March 2, 2022 • 32 mins
Agenda:
- John dictated that to solve the Creative and Tech team conflict, Thea and Matt should do a “Freaky Friday” (idea came from The Hard Thing about Hard Things) and switch places
Takeaways:
- Thea and Matt can, shockingly, switch back 2.5 days ahead of schedule
- Matt to work on getting new iPads for the Creative team
- Someone to call Verizon about the bonfire by their trucks
- Matt and Thea to start whiskey swaps
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ben (00:07):
welcome to this startup is being recorded.
This recording is improvisedfiction.
Similarities between it and thereal world are entirely
intentional.
Now enjoy the recording.
Kate (00:23):
okay.
Um, the recording is on.
Um, let's just jump right intoit.
So, well, I guess I shouldexplain this situation for any
anyone listening.
Eric (00:32):
a good idea.
Kate (00:34):
Yeah, it's so easy to explain.
Um, last week, obviously, when Imet with John, he has spent
reading, uh, the hard thingabout hard things, because he
feels like he's a very involvedCEO and wants to get, become
better at his job, which, youknow, I admire him for.
But anyway, he heard ourrecording from last week.
(00:54):
He heard about all theconflicts.
Creative and tech, and hethought that this freaky Friday
thing of this book was the bestway to solve it.
Um, so you know, Matt and Thea,he made you to switch places for
a week and we're now like what Tminus two and a half days into
the switch.
Uh, and
Matt (01:13):
would be T plus,
Kate (01:15):
sorry.
Matt (01:16):
know, it's.
Kate (01:18):
Yeah, it's okay.
T plus two and a half days andwe eat.
Yeah, the website is like havingserious problems.
Um, the branding strategyprogress is like way off track.
I don't think we're going to getdone by this
Matt (01:34):
Uh, we don't know for sure that it's off track.
I just want to say I have verylittle visibility into it.
It could be happening out of,you know, my ability to see it.
Well, we'll talk.
Kate (01:45):
okay.
Well, yeah.
Anyway, um, let's do, let's dointerest super quick.
Okay.
I'm Kate, this has set thiscompany.
We're a couch marketplace.
When we went, our website hasthe ability to tell couches,
which is like not right now,chief of staff.
Thea (02:00):
I'm the chief creatives are, or was I.
Kate (02:05):
What are you today?
Thea (02:06):
here.
Kate (02:08):
Just here.
That's what Matt's job normallyis.
Thea (02:11):
No, I, I guess I am the CTO right now.
Is that what I'm supposed tosay?
Matt (02:17):
Yep.
Kate (02:18):
I think so.
Eric (02:20):
I'm Eric, Troy Carter.
Um, no, we're just going to keepgoing.
I'm Eric Carter.
I'm the chief product officer atCIT, and I feel like the son of
divorced parents.
Matt (02:31):
uh, I am matt.yachts.
Uh, that's also my website and Iam the czar pro tem of the
creative team here at CIT, uh,formerly CTO once and future C T
O.
Kate (02:47):
yeah.
Anyway.
Okay.
Can someone give me, give us anupdate though?
I think the most pressing thingis, is the website, the website,
like the orders.
It seems like one out of every10 orders is even getting
through.
T a what is going on?
Thea (03:03):
It's a mess.
Um, I feel like this has nothelped, uh, my relationship with
Matt's team in any, if anything,it is just intensified our rage
towards each other.
Um, we are right now, not evenlooking at each other, um, which
(03:24):
is not helpful because Matt, Iwill say that.
Deep appreciation for youbecause the challenges you face
are numerous and real.
Um, just, uh, feels like thereis just a constant spray of
bullets and those bullets areproblems with our old code and,
Matt (03:46):
Oh, yeah.
Thea (03:46):
my God, the security issues.
I mean,
Kate (03:50):
What have we had a security breach this week,
Thea (03:54):
What week have we not had a security breach?
Kate (03:57):
but
Matt (03:58):
Oh, they probably put you, uh, on the Pedro system for when
we get automatic, uh, that'slive on the internet.
It's, it's open season frompenetration, testers and script
kitties, and folks that arelooking for issues.
Our firewall is verytemperamental and so, uh, we
pretty much get paged every timesomeone's looking, whether they
(04:19):
find something or not.
So.
Uh, yeah.
I'm sorry.
Thank got you.
Uh, there's a filter you can putto take out like 99% of that
stuff.
Cause it's all false positives.
Thea (04:30):
Yeah.
I mean, I've just that Patriothas been going off at all times
during my yoga class, during mymorning meditations, during my
usual bowls.
I mean, eighties, it isnon-stop.
Matt (04:45):
Yeah, I, uh, I don't know what to say.
I tried to leave instructions,uh, and let them know, like,
this is temporary and it's notsomething that we want.
It's not something I wanted orthat you wanted.
Uh, and if they could just powerthrough, I mean, even just
following, you know, ourroutines and not taking on new
projects for a week, the teamshould have been able to keep it
(05:06):
together.
Uh, I chalk it up to a lack ofemotional Mitchell.
Kate (05:11):
so Thea is this, is this a new project they're trying to
deploy a new project orsomething, and that's why the
website's not working.
I mean, what could possibly beon the roadmap right now that
needs to be done to this.
Eric (05:22):
I, I couldn't tell you that the two teams have started
waging a ticket war.
JIRA instance.
And so there's all the actualcontent and the roadmap is
scattered and it's just
Matt (05:33):
oh wait, is this, is this web versus mobile going at it
again?
Eric (05:36):
no, no, this is, this is marketing and creative versus
all of engineering, but thereare 74,000 JIRA tickets that
have been created in the lastthree days,
Matt (05:48):
Oh, sorry.
That might be important.
Can you tell me exactly thenumber 74,000
Eric (05:53):
74,536.
Matt (05:56):
before 5 36.
Okay.
Okay.
I need to do some math.
Um, that's helpful.
I'm sorry.
Thea (06:04):
No, no.
It's okay.
Um, yeah, I, so as far as Iknow, there are no new projects
that were supposed to behappening, but, uh, Matt's team
is working very hard and acompletely shut me out when I
ask what it is.
Um, I've tried.
Everything.
I've to provide them food.
(06:26):
I have tried to provide themwith loving kindness.
Um, I've tried to provide themwith lesser vices.
Um, really anything I could do.
I mean, I usually don't resortto bribing people for love and
just project, my best self.
(06:47):
But, this is it's a new level.
Matt (06:52):
Kathy.
I don't know if we want to tryand like go into the weeds on
problem solving this right now,but, um, have you tried.
Um, embarrassing them with theirignorance.
They usually respond to thatreally well.
Um, because their domain is thecode that they work with, the
systems, uh, and maths that theydeal with every day.
(07:14):
And, um, whenever they stepoutside of that, uh, it's
usually pretty easy to stingthem and send them right back to
work.
So if, if folks are, uh, takingthe piss, um, Uh, find their
online accounts, uh, bring upsomething about the, you know,
the outfit that they posed inover the weekend, or take that
(07:36):
they had about a, a movie thatwas very mainstream.
Um, I think like you'reparticularly well equipped, uh,
to cut them down, uh, and, uh,give them to respect you.
I mean, out of, at least foryou,
Thea (07:50):
this is brilliant.
I, I, should've just gone fromthe tactic of emotional sabotage
from the very beginning.
This is, um, this is so good.
