Mentalechoes

That’s my catch cry these days, and something I’ve said more than a couple of times in the last few weeks since we started the roll out of our new media service to the world at the web media startup I work for. It’s been a pretty intense time, definitely the most intense time in my work life so far, but then, this is definitely the company with the biggest vision and biggest dreams I’ve ever worked for too.

Working in a web startup though is anything but orderly and by the numbers. I won’t go into a technical rant on software development and time-to-market cycles for web services but imagine this, if I was working for a construction company that built four bedroom houses, it would take us nine months to build that house, we’d do it without using plans, but more napkin drawings and scratches in the dirt. The team that would build it wouldn’t actually be one team, but more groups of individuals that you can only work out who’s doing what by seeing who’s huddled into a gang and yelling at another gang. If you try to ask what someone is doing in his group, you’d be told to STFU and GTFO. We’d deliver you a house that we knew leaked when it rained, and half the electricity points wouldn’t have any power, and you would have no idea how to flush the toilet, but we would smile and pat you on the back and tell you we worked very hard on it, and we’ll fix those problems as quick as we can AND give you some cool new stuff when we do. You thought you would get a house with a nice green lawn, and a trampoline in the back, with a gas barbequeue under a patio. Instead we gave you astroturf that’s orange, with a hole in the ground for a hangi that’s under a circus tent marquee that looks modelled off Joseph’s technicolour dreamcoat. Even though you might try to argue that’s not quite right, we’ll tell you it’s fantastic, and much better than your neighbour who has no taste, style or sense!

If you thought all these cool web services that you use and get enjoyment from were made by well oiled technology companies that knew what they were doing, then you’ve been taken in by the bling bling of the shiney web sites they have. Most of the time these web companies are putting stuff together by the seat of their pants, making decisions in meetings that would remind you of the way a group of 8 year old kids decide who their best friends for that day are. The fact that anything works on the web absolutely amazes me, and just goes to show how productive children can be when they put their hugely intelligent minds to it.

Having said that though, it is hugely fun, and there is a real sense for me of redefining the models of how content is distributed to consumers. This is more than just working on a gimmik of the day, but instead is about being part of a very special time and place that is influencing the biggest paradigm shift in media content distribution since the invention of the television. In twenty years time when we all take for granted our wall sized televisions taking real time feeds of content covering every genre that we’ve put into our personalised aggregators, and interacting with social groups around content. That will be because of the work and vision of the people – me being one of them – enabling change. It’s going to be a very exciting time the next couple of years, so make sure to stay close to your internet enabled devices!

Andy.