First Comes The Dream

chriskurdziel:

Last Thursday night I had the incredible opportunity to see Neil DeGrasse Tyson speak at the Hayden planetarium here in New York about brining STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) to more people and making it a deeper part of our culture. The theme of the event was “First Comes the Dream.” 



One of my favorite comments of the night was when Neil remarked:

“the extent to which entertainment reaches for the lowest mental acuity is an indication we are not reaching high enough.”  

I agree completely.

Neil went on to advocate for pop culture as an effective tool to bring people into real education and I got to thinking about how this dovetails pretty nicely with some of our goals at Shelby.  

We strongly believe in the power of the internet to surface content that does reach high enough (in part because discovery driven by the user). While a video of a wolf playing with a bear might just be written off as cute to some, it can also act as inspiration for those that want to understand more than they see in the video. When such a video is presented in a collection of video about nature and science, it acts as an entry point that then engages the viewer in something more meaningful for the rest of their viewing session.  In addition, the experience of Internet video is not just about the content itself - it’s also about the community and discussion that happens around this video and engages people even more (I’m looking at you, Reddit).

Read more…

What do startups and ping pong have in common?

They require lots of balls? Nope. Chuck Testa? Nope x2.

It’s not exactly a secret that our team here at Shelby has been growing lately. As we scale, it’s really important for us to keep the tight knit vibe that has become such a hallmark of our corporate culture.  There’s really been no better way to do that than through one of the time-honored traditions that began during our time in Techstars: the post-lunch ping pong doubles match in our supremely awesome turf room (no shoes allowed).

So why is ping pong so awesome and why should every startup do something like this?

1) It breaks up the day, keeps energy high, and is FUN.  It’s easy to feel a bit lethargic after slamming down a Dos Toros burrito (guac it out!) for lunch, so ping pong is a great way for us to move around and settle into the afternoon without passing out and drooling burrito slime on our keyboards.

2) Anyone can learn & anyone can win.  It doesn’t matter how big (or small) you are or how good you normally are.  Obviously practice and hard work go a long way toward increasing chances of winning, but there are so many serendipitous elements of the game that can lead to a victory or loss.  This is a good reminder of the many elements of startup life that you can’t control.  Being able to handle these things and react to them constructively (on the ping pong table and in the startup world) is really important.  New to ping pong? Well that’s okay, because you can learn really quickly.  Hustle on the ping pong table translates pretty well to hustle in the startup game.

3) It’s a great way to build a team. We have a really open and transparent culture at Shelby and I think in terms of that, ping pong is the perfect game for us. After a long product meeting or tough problem solving discussion, a game of ping pong does wonders for deepening the sense of camaraderie we have as a team.  The shared sense of victory (and defeat) that come in doubles matches are a great way to remind us how much fun it is to work with each other.

4) It’s a great way to practice sportsmanship.  While sportsmanship is commonly associated with “sports,” I think it’s a much more broad concept than that.  I think sportsmanship closely mirrors not only the way we feel about ping pong, but about entrepreneurship and startups in general.  It’s no surprise that we want to win, but everyone on the team enjoys ups and downs of the process. Whether our ping pong games end in a blowout or in “overtime,” we end every game with handshakes and an exchange of “good game.”

So there you have it. Justification for our 300 sq feet of turf and ping pong table. It’s not a time suck or a frivolous startup expense.  It’s the delicious guacamole on top of the burrito that is Shelby.tv.  With that, I’ll leave you with the best ping pong shots of 2011:

-Chris

PS: If this whole “ping pong & startups” thing sounds like fun to you, you should probably drop us a line because we’re hiring.

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