December 22, 2021 • 30 mins
Agenda:
- Share feelings - not about OKRs or goals - share your true feelings
Takeaways:
- Eric to lock down the website so Kate can’t change it anymore
- Kate to coordinate Zoom interview with up to 40 intern candidates
- Thea to decide whose made it on her best friend list
- Store Thea’s holiday couches in John’s office
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.
Yeah, the recording's on now.
Um, Great.
So this is a kind of,
Matt (00:32):
oh, sorry.
Kate (00:33):
sorry.
It's okay, man.
It's okay.
I know this is kind of a spur ofthe moment meeting.
Um, but Eric felt, it was reallyimportant even though, you know,
we're holiday parties happeningright now, um, to, to have a
quick retrospective.
Oh, I guess I'll just, you know,it was kind of myself.
Matt's here.
Eric's here.
Thea's here.
Uh, John.
(00:55):
John.
I saw him grab a bottle of vodkaand just, uh, leave about an
hour ago.
So I, I don't, I don't know Itexted him, but I assume he's
probably not going to bake it.
Matt (01:03):
Yeah, it's pretty classic.
Kate (01:06):
Yup.
Um, anyway, uh, let's do quick,quick interest, I guess, if
anyone listens to this later on,who's a new employee.
Thea (01:15):
I'm Kelly I am the chief creative czar of the company.
Matt (01:23):
oh, I can go.
I'm a matt.yachts and I am theCT.
Kate (01:29):
uh, Eric.
Eric (01:31):
Yeah.
Um, so I've just been watchingthe clock, um, uh, Eric joy
Carter, and I am chief productofficer, uh, and, uh, call the,
I call this ad hoc meeting.
So thanks everyone for jumpingon.
Kate (01:44):
Yeah.
Uh, and I'm Kate Blanchet.
I'm chief of staff of Metromarket, or I forgot Metro
market.
Well, Ben at is kind of ourname, right?
Not a Merck.
It was her name.
I'm sorry.
Cider just makes me reallyemotional.
Matt (02:01):
no.
Okay.
Kate (02:01):
so much good cider here,
Matt (02:02):
I mean, Metta Metamarkets seller name, we've got a lot of
red tape to get through, so.
Eric (02:08):
And we'll always be part of the.
Kate (02:10):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
So we're a couch marketplacestill, even though our name is
changing to something else.
Um, Eric, you want to take itfrom.
Eric (02:22):
Yeah.
Um, so thanks everyone forjoining.
I'm waiting for it.
So it's going to be midnight ina couple of minutes here.
I'm just watching the clock.
Uh, I, every may have noticedI've been running around, been
pretty busy this month, um, aspart of the.
Personal reflection throughoutthis year, I've decided to
celebrate every winter holiday.
(02:43):
Um, and, but so in the, in that,in that, you know, kind of run
down the 22nd is the daybetween, or right after the
winter solstice, but beforeFestivus, uh, and so, um, it
felt like the right time for meto treat that as my new year.
Um, so I, I just wanted to bringus all together and.
(03:04):
I do like just a retrospectiveon, on us, like this, this
leadership constellation, um,you know, what's been working
for us over the last year.
What's been working for thecompany.
Um, you know, there's been a lotof change and it's, I, it felt
like the right time.
So I know it's a little bit, uh,odd to do it in the middle of
the holiday party, but I feltlike everyone was going to come
(03:26):
with their truest raw feelings,uh, now
Matt (03:30):
oh, feelings.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm, I've been workingon, you know, Mike, Mike end of
quarter, end of, uh, end of yearstuff in general, but I.
I don't
Eric (03:40):
oh, no, no, no, I don't.
I don't care about any of thecorporate OKR or any of your
personal, okay.
Ours.
This is, this is a retrospectiveon us on, on, on our people.
Our, our, our minds that thetime we spend it is it is an
expansive retrospective.
Anything is on the table todiscuss.
Matt (04:01):
Okay.
Sorry.