Really good for me.
And, and I am, I am great atdigging up things on other
people on the internet.
I mean, it's what got me where Iam today.
Eric (08:09):
That's true.
If you're ever like independencethough, or if somebody on your
team needs this, I have a box offake trivial pursuit cards in my
desk that have the wrong answersprinted on them.
And so you can just pull one ofthose out, ask them any question
and there's no chance they'llget it right.
And you can just drop them in.
Kate (08:27):
Well,
Thea (08:27):
that's, that's really great.
Um, I mean, I did have abreakthrough earlier this week,
um, particularly when they weretalking about the Chechnyan
military and something that Iknow a lot about.
So I do think I won over acouple of people with that.
Um, and so I think I just needto like really go down.
(08:49):
Talking about things that I knowI know better embarrassing them
in front of their peers.
Matt (08:58):
oh yeah.
In front of each other is reallygood.
I, um, I usually just kind of,you know, send a direct message
or something, kind of remindthem, uh, who's the boss.
Phew, do a good enough job infront of everyone.
Dressing down one person.
There'll be some knock oneffects.
So
Kate (09:17):
Does does that mean they've.
Thea (09:18):
actually, I I'm just everything that I've heard just
reminds me that I have to treatyour team.
Like they were a pack of Russianwools and.
Essentially do what I would doif I wanted to insinuate myself
as an AF alpha female and a packof brush and wolves.
Matt (09:39):
yeah, I mean, that study has been discredited so many
times in terms of how actualpacks and especially.
Human behavior is modeled, butmy team doesn't know that and
they tend to operate on theassumption that it's true.
So yeah, if you assertdominance, particularly over the
right people at the right time,um, they'll crack
Thea (10:01):
This is brilliant.
No, this is great.
I've I've had a lot ofexperience trying to insinuate
myself into Wolf packs and.
Do that here.
Um, Matt, how is it going withmy team?
Matt (10:16):
Um, it's hard to be sure.
Um, but I think I am close tofinding them,
Thea (10:26):
Have
Matt (10:26):
oh, I should catch you all up.
Sorry.
I've been, uh, I've beendeepened this notebook.
Um, when I got to your desk anddepartment, I found that many
things had been moved around.
Uh, many things have beendisappeared and among those
things was your team.
Uh, I thought this was, uh,maybe a protest.
They were going to come inlater.
(10:48):
Uh, but I checked in and theywere like working.
I saw them using our, you know,copies of Adobe products and,
uh, checking in files on thefile shares.
Um, so that was when I startedgoing through your desk.
Sorry.
Uh, and I found this marked upcopy of Jabberwock.
By Lewis, Carroll, uh, pepperedwith clues and, uh, and a little
(11:15):
kind of a taunting message.
Uh, basically like if I wantedto work with them, if they
wanted me, uh, if they, if they,if I want them to work with me,
really, uh, I would need to showthem that I have the creativity
to solve this puzzle and findthem.
Thea (11:37):
Uh, I am so sorry to that.
You have to deal with that.
Um,
Matt (11:41):
I have to tell you, like I'm having the time of my life,
Thea (11:44):
Oh, that's good.
I'm I'm happy to hear that.
Did you, did they take theTalkboy then that I left for
you?
Matt (11:51):
um, that I talked, boy, I didn't see,
Thea (11:54):
mean, I usually call them in, by, um, I created songs for
all of their names and I had atalk boy for you there
Matt (12:02):
uh,
Thea (12:04):
names, so you could call them in, but it makes sense that
if they don't want to be foundthat the
Matt (12:08):
Okay,
Thea (12:09):
is the talk boy.
Matt (12:11):
Yeah.
Remove the ability to, uh, to becalled in now.
That is really interesting.
Uh, okay.
That explains a lot of thesenumeric notations that are added
here.
Um, it's been so long since Ihad piano lessons.
Um, anyway, I'm, I'm starting topiece this together.
Okay.
(12:31):
So like the, the JIRA ticket.
Uh, if you add up, if you sum upthe digits on either end, uh,
you get 13 and then seven, fiveis in the middle.
So five and seven is 1213 inone.
So, uh, one which I think hashelped me unlock the first, uh,
(12:51):
the first clue in the firstparagraph.
Um,
Kate (12:56):
You're at the first clue in the first paragraph, it's
been two and a half days.
Matt (13:00):
been, I've been working in this back and forth.
Like, you know, you can't juststart at the top for a, this
kind of like escape room, puzzleroom, uh, thing.
So that one definitely is goingto be the key to others.
Oh, sorry.
Okay.
Kate (13:15):
I appreciate you're having fun, but, uh, we need to finish
our new rebranding this week.
And I understand what John askedyou to do was very poor timing.
But Monday there is a pressrelease that is going out with
our new name,
Matt (13:31):
yeah.
Kate (13:34):
CIT.
That is our new name, but.
Thea (13:36):
I mean, get it and I get that there are some mission
critical failures that arehappening right now, but what
John wanted us to do was gainempathy.
And I think we are both on theverge of a breakthrough with our
teams right now.
Kate (13:50):
the tech team has locked you out of the office, Thea and
Matt.
You haven't even interacted withanyone from the grade of team.
Matt (13:58):
oh, that's not true.
Uh, I forgot to say, um, thereis, there's a dead drop.
Uh, there are actually several,but we've been communicating by
dead drop.
So when I solve one of theclues, uh, I go leave it in
wherever the clue says.
I mean, that's how a lot ofthese puzzles work, uh, come
back at the pre appointed timeand there's usually another
(14:19):
puzzle.
Uh, I've been very pleased tosee, uh, examples of stuff that
they're working on.
And so, you know, I can't be ahundred percent sure what it's
going to come across, like, uh,on screen.
Uh, they've been using a lot oflike, um, what does that process
called when you like, uh, youknow, dip paper and T and, and
(14:40):
distress it to make it looklike, uh, like it's old
manuscript.
Thea (14:43):
Oh yeah.
I kind of like a form of likescreen printing almost,
Matt (14:47):
yeah, essentially I would like to think of it as like
ruining, uh, the paper, but, um,yeah, so I've seen, I have seen,
uh, some drafts.
I didn't bring them with mebecause the scrolls are, are
very large, but, um, I have beenprovided with scrolls of, uh,
Uh, trial art for a Bugsby underthe new name, under several
(15:08):
different options for, uh, whatSYT is an acronym for, um,
different treatments of SYTagain, colors are kind of hard
to work out cause it's goingkind of washed down and brown,
but, um, there's some stuffthere.
Uh, and as soon as I get theselast couple of pieces, the music
really helps I think.
(15:28):
Okay.
Thea (15:30):
and
Matt (15:30):
I think this could be a YouTube video, right?
Thea (15:32):
earlier, but they didn't realize that I can pick locks
like nobody's business.
And I think like watching me.
Unlock their shared office spaceand come in really has helped
form a foundation of respect.
And I think a couple more times,and like, we can really get to
get to a good place here.
Matt (15:54):
Do you just want to warn, um, don't let them lull you into
a sense of complacency with thelockbox.
Uh, let's just say, if you trythat in the server room, um, we
have, we have lock-inmechanisms, uh, and not all of
them are survivable.
So like kudos getting, gettinginto the office.
(16:17):
That's totally right.
And in fact, there are a handfulof, uh, resource cabinets around
that.
