my startup life is very positive and healthy.

Reminiscing about last year's epic rail journey

Last year today I embarked on an epic rail journey from Montreal to Chicago via Vancouver and Seattle. This time of the year is pretty much the only time I can completely escape startup life (and Internet connectivity), and a year ago I seized the opportunity to do something I'd been dreaming of since childhood: take "The Canadian" across Canada. Sat down with a beer and watched my videos from that trip (see playlists below) which brought back very fond memories not only of the trip itself, but also of Startical 1.0 which involved a similarly ridiculous Montreal to San Francisco rail journey. The playlists: "The Canadian" - Toronto to Vancouver by rail "The Empire Builder" - Seattle to Chicago by rail Also reminds me of my Rails and Reels: History, Infrastructure and the IoT blog post from 2013, just after we had become "World's Best Startup". Somehow rail journeys bring out the philosopher in me...

Office painting continued

There was fugly wallpaper on BOTH of those walls... ...the last to (soon) be painted white. Only just today realised that our new office, which is on the corner of Sherbrooke and Parc streets (Parc is French for Park) could cheekily be called PARC. XEROX PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) is effectively the birthplace of much of the core technologies we continue to use today (tablet computers, graphical user interfaces, mice, object-oriented programming...). See this reelyActive blog post . I've been calling the office Sharc to date, but PARC is not only awesome, but also fitting since the intent is to use it as a living lab and showcase of all the emerging tech we have developed and continue to develop. It may seem silly, but this is the highlight of my day and unbelievably motivating!

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