You caught me on the way fromthe bathroom back to the server
room, uh, where I'm pulling theovernight so that my team can go
to the holiday party.
Have you all been drinking?
Kate (04:13):
Yeah,
Eric (04:14):
yeah.
A
Matt (04:14):
so.
Like I would hope so.
Okay.
Is that Eric?
Is that what prompted this?
You, you haven't some FICAfields you've had.
Okay.
Well,
Kate (04:24):
I didn't know about.
Matt (04:26):
I guess surprised was part of it.
Otherwise
Eric (04:28):
I, it can't be pre-planned it can't be premeditated.
It's gotta be how you reallyfeel.
And if that means you're upset,I want to know.
Thea (04:37):
Could I
Eric (04:37):
to know.
Thea (04:37):
before we start this, I mean, always love a good deep
reflection, and I am feelingreally great for you guys.
I'm in a very vulnerable moment.
Okay.
And I'm just worried that if weshare what we're feeling like,
you know, as people after thisyear that we might become
friends and I can't do that.
(05:00):
if we could all just.
Keep this as professional aspossible.
That would be really helpful forme.
Kate (05:07):
okay, but you all are my best friends.
Matt (05:13):
Oh, Kate.
That's really sweet.
Thea (05:15):
K.
Kate (05:16):
I mean, I have other best friends too, but I think there
should be no limit to bestfriends.
Matt (05:24):
Yeah.
Have, have all the best friendsyou can.
Kate (05:27):
I think, and I think we're like family.
Actually, I was thinking aboutrewriting the culture statement
on our website for, you know,people who were trying to hire
to talk about how we're familyand friends and, um, you know,
partners and, and we're ninjastogether.
And we're like astronauts that,you know, when astronauts go,
(05:50):
they have to tie themselvestogether.
So if they float into space,they never know actually why
they have to do that.
But I assume it's.
Matt (05:57):
why.
Yeah.
That is why it's like Arcticclimbers.
That's a buddy system.
So if one person drifts and theycan be.
Kate (06:06):
Arctic climbers.
That's another great thing thatwe are all to each other.
Matt (06:13):
okay.
I just, I just want to take aquick moment.
We're just talking aboutfeelings, right?
We're not creating actionableanything out of this meeting.
Right.
Eric (06:21):
no, I mean, it's, it's, it's just a retrospective, you
know, I think it's more abouthow we interact with one
another.
And if you want to, if you wantto do something about that, that
that's up to you, but.
Matt (06:31):
Okay.
Well, I'm, I'm pretty new here.
Um, I've only been with thecompany for a couple months, but
I can say, um, you know, this isa team that really wants things
to work.
And I really appreciate thatabout all of you.
I haven't met anyone really hereat, at Metta market.
That's not pulling their ownweight and then some more.
(06:55):
And, um, you know, that, thatjust feels nice.
That's why, uh, you know, Ireally want to help give my team
breaks where they can, uh, causesmall teams doing, doing hard
work.
And, um, when it comes to thisgroup here, um, I mean,
obviously we're, we're on thestream.
I don't want to go too deep intothis stuff now, but like, um,
(07:16):
you know, we're, we're, we'rethick as thieves.
Kate (07:18):
Yeah, I got you.
We're all like weightlifters toeach other and thieves.
Okay, sure.
I'll put that on the websitetoo.
I love how I can just change thewebsite by myself.
This such a good idea to set upthis platform.
Matt (07:34):
yeah.
K, you're not putting that.
You're not putting that on thejob site right now.
Are you?
I, I wouldn't.
Kate (07:41):
No time like the present.
Matt (07:44):
I wouldn't put any of those things we've talked about
so far, like these are, theseare what happens in this room,
stays in this room other thanthe livestream, obviously.
Eric (07:52):
It's a retrospective.
We're just kind of sharing.
It just stays with us.
And you know, that's why Kathy,you don't have to worry about us
becoming best friends becauseall of this is going to
disappear after theretrospectives over.
Thea (08:02):
okay.
Matt (08:03):
right.