There that's the only way to getinto it, um, either because of
machismo or because the keys arelost, but.
Yeah.
Not, not all, uh, not all locksare meant to be picked if you,
if you take my meaning.
Thea (16:34):
at this is perfect.
I mean, there's not a booby trapI've met that I can't get
through.
And, and this seems to be like agreat way to, to show the way I
can survive situation.
Matt (16:48):
okay.
I think I'm getting okay.
This is M eight O I D P.
Q lowercase.
Q Y B L w.
Uh Califia whose, whose isbeyond the sea.
Bobby Darren's beyond the sea.
(17:09):
Who is that?
Thea (17:10):
oh,
Matt (17:15):
Okay.
Thea (17:15):
Yes.
Oh, that is so good.
Cause Josh really is working onthat press release and um, you
probably do need to talk to himsooner rather than later.
Matt (17:24):
okay.
And just, I just want to beclear it's Bobby Darren's
version.
It's not one of the covers,right?
Thea (17:29):
it is not the original French version.
It has to be Bobby Darin'sversion.
Matt (17:33):
Okay.
Kate (17:34):
this is working.
This is not Eric.
Can you help me out?
There's no one understand what'sgoing on right now.
We're free.
Eric (17:44):
I mean, I I'll be honest.
I've been enjoying, uh,learning, uh, you know, empathy
by osmosis.
It was describing chapter sevenof the book.
Um, feel like I'm really gettingto know my peer executives
really well through thisprocess, seeing how they solve
problems.
Uh, really the only thing that'sbothering me is the fact that
the turf war has on a proxy warwithin the parking lot.
(18:05):
So I had to park a mile away andwalk over.
But other than that, it's been.
Thea (18:13):
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Um, the creative team has beentaking over parking spaces for
a, and turning them into lots,um, specifically, you know, to
create some kind of private,private hiding space.
I, I assume that of them mightbe using some of those as a way
(18:33):
to hide.
Um, but I
Matt (18:35):
before you go into that.
I have, I have checked 95% ofthem.
Um, but I did it through arandom method, uh, which I'm now
realizing may have been the,that may have been the point I
was using Monte Carlo sampling.
Of course, there's nothinginspired about I'm sorry.
Y'all go ahead.
Thea (18:54):
that this has seemed to intensify the feud between our
two departments more than itassaulted.
But I, I think we are reallygetting to a place that like, we
get another day of this and, andwe might end this, right?
Yeah.
And for all, I mean, sometimeswith wars that you have to have
a big battle before you can cometo the table and do the peace
(19:14):
resolution, you know,
Kate (19:17):
I, I, I mean, that makes sense as a metaphor, but.
It's it's hard for me to rebukeany sort of war metaphor you
give Califia every single time,the war metaphor.
And how am I supposed to arguewith that?
Thea (19:32):
I know.
I, um, I'm sorry.
You know, I just came from alife, uh, and sometimes I fall
back.
But I, I do think that like, youknow, if you let me risk my life
to get into the server room, Ithink I can have that
breakthrough with Matt's team.
And I think we're going to be abetter company for it.
Matt (19:56):
I, and I think, I swear I'm like two puzzles.
From having at least 40% of thecreative team back.
And once I have them in, I thinkI've already figured out, like
we're going to do a nice singingbowl meditation.
We're going to do a sound bath.
I'm going to bring things to anice mellow and they'll be able
(20:19):
to bring the rest of the teamback in.
Meanwhile, the little drips anddrabs and crumbs that they've
been leaving in their secrethidey holes, uh, suggest to me
that they're taking the workseries.
And they still want to see setsucceed.
Kate (20:33):
listen, how long.
You know, frankly, I would likea little bit of a sidebar with
an Eric right now.
So how about you to each takethree minutes, break into the
server room, solve your twopuzzles.
Come back to us, let us know howthat went.
Matt (20:50):
if they were three minute puzzles, all right.
Kate (20:53):
I believe in you now that you figured out that the whole
fricking song thing.
Matt (20:58):
Kate do you think you could do a better job and in my
spot, do you want to
Kate (21:02):
no.
It's all
Matt (21:04):
Cause it sounds, it just sounds a little bit like,
Kate (21:06):
I know, I
Eric (21:07):
One switches one switch one time.
Thea (21:10):
Sorry, I'll be done in
Kate (21:11):
I'm freaking out, Eric.
I'm freaking out.
Eric (21:17):
It's a it's okay.
It's it's going to be fine.
This is what the book said wouldhappen.
It's not that it's following thepattern of the book.
Exactly.
Like you just said, it
Kate (21:26):
this is an important.
Eric (21:28):
and then it gets much worse and then it gets
imperceptibly bad and then iteither gets much better or it
explodes.
And I don't see.
It's not going to explode.
Kate (21:41):
I just don't I can't explode
Eric (21:44):
Can we just, we can't move the press conference.
Kate (21:48):
No, John scheduled it himself with his, his favorite
press secretary.
And it's.
Eric (21:56):
you got his
Kate (21:57):
he's going to be there.
Yeah, I know it doesn't
Eric (22:01):
Oh, wow.
Okay.
Well,
Kate (22:04):
just getting really involved.
All of a sudden everything andit's, it's somehow making things
worse.
Eric (22:10):
Yeah.
If I know, you know, if I knowCalifia and Matt, at this point
I protesting, this is only goingto make them dig in more.
If we just let them, I think youdid the exact right thing to let
them go off into their cornersand try and solve the problem.
I'm sure when they come back,that will pass through to
chapter nine, the empathyrevolution.
Kate (22:33):
The empathy revolution.
Eric (22:34):
it'll be.
Kate (22:36):
I just, I just worry about what book he's gonna read next,
you know, like, is there anythat you could just like
recommend to him that we knoware really have good ideas?
Eric (22:47):
I really do think we should try and get into his
Amazon recommendations and steerthem away from certain sectors.
he almost read Harry Potter oncethat was, that was really close.
Kate (22:59):
How far did he get, did he
Eric (23:00):
got to the sorting hat.
You remember the members,remember the sorting.
Kate (23:04):
That's right.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, no, we had, we had houses.
Oh, that was bad.
Eric (23:12):
had to update his browser to replace 40 different terms
and redirect them.
So he would never find moreHarry Potter content again.
Kate (23:21):
That's dope.
Uh, I think some people are soscarred from being named slither
in by that AI that we built
Eric (23:29):
Why, why is there smoke coming from.
Kate (23:33):
oh God.
Uh, uh, do you see fire?
Do you see fire?
Eric (23:40):
No, it's
Matt (23:41):
okay.
Folks.
Uh,
Eric (23:42):
smoke.
Matt (23:43):
good news, bad news.
Um, good news, uh, track downall of the creative team.
Uh, bad news.
They're not going to like me forit.
Um,
Kate (23:54):
How did you do it?
Matt (23:56):
Well, you see all that smoke in the parking lot.
Yeah.
I remote detonated a bunch oftheir work issued tools.
Kate (24:05):
What I thought you were going to solve the final puzzles
Matt (24:08):
Yeah, listen, I did this, I sang beyond the sea.
I brought in Josh and, uh, hemade fun of me for being too
much of a logical mind, tryingto puzzle it out.
Why wasn't I just intuiting?
And, uh, when I tried to ring upthe singing bowls and bring us
into a nice home, he was like,don't try to bring me into your
resonance frequency, man.