I was also thinking, I thinksince Eric called this, and once
Eric is the one that wants thefeedback, Kathy, you could just.
Cover your ears and then youwouldn't have to learn how we
feel.
And that would probably keep.
Thea (08:17):
I would be, I would be really helpful.
I mean, yeah, really great.
I will say that, um, I did breakup with one of my best friends I
left our religious retreatbecause I no longer wanted to be
part of that family.
So I do have one opening, um,now for somebody to raise up in
(08:42):
the circle, uh,
Kate (08:46):
So this is kind of like an audition.
Eric (08:50):
I
Kate (08:50):
anyone ever.
Eric (08:52):
it's not going to be one of us.
Thea (08:54):
I mean, it very well could
Eric (08:56):
Wow.
Wow.
Really?
Thea (08:59):
not for best friend.
I'm probably gonna raisesomebody else, but, know, as I
raised that, that leaves oneperson on the lower tiers.
Um, and.
I haven't been at networkingevents in the past of weeks
because I had been working sohard on the name.
So, you
Matt (09:19):
yeah.
Thea (09:19):
what, fuck it.
It might be one of you guys.
Kate (09:23):
Well,
Thea (09:24):
That's a lot for my brand to take in right now, but it's
the truth.
Kate (09:31):
Eric, how are you feeling?
I feel like you've been so greatand asked us how we're feeling.
How are you feeling?
Eric (09:39):
I, you know, I'm, I'm feeling, I'm feeling a lot right
now.
I feel like this has been soturbulent, uh, the last year,
Kate (09:47):
um, like we were like we're pilots together.
Co-pilots yes.
Okay.
Sorry.
Go ahead.
Eric (09:57):
no, no, that's, that's, that's, that's not quite it.
I guess.
I, I feel like it's, you know,we've had to change our name.
We've had to change ourbusiness.
W we, we, we burned a housedown.
Um, and all of this has kind ofjust like weighing on me a
little bit and, you know, I justwanna to.
To admit that to everybody it's,it's, it's been, it's been
(10:19):
pushing some of my dreams out.
It's been pushing, I'm notsleeping well.
And I just want to make surethat other people weren't going
through the same thing.
Thea (10:30):
No Derrick my last guy, Alaska trip, I the Baldy.
Eric (10:39):
What.
Thea (10:39):
he's not happy.
I thought told you as much thathe to go.
He loved couches so much.
That is how he wanted to go.
But I don't think that anymore.
I think that was not in theplan.
And now I feel really bad aboutit.
(11:01):
I'm not used to feeling badabout my actions cause I a
cleansing fire.
Eric (11:09):
um, I don't know that I've ever heard you admit anything
like that kind of theater.
That's really helpful.
I didn't realize I wasn't theonly one going through some of
this with the stress ofeverything going on and, um,
Thea (11:25):
I keep one of his Eagle feathers underneath my keyboard.
Kate (11:30):
oh,
Matt (11:31):
um, so I'm a little lost.
Are we talking about our realEagle?
I thought this was just a visionyou had when you were doing the
iOS.
Thea (11:41):
No, the Eagle.
Kate (11:43):
the one that got hurt by one of our couches, supposedly
that there was the lawsuit about
Matt (11:50):
oh,
Kate (11:51):
at that meeting.
I, cause I could send you thetranscript.
Eric (11:55):
Yeah.
That's why we have to all of ourgiving, giving Tuesday donations
to the U S national wildlifefund.
Matt (12:04):
Good organization.
And you know, it's nice that thegovernment is now actually
putting more weight behind theendangered species list.
Um, but listen, I knoweverybody's stressed out where
it's never fun when you'retrying to pull a fast one and,
you know, we wouldn't betiptoeing around, uh, doing
(12:25):
espionage if we were in a normalsituation.
You know, this is investing inAmerica.
Like we are, we're a techcompany and we are in the
gauntlet and it's not fair.
I mean, this is the squid gameand we're all the competitors
and the VCs, they have themoney.
Kate (12:45):
a good one.
Okay.
We're all competitors in squidgame together.