I'm doing my own thing.
Uh, and I kind of.
(24:30):
Okay.
So I used the backup credentialsthat I'm not supposed to have.
And I got back into my team'sstuff and I remote detonated all
of their team issued iPads.
And if they want to continueworking, they can come in.
That's the last message thatscrolled across their screens.
(24:50):
So, uh, yeah.
Good news.
Bad news there.
Kate (24:55):
Uh, okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Um, ho Thea.
Thea (25:03):
you put bees in the server room.
Matt (25:07):
Oh, God.
Yep.
They're technically paper wasps,but they swarm just like.
Thea (25:18):
Okay.
You know what?
I thought I could take anythingthat tea could have me, but he's
using mother nature.
get me.
Oh, I can't.
Matt (25:34):
we thought that would be the one thing no one would ever
expect.
Uh, and you know, in case of,uh, uh, like if their paper hive
caught fire, the Halon systemwill take them out and the fire
and anyone else who's.
Thea (25:47):
God.
Matt (25:48):
that at Califia
Kate (25:49):
Uh,
Thea (25:50):
I, I just, there's no way I can regain face in front of,
in front of your team now.
I mean,
Matt (25:57):
oh, that's not a hundred percent true.
Um,
Kate (26:00):
you do look like you have a lot.
Um, stings though.
I.
Thea (26:07):
I mean, I treat myself with Paula and all the time.
I think I'll be okay.
Matt (26:11):
uh, Kathy, when you left, did you close the door behind?
Thea (26:15):
No, I was running away from bees.
Matt (26:18):
Um, well, we might want to just stay in this room.
Uh, I released the secondary ofheads.
They're paper wasps.
Okay.
Um, there is one in cage andthere is one, uh, out of cage.
Uh, Amanda usually takes care ofit and, uh, it's open now.
Uh, I let them all know with atext from your.
(26:41):
Uh, that if they like be somuch, uh, they should enjoy
having them.
Uh, and then I sent a correctionfrom my own text message from my
own text account that said theirpaper wasps.
Um, anyway, they're loose, uh,mostly in, uh, Devin it, but,
uh, they will be wanderingthrough the building unless
someone manages to close thatdoor.
Kate (27:04):
so Devin, its offices are swarmed with wasps and, and all
of the iPads of the creativeteam have been promote detonated
and.
Matt (27:13):
Uh, only the latest ones issued by the company yet.
Kate (27:15):
Oh, my God.
Thea (27:17):
this might be a bridge.
Move on our parts.
You know, I think we tried tobring together our two teams
through mutual respect, but Ithink what they've learned is
fear from today.
Um, and, and that's an importantlesson.
Matt (27:36):
oh,
Eric (27:39):
Oh
Matt (27:39):
dev team emptying out into the parking lot.
Okay.
Kate (27:43):
Wait, that's where the that's where the creatives are.
Eric (27:46):
out
Matt (27:46):
it too.
Yeah, no, they're huddling.
Oh yeah.
Here comes the clot of wasps.
Oh
Kate (27:52):
Wasps hate smoke.
They won't go anywhere near,
Matt (27:57):
huddling around the teams are huddling together inside the
clouds of smoke to keep thewasps away.
Look at them.
Kate (28:05):
oh
Matt (28:06):
Yeah.
Use that, that brush will burnyet.
Eric (28:09):
the website's up?
Matt (28:12):
Is it?
Eric (28:13):
Yeah, look, check like on mobile.
Thea (28:16):
And, our press releases in our media center.
Eric (28:20):
This looks great.
Kate (28:22):
the JIRA ticket numbers going down by the hundreds every
second.
Matt (28:29):
All right.
Um, I guess empathy.
Eric (28:34):
We cannot tell John this worked.
Kate (28:36):
No, no, no, no.
Matt (28:38):
point.
Thea (28:38):
I think we stop at the bees and the fire and don't tell
him what happened afterwards.
Um,
Kate (28:45):
I agree.
I
Matt (28:46):
yeah.
We're we're good now, right?
Thea (28:50):
yeah, we're good.
Kate (28:52):
You can switch.
Matt (28:53):
Uh, I, I owe you to replace the, the whiskey I found
in your desk.
Thea (28:59):
Oh no, that's, fine.
Matt (29:01):
It just helps me with, when I do the logic puzzles, you
know, it's like sitting downwith the crossword on the
weekends.
It's nice.
Thea (29:09):
Yeah, it's really, it's really nice.
And the slight flavor of, uh,yaks urine, and it really helps
bring, make those
Matt (29:16):
Oh, that's what it is.
Yeah.
It's not quite earthy, but it'slike, it's biting.
Is that the right?
Thea (29:26):
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
Like I really became addicted tothat.
Uh, when I went to Nepal, itcomes in like a sword glass,
sword.
Really good stuff.
Matt (29:36):
nicely.
And I know I didn't recognizethat bottle at all.
Uh, if you want I'll I can bringyou a bottle from the server
room, you know, if you hadactually gone, uh, one cage down
in one cage over, uh, that's,uh, Good to keep my contraband.
Thea (29:52):
oh, well, we should just do some like whiskey treating in
the office sometime, you know,now that I know how to get into
the server room without alertingthe BS.
Kate (30:03):
Great.
Well, Honestly crisis resolved.
Um, I think you were right,Eric.
It just gets worse and worse andworse until it, it gets better.
Um, I think
Matt (30:16):
Oh, they've got quite a fire going now.
Eric (30:18):
Yeah.
Kate (30:19):
Oh my God.
Thea (30:20):
Wow.
Kate (30:21):
We're not supposed to be burning things in the parking
lot.
This is a shared parking lotwith the rest of the bills.
Matt (30:27):
you know, there's more of a.
Thea (30:28):
okay.
Matt (30:30):
I mean, that's what they,
Thea (30:31):
is that?
What are your guys with the.
Matt (30:34):
oh yeah.
Eric (30:36):
Look at that.
Thea (30:37):
Oh,
Kate (30:38):
Wow.
Eric (30:39):
kinda want to get down there,
Thea (30:41):
yeah,
Eric (30:41):
don't want to mess the vibe.
Matt (30:42):
Oh, uh, I hope somebody lets the utility company know
that their trucks are awfullyclose to this bonfire.
Kate (30:49):
I've got to do that.
Okay.
Well, yeah, you all decide ifyou want to party, you're not
ruin the party, but.
It seems
Matt (30:58):
am I have?
They're fun.
I mean, yeah.
Let's, let's tell Verizon thattheir trucks are
Kate (31:03):
Yeah.
Thea (31:04):
Yeah.
Kate (31:05):
Yeah.
Thea (31:06):
just him know.
Kate (31:08):
What I'm having.
Okay.
Well, I'll stop the recording.
Um, we'll hope John, doesn'tlisten to this one and, uh, I
guess.
Let's get it done, guys.
Let's get what we needed to getdone this week.
Thea (31:27):
Yeah.
Ben (31:29):
This meeting has ended.
To subscribe to this startup isbeing recorded.
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(31:50):
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Find him by his name onLinkedIn, where he holds regular
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Matt is played by MartinMcguire.
(32:11):
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And she does mean all at rsteggythank you for listening.
welcome to this startup is being recorded.
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Similarities between it and thereal world are entirely
intentional.
Now enjoy the recording.
Kate (00:23):
okay.
Um, the recording is on.
Um, let's just jump right intoit.
So, well, I guess I shouldexplain this situation for any
anyone listening.
Eric (00:32):
a good idea.
Kate (00:34):
Yeah, it's so easy to explain.
Um, last week, obviously, when Imet with John, he has spent
reading, uh, the hard thingabout hard things, because he
feels like he's a very involvedCEO and wants to get, become
better at his job, which, youknow, I admire him for.
But anyway, he heard ourrecording from last week.
(00:54):
He heard about all theconflicts.
Creative and tech, and hethought that this freaky Friday
thing of this book was the bestway to solve it.
Um, so you know, Matt and Thea,he made you to switch places for
a week and we're now like what Tminus two and a half days into
the switch.
Uh, and
Matt (01:13):
would be T plus,
Kate (01:15):
sorry.
Matt (01:16):
know, it's.
Kate (01:18):
Yeah, it's okay.
T plus two and a half days andwe eat.
Yeah, the website is like havingserious problems.
Um, the branding strategyprogress is like way off track.
I don't think we're going to getdone by this
Matt (01:34):
Uh, we don't know for sure that it's off track.
I just want to say I have verylittle visibility into it.
It could be happening out of,you know, my ability to see it.
Well, we'll talk.
Kate (01:45):
okay.
Well, yeah.
Anyway, um, let's do, let's dointerest super quick.
Okay.
I'm Kate, this has set thiscompany.
We're a couch marketplace.
When we went, our website hasthe ability to tell couches,
which is like not right now,chief of staff.
Thea (02:00):
I'm the chief creatives are, or was I.
Kate (02:05):
What are you today?
Thea (02:06):
here.
Kate (02:08):
Just here.
That's what Matt's job normallyis.
Thea (02:11):
No, I, I guess I am the CTO right now.
Is that what I'm supposed tosay?
Matt (02:17):
Yep.
Kate (02:18):
I think so.
Eric (02:20):
I'm Eric, Troy Carter.
Um, no, we're just going to keepgoing.
I'm Eric Carter.
I'm the chief product officer atCIT, and I feel like the son of
divorced parents.
Matt (02:31):
uh, I am matt.yachts.
Uh, that's also my website and Iam the czar pro tem of the
creative team here at CIT, uh,formerly CTO once and future C T
O.
Kate (02:47):
yeah.
Anyway.
Okay.
Can someone give me, give us anupdate though?
I think the most pressing thingis, is the website, the website,
like the orders.
It seems like one out of every10 orders is even getting
through.
T a what is going on?
Thea (03:03):
It's a mess.
Um, I feel like this has nothelped, uh, my relationship with
Matt's team in any, if anything,it is just intensified our rage
towards each other.
Um, we are right now, not evenlooking at each other, um, which
(03:24):
is not helpful because Matt, Iwill say that.
Deep appreciation for youbecause the challenges you face
are numerous and real.
Um, just, uh, feels like thereis just a constant spray of
bullets and those bullets areproblems with our old code and,
Matt (03:46):
Oh, yeah.
Thea (03:46):
my God, the security issues.
I mean,
Kate (03:50):
What have we had a security breach this week,
Thea (03:54):
What week have we not had a security breach?
Kate (03:57):
but
Matt (03:58):
Oh, they probably put you, uh, on the Pedro system for when
we get automatic, uh, that'slive on the internet.
It's, it's open season frompenetration, testers and script
kitties, and folks that arelooking for issues.
Our firewall is verytemperamental and so, uh, we
pretty much get paged every timesomeone's looking, whether they
(04:19):
find something or not.
So.
Uh, yeah.
I'm sorry.
Thank got you.
Uh, there's a filter you can putto take out like 99% of that
stuff.
Cause it's all false positives.
Thea (04:30):
Yeah.
I mean, I've just that Patriothas been going off at all times
during my yoga class, during mymorning meditations, during my
usual bowls.
I mean, eighties, it isnon-stop.
Matt (04:45):
Yeah, I, uh, I don't know what to say.
I tried to leave instructions,uh, and let them know, like,
this is temporary and it's notsomething that we want.
It's not something I wanted orthat you wanted.
Uh, and if they could just powerthrough, I mean, even just
following, you know, ourroutines and not taking on new
projects for a week, the teamshould have been able to keep it
(05:06):
together.
Uh, I chalk it up to a lack ofemotional Mitchell.
Kate (05:11):
so Thea is this, is this a new project they're trying to
deploy a new project orsomething, and that's why the
website's not working.
I mean, what could possibly beon the roadmap right now that
needs to be done to this.
Eric (05:22):
I, I couldn't tell you that the two teams have started
waging a ticket war.
JIRA instance.
And so there's all the actualcontent and the roadmap is
scattered and it's just
Matt (05:33):
oh wait, is this, is this web versus mobile going at it
again?
Eric (05:36):
no, no, this is, this is marketing and creative versus
all of engineering, but thereare 74,000 JIRA tickets that
have been created in the lastthree days,
Matt (05:48):
Oh, sorry.
That might be important.
Can you tell me exactly thenumber 74,000
Eric (05:53):
74,536.
Matt (05:56):
before 5 36.
Okay.
Okay.
I need to do some math.
Um, that's helpful.
I'm sorry.
Thea (06:04):
No, no.
It's okay.
Um, yeah, I, so as far as Iknow, there are no new projects
that were supposed to behappening, but, uh, Matt's team
is working very hard and acompletely shut me out when I
ask what it is.
Um, I've tried.
Everything.
I've to provide them food.
(06:26):
I have tried to provide themwith loving kindness.
Um, I've tried to provide themwith lesser vices.
Um, really anything I could do.
I mean, I usually don't resortto bribing people for love and
just project, my best self.
(06:47):
But, this is it's a new level.
Matt (06:52):
Kathy.
I don't know if we want to tryand like go into the weeds on
problem solving this right now,but, um, have you tried.
Um, embarrassing them with theirignorance.
They usually respond to thatreally well.
Um, because their domain is thecode that they work with, the
systems, uh, and maths that theydeal with every day.
(07:14):
And, um, whenever they stepoutside of that, uh, it's
usually pretty easy to stingthem and send them right back to
work.
So if, if folks are, uh, takingthe piss, um, Uh, find their
online accounts, uh, bring upsomething about the, you know,
the outfit that they posed inover the weekend, or take that
(07:36):
they had about a, a movie thatwas very mainstream.
Um, I think like you'reparticularly well equipped, uh,
to cut them down, uh, and, uh,give them to respect you.
I mean, out of, at least foryou,
Thea (07:50):
this is brilliant.
I, I, should've just gone fromthe tactic of emotional sabotage
from the very beginning.
This is, um, this is so good.
Really good for me.
And, and I am, I am great atdigging up things on other
people on the internet.
I mean, it's what got me where Iam today.
Eric (08:09):
That's true.
If you're ever like independencethough, or if somebody on your
team needs this, I have a box offake trivial pursuit cards in my
desk that have the wrong answersprinted on them.
And so you can just pull one ofthose out, ask them any question
and there's no chance they'llget it right.
And you can just drop them in.
Kate (08:27):
Well,
Thea (08:27):
that's, that's really great.
Um, I mean, I did have abreakthrough earlier this week,
um, particularly when they weretalking about the Chechnyan
military and something that Iknow a lot about.
So I do think I won over acouple of people with that.