Join us.
We have three open roles.
Matt (12:53):
not super good for a hiring website.
Eric (12:55):
Yeah.
It doesn't only one of them.
Matt (12:57):
Yeah.
And the rest done.
Um, which, which I think as ametaphor for like companies that
are competing for a small poolof big change, that that is a
more apt metaphor.
Kate (13:10):
okay.
That's a great point.
I'll put that on ourdifferentiator.
Um, you know, page.
Thea (13:17):
we just, could we really lean into that?
And could we have.
40 people come into his zoominterview together and put them
through a test or challenges andslowly have them filter out.
Um, I'm not talking murder, I'mjust talking, showing them the
Kate (13:37):
murder.
Thea (13:39):
that
Eric (13:40):
Nope.
No, I think he took the wrongwords out of that, Kate.
Um,
Kate (13:46):
I, I love that idea, you know, and we have that winter
internship that starting inJanuary, we have so many people
applying for that.
Um, yeah, people who lovestartups.
Let me just write up a littlenote to them.
Um, I love this.
(14:07):
I just love how talking aboutour emotions leads to so much.
Action.
I'm getting so much done so muchmore done than I thought I would
in the holiday party.
Eric (14:18):
honestly, this is, it's just supposed to be a sharing of
feelings.
Like it's a retrospective.
We don't have to have any actionitems or follow-ups, or you
don't have to take all of thisand go do stuff.
You're, you're always, alwaysdoing stuff with everything.
Like that's, I, I feel likeevery word I say, I put
something on your to-do list andI don't want that burden on
sometimes.
I just want to be able to think.
Kate (14:40):
That's so nice.
You know, if you, I talkingabout emotions and to do lists,
sometimes put emotions on myto-do list.
Because I find that I'mneglecting certain things, you
know, when you're so busy andthe way to really not neglect is
(15:02):
to, to do
Thea (15:06):
Kate, is that why we've seen laugh on your to-do list?
Kate (15:10):
yes.
Yes.
That one specifically came frommy sister.
She said, I don't think you'vedone this in awhile.
I said, you know how you do it?
You to do it.
Matt (15:23):
I I've been wondering, um, like how, how are you in
general?
It's it seems like.
You really have taken on a lot,not just here at the company and
peripherally people related tothe company, but in your, in
your home life and, and your,your personal dealings.
Um, when do you get.
Kate (15:46):
I have a break.
You're right.
I should put that on my to-dolist.
So I guess I'm wondering when Itake a.
What, what do you do during
Thea (16:00):
Um, okay.
Okay.
Kate, I feel like, I feel likeneed to have some about self
care and I feel like this is allof us, you know, I feel like I
(16:21):
been carrying.
A baby for a while.
And didn't realize that the babyis not Bugsby, but the baby is
you.
Kate (16:31):
oh, so sweet.
Maybe I don't need to be yourbest friend.
I could be like your, yourchild.
Wait, am I happy about that?
Eric (16:44):
no, no, I'm going to go, I'm going to say, I'm going to,
I'm going to say no.
Matt (16:48):
I mean, it's not my place, but, um,
Eric (16:53):
Yeah, I know we're not supposed to interrupt during the
retrospective, but I'm going to,I'm going to interrupt and say
no, that's,
Thea (17:00):
I just missed them so much.
And I feel like my maternalenergy is not going towards
Eddie thing.
You know, I just stare at awhiteboard with our names all
day.
And it's because I'm not in acreation mode because my
creation has decided to stay inthe Arctic possibly perpetually.
Eric (17:24):
I mean, isn't that, I mean, it wasn't that part of the
mission of Bugsby in the, in thefirst place to create, create
something that was bigger thanits.
Thea (17:39):
yeah, bug SPI has been successful for everybody, in
that process, I realized thatbugs me.
In his purest form is no longerserving me.
that feels selfish.
What if I'm the person who can'tliberate bugs, SPE?
Matt (17:58):
oh, Califia I don't think those feelings are selfish.