Um, and so I think I just needto like really go down.
(08:49):
Talking about things that I knowI know better embarrassing them
in front of their peers.
Matt (08:58):
oh yeah.
In front of each other is reallygood.
I, um, I usually just kind of,you know, send a direct message
or something, kind of remindthem, uh, who's the boss.
Phew, do a good enough job infront of everyone.
Dressing down one person.
There'll be some knock oneffects.
So
Kate (09:17):
Does does that mean they've.
Thea (09:18):
actually, I I'm just everything that I've heard just
reminds me that I have to treatyour team.
Like they were a pack of Russianwools and.
Essentially do what I would doif I wanted to insinuate myself
as an AF alpha female and a packof brush and wolves.
Matt (09:39):
yeah, I mean, that study has been discredited so many
times in terms of how actualpacks and especially.
Human behavior is modeled, butmy team doesn't know that and
they tend to operate on theassumption that it's true.
So yeah, if you assertdominance, particularly over the
right people at the right time,um, they'll crack
Thea (10:01):
This is brilliant.
No, this is great.
I've I've had a lot ofexperience trying to insinuate
myself into Wolf packs and.
Do that here.
Um, Matt, how is it going withmy team?
Matt (10:16):
Um, it's hard to be sure.
Um, but I think I am close tofinding them,
Thea (10:26):
Have
Matt (10:26):
oh, I should catch you all up.
Sorry.
I've been, uh, I've beendeepened this notebook.
Um, when I got to your desk anddepartment, I found that many
things had been moved around.
Uh, many things have beendisappeared and among those
things was your team.
Uh, I thought this was, uh,maybe a protest.
They were going to come inlater.
(10:48):
Uh, but I checked in and theywere like working.
I saw them using our, you know,copies of Adobe products and,
uh, checking in files on thefile shares.
Um, so that was when I startedgoing through your desk.
Sorry.
Uh, and I found this marked upcopy of Jabberwock.
By Lewis, Carroll, uh, pepperedwith clues and, uh, and a little
(11:15):
kind of a taunting message.
Uh, basically like if I wantedto work with them, if they
wanted me, uh, if they, if they,if I want them to work with me,
really, uh, I would need to showthem that I have the creativity
to solve this puzzle and findthem.
Thea (11:37):
Uh, I am so sorry to that.
You have to deal with that.
Um,
Matt (11:41):
I have to tell you, like I'm having the time of my life,
Thea (11:44):
Oh, that's good.
I'm I'm happy to hear that.
Did you, did they take theTalkboy then that I left for
you?
Matt (11:51):
um, that I talked, boy, I didn't see,
Thea (11:54):
mean, I usually call them in, by, um, I created songs for
all of their names and I had atalk boy for you there
Matt (12:02):
uh,
Thea (12:04):
names, so you could call them in, but it makes sense that
if they don't want to be foundthat the
Matt (12:08):
Okay,
Thea (12:09):
is the talk boy.
Matt (12:11):
Yeah.
Remove the ability to, uh, to becalled in now.
That is really interesting.
Uh, okay.
That explains a lot of thesenumeric notations that are added
here.
Um, it's been so long since Ihad piano lessons.
Um, anyway, I'm, I'm starting topiece this together.
Okay.
(12:31):
So like the, the JIRA ticket.
Uh, if you add up, if you sum upthe digits on either end, uh,
you get 13 and then seven, fiveis in the middle.
So five and seven is 1213 inone.
So, uh, one which I think hashelped me unlock the first, uh,
(12:51):
the first clue in the firstparagraph.
Um,
Kate (12:56):
You're at the first clue in the first paragraph, it's
been two and a half days.
Matt (13:00):
been, I've been working in this back and forth.
Like, you know, you can't juststart at the top for a, this
kind of like escape room, puzzleroom, uh, thing.
So that one definitely is goingto be the key to others.
Oh, sorry.
Okay.
Kate (13:15):
I appreciate you're having fun, but, uh, we need to finish
our new rebranding this week.
And I understand what John askedyou to do was very poor timing.
But Monday there is a pressrelease that is going out with
our new name,
Matt (13:31):
yeah.
Kate (13:34):
CIT.
That is our new name, but.
Thea (13:36):
I mean, get it and I get that there are some mission
critical failures that arehappening right now, but what
John wanted us to do was gainempathy.
And I think we are both on theverge of a breakthrough with our
teams right now.
Kate (13:50):
the tech team has locked you out of the office, Thea and
Matt.
You haven't even interacted withanyone from the grade of team.
Matt (13:58):
oh, that's not true.
Uh, I forgot to say, um, thereis, there's a dead drop.
Uh, there are actually several,but we've been communicating by
dead drop.
So when I solve one of theclues, uh, I go leave it in
wherever the clue says.
I mean, that's how a lot ofthese puzzles work, uh, come
back at the pre appointed timeand there's usually another
(14:19):
puzzle.
Uh, I've been very pleased tosee, uh, examples of stuff that
they're working on.
And so, you know, I can't be ahundred percent sure what it's
going to come across, like, uh,on screen.
Uh, they've been using a lot oflike, um, what does that process
called when you like, uh, youknow, dip paper and T and, and
(14:40):
distress it to make it looklike, uh, like it's old
manuscript.
Thea (14:43):
Oh yeah.
I kind of like a form of likescreen printing almost,
Matt (14:47):
yeah, essentially I would like to think of it as like
ruining, uh, the paper, but, um,yeah, so I've seen, I have seen,
uh, some drafts.
I didn't bring them with mebecause the scrolls are, are
very large, but, um, I have beenprovided with scrolls of, uh,
Uh, trial art for a Bugsby underthe new name, under several
(15:08):
different options for, uh, whatSYT is an acronym for, um,
different treatments of SYTagain, colors are kind of hard
to work out cause it's goingkind of washed down and brown,
but, um, there's some stuffthere.
Uh, and as soon as I get theselast couple of pieces, the music
really helps I think.
(15:28):
Okay.
Thea (15:30):
and
Matt (15:30):
I think this could be a YouTube video, right?
Thea (15:32):
earlier, but they didn't realize that I can pick locks
like nobody's business.
And I think like watching me.
Unlock their shared office spaceand come in really has helped
form a foundation of respect.
And I think a couple more times,and like, we can really get to
get to a good place here.
Matt (15:54):
Do you just want to warn, um, don't let them lull you into
a sense of complacency with thelockbox.
Uh, let's just say, if you trythat in the server room, um, we
have, we have lock-inmechanisms, uh, and not all of
them are survivable.
So like kudos getting, gettinginto the office.
(16:17):
That's totally right.
And in fact, there are a handfulof, uh, resource cabinets around
that.
There that's the only way to getinto it, um, either because of
machismo or because the keys arelost, but.
Yeah.
Not, not all, uh, not all locksare meant to be picked if you,
if you take my meaning.
Thea (16:34):
at this is perfect.
I mean, there's not a booby trapI've met that I can't get
through.
And, and this seems to be like agreat way to, to show the way I
can survive situation.
Matt (16:48):
okay.
I think I'm getting okay.
This is M eight O I D P.
Q lowercase.
Q Y B L w.
Uh Califia whose, whose isbeyond the sea.
Bobby Darren's beyond the sea.
(17:09):
Who is that?
Thea (17:10):
oh,
Matt (17:15):
Okay.
Thea (17:15):
Yes.