I think if, I mean, obviouslyyou've put so much of yourself
into Bugsby you're going to missthose pieces.
If you're, if you're not stillin touch with.
Thea (18:13):
yeah, I just feel like ghost.
Good as it gets my core as afreedom fighter to fight against
bugs.
Peace, freedom.
Kate (18:26):
Uh, maybe it's just cause I've been drinking, but like I'm
lost.
So we're definitely talkingabout bugs be again, right?
Our mascot, our,
Eric (18:38):
the lifeblood of our creative
Kate (18:41):
I was excited for you to be my mother because I'm a human
and I thought maybe that was youprogressing, but I feel like
you're not.
Thea (18:53):
Kate, you were excited about me taking a maternal role
over you because you don'tbelieve that I can be a maternal
figure to bugs B.
Is that what you're saying?
Kate (19:06):
Sort of E.
I just, I was starting toimagine our little family, like
if I was the baby.
And if you were the mommy thenwould Matt or Eric be the daddy
or would we have like a
Matt (19:23):
like a cool neighbor or something.
Thea (19:25):
first of all, there can be unconventional family they
Kate (19:29):
Okay.
Or.
Thea (19:30):
to be in this family structure is what I mean.
Kate (19:33):
Okay.
What are you all?
Yeah.
What do you feel like your rolein this family structure is Eric
and Matt.
I just kind of, don't want totalk about bugs, getting into
the womb of my womb shit.
So.
Matt (19:48):
okay.
Um, I mean, I think of myself asthe S the CTO, and I know that's
not what you're looking for.
Um, I don't know.
I, um, I think of myself maybeas, um, the elder son who went
away and found success in theworld and, uh, has now had to
(20:09):
return home as the family hassuffered a crisis and they need
someone to see them.
Kate (20:17):
oh,
Eric (20:20):
wow.
I saw myself as the, as like theyoungest son.
Is trying to live up to allthese expectations and doesn't
really know if they're doingwhat they're doing because they
want to, or because they alreadysaw their older siblings do it
or trying to figure out theirown identity.
And are we all just John's kids
Kate (20:45):
Oh,
Eric (20:46):
No, that's, that's terrifying.
Matt (20:48):
that's kind of where my head was at.
Yeah.
Thea (20:51):
I was, I w I am the older sister who was parentified at a
very young age, who feels likeshe,
Kate (20:58):
Hmm.
Thea (20:59):
To be creative, but feels like she has to, you know,
nurture
Kate (21:06):
Wow.
So we all just have like daddyproblems.
So.
Eric (21:12):
yeah, I mean, what's the last time we saw
Kate (21:16):
John.
I mean,
Eric (21:17):
not I, um, I wasn't going to John.
Kate (21:20):
yeah.
I mean, we saw, I saw him anhour ago when he came in and
took that vodka bottle, but tobe fair, he was trying to do
that secretly.
So people couldn't see him, butI did.
Eric (21:33):
like the last time I saw John just, know, put a bunch of
papers on my desk and I didn'treally even fully like see his
face.
He just put, put some of likecontracts down for, you know,
what we need to do to change ourname and wow.
Matt (21:51):
I mean, the last time I saw John was, um, I thought he
had stood me up for ourquarterly ramen date and catch
up and.
I went to leave and pay, uh, Iactually saw him leaving with
someone else.
Um, I didn't say anything.
I just, it was awkward because Ican't be a hundred percent sure
(22:11):
it was him, but like, it washim, you know, who held
Eric (22:14):
it's definitely, of course.
Matt (22:15):
Yeah.
I mean, that's a custom Teslathat he drives.
I don't know who else was.
Thea (22:21):
Yeah.
I last saw him when he invitedme out to a little meet and
greet on Jack Dorsey's yacht andhe just.
Introduced me to Jack Dorseysaid, do something.
And then he jumped into thewater and there was a smaller
boat in the water
Matt (22:35):
my God.
I'm so sorry.
Califia
Eric (22:39):
my God.
Thea (22:42):
nothing to say to Jack Dorsey.