Oh, that is so good.
Cause Josh really is working onthat press release and um, you
probably do need to talk to himsooner rather than later.
Matt (17:24):
okay.
And just, I just want to beclear it's Bobby Darren's
version.
It's not one of the covers,right?
Thea (17:29):
it is not the original French version.
It has to be Bobby Darin'sversion.
Matt (17:33):
Okay.
Kate (17:34):
this is working.
This is not Eric.
Can you help me out?
There's no one understand what'sgoing on right now.
We're free.
Eric (17:44):
I mean, I I'll be honest.
I've been enjoying, uh,learning, uh, you know, empathy
by osmosis.
It was describing chapter sevenof the book.
Um, feel like I'm really gettingto know my peer executives
really well through thisprocess, seeing how they solve
problems.
Uh, really the only thing that'sbothering me is the fact that
the turf war has on a proxy warwithin the parking lot.
(18:05):
So I had to park a mile away andwalk over.
But other than that, it's been.
Thea (18:13):
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Um, the creative team has beentaking over parking spaces for
a, and turning them into lots,um, specifically, you know, to
create some kind of private,private hiding space.
I, I assume that of them mightbe using some of those as a way
(18:33):
to hide.
Um, but I
Matt (18:35):
before you go into that.
I have, I have checked 95% ofthem.
Um, but I did it through arandom method, uh, which I'm now
realizing may have been the,that may have been the point I
was using Monte Carlo sampling.
Of course, there's nothinginspired about I'm sorry.
Y'all go ahead.
Thea (18:54):
that this has seemed to intensify the feud between our
two departments more than itassaulted.
But I, I think we are reallygetting to a place that like, we
get another day of this and, andwe might end this, right?
Yeah.
And for all, I mean, sometimeswith wars that you have to have
a big battle before you can cometo the table and do the peace
(19:14):
resolution, you know,
Kate (19:17):
I, I, I mean, that makes sense as a metaphor, but.
It's it's hard for me to rebukeany sort of war metaphor you
give Califia every single time,the war metaphor.
And how am I supposed to arguewith that?
Thea (19:32):
I know.
I, um, I'm sorry.
You know, I just came from alife, uh, and sometimes I fall
back.
But I, I do think that like, youknow, if you let me risk my life
to get into the server room, Ithink I can have that
breakthrough with Matt's team.
And I think we're going to be abetter company for it.
Matt (19:56):
I, and I think, I swear I'm like two puzzles.
From having at least 40% of thecreative team back.
And once I have them in, I thinkI've already figured out, like
we're going to do a nice singingbowl meditation.
We're going to do a sound bath.
I'm going to bring things to anice mellow and they'll be able
(20:19):
to bring the rest of the teamback in.
Meanwhile, the little drips anddrabs and crumbs that they've
been leaving in their secrethidey holes, uh, suggest to me
that they're taking the workseries.
And they still want to see setsucceed.
Kate (20:33):
listen, how long.
You know, frankly, I would likea little bit of a sidebar with
an Eric right now.
So how about you to each takethree minutes, break into the
server room, solve your twopuzzles.
Come back to us, let us know howthat went.
Matt (20:50):
if they were three minute puzzles, all right.
Kate (20:53):
I believe in you now that you figured out that the whole
fricking song thing.
Matt (20:58):
Kate do you think you could do a better job and in my
spot, do you want to
Kate (21:02):
no.
It's all
Matt (21:04):
Cause it sounds, it just sounds a little bit like,
Kate (21:06):
I know, I
Eric (21:07):
One switches one switch one time.
Thea (21:10):
Sorry, I'll be done in
Kate (21:11):
I'm freaking out, Eric.
I'm freaking out.
Eric (21:17):
It's a it's okay.
It's it's going to be fine.
This is what the book said wouldhappen.
It's not that it's following thepattern of the book.
Exactly.
Like you just said, it
Kate (21:26):
this is an important.
Eric (21:28):
and then it gets much worse and then it gets
imperceptibly bad and then iteither gets much better or it
explodes.
And I don't see.
It's not going to explode.
Kate (21:41):
I just don't I can't explode
Eric (21:44):
Can we just, we can't move the press conference.
Kate (21:48):
No, John scheduled it himself with his, his favorite
press secretary.
And it's.
Eric (21:56):
you got his
Kate (21:57):
he's going to be there.
Yeah, I know it doesn't
Eric (22:01):
Oh, wow.
Okay.
Well,
Kate (22:04):
just getting really involved.
All of a sudden everything andit's, it's somehow making things
worse.
Eric (22:10):
Yeah.
If I know, you know, if I knowCalifia and Matt, at this point
I protesting, this is only goingto make them dig in more.
If we just let them, I think youdid the exact right thing to let
them go off into their cornersand try and solve the problem.
I'm sure when they come back,that will pass through to
chapter nine, the empathyrevolution.
Kate (22:33):
The empathy revolution.
Eric (22:34):
it'll be.
Kate (22:36):
I just, I just worry about what book he's gonna read next,
you know, like, is there anythat you could just like
recommend to him that we knoware really have good ideas?
Eric (22:47):
I really do think we should try and get into his
Amazon recommendations and steerthem away from certain sectors.
he almost read Harry Potter oncethat was, that was really close.
Kate (22:59):
How far did he get, did he
Eric (23:00):
got to the sorting hat.
You remember the members,remember the sorting.
Kate (23:04):
That's right.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, no, we had, we had houses.
Oh, that was bad.
Eric (23:12):
had to update his browser to replace 40 different terms
and redirect them.
So he would never find moreHarry Potter content again.
Kate (23:21):
That's dope.
Uh, I think some people are soscarred from being named slither
in by that AI that we built
Eric (23:29):
Why, why is there smoke coming from.
Kate (23:33):
oh God.
Uh, uh, do you see fire?
Do you see fire?
Eric (23:40):
No, it's
Matt (23:41):
okay.
Folks.
Uh,
Eric (23:42):
smoke.
Matt (23:43):
good news, bad news.
Um, good news, uh, track downall of the creative team.
Uh, bad news.
They're not going to like me forit.
Um,
Kate (23:54):
How did you do it?
Matt (23:56):
Well, you see all that smoke in the parking lot.
Yeah.
I remote detonated a bunch oftheir work issued tools.
Kate (24:05):
What I thought you were going to solve the final puzzles
Matt (24:08):
Yeah, listen, I did this, I sang beyond the sea.
I brought in Josh and, uh, hemade fun of me for being too
much of a logical mind, tryingto puzzle it out.
Why wasn't I just intuiting?
And, uh, when I tried to ring upthe singing bowls and bring us
into a nice home, he was like,don't try to bring me into your
resonance frequency, man.
I'm doing my own thing.
Uh, and I kind of.
(24:30):
Okay.
So I used the backup credentialsthat I'm not supposed to have.
And I got back into my team'sstuff and I remote detonated all
of their team issued iPads.
And if they want to continueworking, they can come in.
That's the last message thatscrolled across their screens.
(24:50):
So, uh, yeah.
Good news.
Bad news there.
Kate (24:55):
Uh, okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Um, ho Thea.
Thea (25:03):
you put bees in the server room.
Matt (25:07):
Oh, God.
Yep.
They're technically paper wasps,but they swarm just like.
Thea (25:18):
Okay.
You know what?
I thought I could take anythingthat tea could have me, but he's
using mother nature.
get me.
Oh, I can't.
Matt (25:34):
we thought that would be the one thing no one would ever
expect.
Uh, and you know, in case of,uh, uh, like if their paper hive
caught fire, the Halon systemwill take them out and the fire
and anyone else who's.
Thea (25:47):
God.
Matt (25:48):
that at Califia
Kate (25:49):
Uh,
Thea (25:50):
I, I just, there's no way I can regain face in front of,
in front of your team now.
I mean,
Matt (25:57):
oh, that's not a hundred percent true.
Um,
Kate (26:00):
you do look like you have a lot.
Um, stings though.
I.
Thea (26:07):
I mean, I treat myself with Paula and all the time.
I think I'll be okay.
Matt (26:11):
uh, Kathy, when you left, did you close the door behind?
Thea (26:15):
No, I was running away from bees.
Matt (26:18):
Um, well, we might want to just stay in this room.
Uh, I released the secondary ofheads.
They're paper wasps.
Okay.
Um, there is one in cage andthere is one, uh, out of cage.
Uh, Amanda usually takes care ofit and, uh, it's open now.
Uh, I let them all know with atext from your.
(26:41):
Uh, that if they like be somuch, uh, they should enjoy
having them.
Uh, and then I sent a correctionfrom my own text message from my
own text account that said theirpaper wasps.
Um, anyway, they're loose, uh,mostly in, uh, Devin it, but,
uh, they will be wanderingthrough the building unless
someone manages to close thatdoor.
Kate (27:04):
so Devin, its offices are swarmed with wasps and, and all
of the iPads of the creativeteam have been promote detonated
and.
Matt (27:13):
Uh, only the latest ones issued by the company yet.
Kate (27:15):
Oh, my God.
Thea (27:17):
this might be a bridge.
Move on our parts.
You know, I think we tried tobring together our two teams
through mutual respect, but Ithink what they've learned is
fear from today.
Um, and, and that's an importantlesson.
Matt (27:36):
oh,
Eric (27:39):
Oh
Matt (27:39):
dev team emptying out into the parking lot.
Okay.
Kate (27:43):
Wait, that's where the that's where the creatives are.
Eric (27:46):
out
Matt (27:46):
it too.
Yeah, no, they're huddling.
Oh yeah.
Here comes the clot of wasps.
Oh
Kate (27:52):
Wasps hate smoke.
They won't go anywhere near,
Matt (27:57):
huddling around the teams are huddling together inside the
clouds of smoke to keep thewasps away.
Look at them.
Kate (28:05):
oh
Matt (28:06):
Yeah.
Use that, that brush will burnyet.
Eric (28:09):
the website's up?
Matt (28:12):
Is it?
Eric (28:13):
Yeah, look, check like on mobile.
Thea (28:16):
And, our press releases in our media center.
Eric (28:20):
This looks great.
Kate (28:22):
the JIRA ticket numbers going down by the hundreds every
second.
Matt (28:29):
All right.
Um, I guess empathy.
Eric (28:34):
We cannot tell John this worked.
Kate (28:36):
No, no, no, no.
Matt (28:38):
point.
Thea (28:38):
I think we stop at the bees and the fire and don't tell
him what happened afterwards.
Um,
Kate (28:45):
I agree.
I
Matt (28:46):
yeah.
We're we're good now, right?
Thea (28:50):
yeah, we're good.
Kate (28:52):
You can switch.
Matt (28:53):
Uh, I, I owe you to replace the, the whiskey I found
in your desk.
Thea (28:59):
Oh no, that's, fine.
Matt (29:01):
It just helps me with, when I do the logic puzzles, you
know, it's like sitting downwith the crossword on the
weekends.
It's nice.
Thea (29:09):
Yeah, it's really, it's really nice.
And the slight flavor of, uh,yaks urine, and it really helps
bring, make those
Matt (29:16):
Oh, that's what it is.
Yeah.
It's not quite earthy, but it'slike, it's biting.
Is that the right?
Thea (29:26):
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
Like I really became addicted tothat.
Uh, when I went to Nepal, itcomes in like a sword glass,
sword.
Really good stuff.
Matt (29:36):
nicely.
And I know I didn't recognizethat bottle at all.
Uh, if you want I'll I can bringyou a bottle from the server
room, you know, if you hadactually gone, uh, one cage down
in one cage over, uh, that's,uh, Good to keep my contraband.
Thea (29:52):
oh, well, we should just do some like whiskey treating in
the office sometime, you know,now that I know how to get into
the server room without alertingthe BS.
Kate (30:03):
Great.
Well, Honestly crisis resolved.
Um, I think you were right,Eric.
It just gets worse and worse andworse until it, it gets better.
Um, I think
Matt (30:16):
Oh, they've got quite a fire going now.
Eric (30:18):
Yeah.
Kate (30:19):
Oh my God.
Thea (30:20):
Wow.
Kate (30:21):
We're not supposed to be burning things in the parking
lot.
This is a shared parking lotwith the rest of the bills.
Matt (30:27):
you know, there's more of a.
Thea (30:28):
okay.
Matt (30:30):
I mean, that's what they,
Thea (30:31):
is that?
What are your guys with the.
Matt (30:34):
oh yeah.
Eric (30:36):
Look at that.
Thea (30:37):
Oh,
Kate (30:38):
Wow.
Eric (30:39):
kinda want to get down there,
Thea (30:41):
yeah,
Eric (30:41):
don't want to mess the vibe.
Matt (30:42):
Oh, uh, I hope somebody lets the utility company know
that their trucks are awfullyclose to this bonfire.
Kate (30:49):
I've got to do that.
Okay.
Well, yeah, you all decide ifyou want to party, you're not
ruin the party, but.
It seems
Matt (30:58):
am I have?
They're fun.
I mean, yeah.
Let's, let's tell Verizon thattheir trucks are
Kate (31:03):
Yeah.
Thea (31:04):
Yeah.
Kate (31:05):
Yeah.
Thea (31:06):
just him know.
Kate (31:08):
What I'm having.
Okay.
Well, I'll stop the recording.
Um, we'll hope John, doesn'tlisten to this one and, uh, I
guess.
Let's get it done, guys.
Let's get what we needed to getdone this week.
Thea (31:27):
Yeah.
Ben (31:29):
This meeting has ended.
To subscribe to this startup isbeing recorded.
Go to the podcast player of yourchoice and tap a button that
likely says subscribe.
More content is on Twitter atstartup recorded, or shoot us an
email with ideas, feedback, oryour personal startup horror
story.
At hello@startuprecorded.com.
Kate is played by ValerieGarrison.
(31:50):
Valerie is a health tech productmanager and regularly plays with
the improv troupe letters tochicken online.
You can find her on Twitter atthevalgarris eric has played by
Barry wright Barry is a productmanager at Spotify and a
co-founder of Highwire Improv.
Find him by his name onLinkedIn, where he holds regular
office hours or athighwireimprov.com.
Matt is played by MartinMcguire.
(32:11):
Marty is a senior web engineerand improviser in New York city.
You can find Marty's comedy codeand cats on his website at M M G
dot R E.
Calathea is played by RobynStegman.
Robyn is a digital campaignmanager for ocean Conservancy
and is a comedian mostly foundat Highwire improv.
You can find her on all thesocial medias.
And she does mean all at rsteggythank you for listening.
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