Matt (22:44):
no, um,
Thea (22:46):
I mean, you can't sell couches on Twitter
Matt (22:50):
Oh, God,
Kate (22:51):
We do
Thea (22:52):
extremist.
Matt (22:53):
that
Eric (22:53):
even buy them with block.
Matt (22:56):
yeah, I meant, I don't know if we've updated the list
Califia but, um,
Eric (23:01):
Oh,
Matt (23:02):
still runs square, uh, sorry, block now as of December
10th.
Uh, so they've taken the nameblock and they also have taken
the name spiral.
Um,
Eric (23:12):
Spiral.
Matt (23:13):
And I know we were thinking about things related to
couches and Springs.
Kate (23:16):
Yeah.
Eric (23:18):
Well, what can we just put TBD on the documents for now?
Matt (23:22):
you know, what, the, the article that I read, um, on CNBC
it's, it's not a hundred percentclear, but I think square also
has a cryptocurrency focusdivision that seems to be named
TBD, or it could have been anerror in the CNBC document.
I have.
I feel, I know we've been usingthose placeholders, your app
teams been doing a great job,finding places where we've
(23:44):
hard-coded in Mehta market andgetting ready for the name
change.
But we've got to be carefulabout TBD too.
Eric (23:50):
thanks.
Yeah, no, I appreciate it.
It's good to hear that, youknow, it's um,
Matt (23:55):
Anyway, fucking Dorsey.
Excuse my language.
Kate (24:01):
anyway.
Okay.
So we're all, we're allchildren.
We have problems with ourfather, John, and I don't know.
I know Eric, we're not supposedto like come up with resolutions
necessarily, but I feel like, Ifeel like we should, there
should be something like that.
(24:21):
Or do you just want us to staysad like this all year?
Eric (24:27):
now, I mean, now, now we know this is not where I
expected it to go, but I mean, Ithink we needed to all, all come
to this realization.
I don't know.
Did we just, do we tell John weneed to meet with them more
often or do we just rely on eachother?
Matt (24:45):
I guess what we've been doing?
Thea (24:49):
Yeah,
Eric (24:50):
I feel like I've been holding back the waiting,
waiting for him to come in andyeah.
Yeah.
Kate (24:55):
No.
Eric (24:56):
Why do that?
And yeah, just screw, screw him.
Kate (24:59):
Yeah.
We are the boxcar children.
Eric (25:03):
Yes.
That's the one.
Matt (25:05):
Uh, I kind of remember those.
Kate (25:09):
Where I remember how many of them there were, but they
were definitely orphaned, suchas lived in the woods, in the
box car for at least half of abook.
And that's where we are.
We're in.
Oh, this is going, this is goingto be such a good way to
convince people to be on thewebsite.
Matt (25:28):
Uh, Kate, please, please.
Don't use that.
Eric (25:30):
Yeah, we don't need to change any.
Kate (25:32):
I'm putting I'm using Photoshop, which thank you,
Cathy, for giving me access to,to put our heads inside of box
cars, everyone will understandit.
Matt (25:43):
I know.
I think you need to be moreclear.
Eric (25:46):
I think, I think we'll, we'll just lock the site until
the start of the year.
When we do the name.
Matt (25:54):
Yeah, that's a good idea.
Kate (25:56):
so seven potential interns have already responded.
Yes.
Thea (26:02):
Great.
Matt (26:02):
Wait, you're a diet going through those now.
Are you?
Kate (26:06):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I sent out the note.
So do you want to be in thesquad game, but startup style?
Matt (26:13):
Well
Kate (26:14):
I realized now that I forgot to put a title on the
email, but people are agreeingto it.
Matt (26:22):
Okay.
Well, let's all like tools downfor the night.
Um, yeah, once, once the drinkstart going down, the tools
should stay down and, um, youknow, what.
Eric (26:36):
You too, Matt.
Yeah.
Thea (26:37):
a, there's a, listing for a murder doll on Craigslist.
Do you think I should go getthat for the squid games?
Kate (26:44):
yes.
What is it?
Thea (26:48):
Uh,
Kate (26:49):
Did they include pictures?
Thea (26:51):
Yeah, they didn't include pictures and the, uh,
description is a littleesoteric, but I'm pretty sure
it's like that all in like redlight, green light, you know, it
goes like at
Kate (27:04):
that's scary.
Thea (27:05):
fire.
Kate (27:06):
Oh yeah.
Matt (27:07):
not going to do the squid game games on the internet.
Eric (27:11):
Right.
Is this over zoom too?
Thea (27:14):
I just thought we could adapt it, you know?
And like you have to read theoriginal fiction to adapt it.
Like you have to get the firstedition of of Notre Dame.
If you're to adapt it into amusical set in a mall in the
1980s.
Matt (27:38):
well, it's your team's budget.
You have.
You do that?
Look, I am.
I've been out of the server roomfor awhile and why most of our
stuff is on, on PagerDuty.
There's still a few things thatare just beeps and boops inside
the cage.
So, uh, I'm going to have to goget back to it.
Kate (27:53):
before you
Eric (27:54):
come help out.
Kate (27:55):
I just want to let you know that I bought you all a
holiday present and it should becoming.
Thea (28:02):
that.
Kate (28:03):
It's fine.
I love it because you're all mysiblings slash parents.
And.
I got you all couches.
I used our website to buy youcouches.
Now you have three new coucheseach coming to you.
Yeah.
Matt (28:24):
okay.
God, where am I going to put it?
Uh, okay.
Thank
Kate (28:29):
I'll know if you return them.
Eric (28:32):
That's true.
Matt (28:33):
do you want.
Thea (28:35):
Um, I'm sorry.
I have removed all furniturefrom my house until I come up
with a new name.
So there a place we could likestore those here, you know,
until, until I'm like notallowing myself to sit on
furniture you notice.
I am on the
Kate (28:55):
Yeah, right right, Uh, should we use John's office?
Thea (29:02):
I mean, it's not
Matt (29:03):
Oh, that's a good idea.
Yeah.
Kate (29:06):
Okay.
Okay.
I'll have them shipped here.
Not a problem, Kelsey.
Yeah.
Anyway.
Yep.
Matt, you cargo.
Matt (29:17):
You guys, Hey, enjoy the rest of the party.
Okay.
We're this is a hard time.
It's a confusing time, butwe're, we're pushing through it.
This is not how it's going to beforever.
Okay.
It's not just going to be crisisafter crisis.
Kate (29:30):
Nope.
Eric (29:32):
Yeah, well, Sean.
Kate (29:34):
Great.
Okay.
I guess I should stop therecording or Eric, did you have
more emotions you want to share?
Eric (29:40):
that's good.
Kate (29:42):
Okay.
Eric (29:42):
Thank you.
All
Ben (29:45):
This meeting has ended.
To subscribe to this startup isbeing recorded.
Go to the podcast player of yourchoice and tap a button that
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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.
(30:05):
Valerie is a health tech productmanager and regularly plays with
the improv troupe letters tochicken online.
You can find her on Twitter atthe vulgaris.
Eric has played by Barry.
Right.
Barry is a product manager atSpotify and a co-founder of
high-wire improv.
Find him by his name onLinkedIn, where he holds regular
office hoursor@highwireimprov.com.
Matt is played by MartinMaguire.
(30:27):
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.
Califia is played by RobinStegman.
Robin 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 oursteaky.
(30:49):
Thank you for listening.
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.
Yeah, the recording's on now.
Um, Great.
So this is a kind of,
Matt (00:32):
oh, sorry.
Kate (00:33):
sorry.
It's okay, man.
It's okay.
I know this is kind of a spur ofthe moment meeting.
Um, but Eric felt, it was reallyimportant even though, you know,
we're holiday parties happeningright now, um, to, to have a
quick retrospective.
Oh, I guess I'll just, you know,it was kind of myself.
Matt's here.
Eric's here.
Thea's here.
Uh, John.
(00:55):
John.
I saw him grab a bottle of vodkaand just, uh, leave about an
hour ago.
So I, I don't, I don't know Itexted him, but I assume he's
probably not going to bake it.
Matt (01:03):
Yeah, it's pretty classic.
Kate (01:06):
Yup.
Um, anyway, uh, let's do quick,quick interest, I guess, if
anyone listens to this later on,who's a new employee.
Thea (01:15):
I'm Kelly I am the chief creative czar of the company.
Matt (01:23):
oh, I can go.
I'm a matt.yachts and I am theCT.
Kate (01:29):
uh, Eric.
Eric (01:31):
Yeah.
Um, so I've just been watchingthe clock, um, uh, Eric joy
Carter, and I am chief productofficer, uh, and, uh, call the,
I call this ad hoc meeting.
So thanks everyone for jumpingon.
Kate (01:44):
Yeah.
Uh, and I'm Kate Blanchet.
I'm chief of staff of Metromarket, or I forgot Metro
market.
Well, Ben at is kind of ourname, right?
Not a Merck.
It was her name.
I'm sorry.
Cider just makes me reallyemotional.
Matt (02:01):
no.
Okay.
Kate (02:01):
so much good cider here,
Matt (02:02):
I mean, Metta Metamarkets seller name, we've got a lot of
red tape to get through, so.
Eric (02:08):
And we'll always be part of the.
Kate (02:10):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
So we're a couch marketplacestill, even though our name is
changing to something else.
Um, Eric, you want to take itfrom.
Eric (02:22):
Yeah.
Um, so thanks everyone forjoining.
I'm waiting for it.
So it's going to be midnight ina couple of minutes here.
I'm just watching the clock.
Uh, I, every may have noticedI've been running around, been
pretty busy this month, um, aspart of the.
Personal reflection throughoutthis year, I've decided to
celebrate every winter holiday.
(02:43):
Um, and, but so in the, in that,in that, you know, kind of run
down the 22nd is the daybetween, or right after the
winter solstice, but beforeFestivus, uh, and so, um, it
felt like the right time for meto treat that as my new year.
Um, so I, I just wanted to bringus all together and.
(03:04):
I do like just a retrospectiveon, on us, like this, this
leadership constellation, um,you know, what's been working
for us over the last year.
What's been working for thecompany.
Um, you know, there's been a lotof change and it's, I, it felt
like the right time.
So I know it's a little bit, uh,odd to do it in the middle of
the holiday party, but I feltlike everyone was going to come
(03:26):
with their truest raw feelings,uh, now
Matt (03:30):
oh, feelings.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm, I've been workingon, you know, Mike, Mike end of
quarter, end of, uh, end of yearstuff in general, but I.
I don't
Eric (03:40):
oh, no, no, no, I don't.
I don't care about any of thecorporate OKR or any of your
personal, okay.
Ours.
This is, this is a retrospectiveon us on, on, on our people.
Our, our, our minds that thetime we spend it is it is an
expansive retrospective.
Anything is on the table todiscuss.
Matt (04:01):
Okay.
Sorry.
You caught me on the way fromthe bathroom back to the server
room, uh, where I'm pulling theovernight so that my team can go
to the holiday party.
Have you all been drinking?
Kate (04:13):
Yeah,
Eric (04:14):
yeah.
A
Matt (04:14):
so.
Like I would hope so.
Okay.
Is that Eric?
Is that what prompted this?
You, you haven't some FICAfields you've had.
Okay.
Well,
Kate (04:24):
I didn't know about.
Matt (04:26):
I guess surprised was part of it.
Otherwise
Eric (04:28):
I, it can't be pre-planned it can't be premeditated.
It's gotta be how you reallyfeel.
And if that means you're upset,I want to know.
Thea (04:37):
Could I
Eric (04:37):
to know.
Thea (04:37):
before we start this, I mean, always love a good deep
reflection, and I am feelingreally great for you guys.
I'm in a very vulnerable moment.
Okay.
And I'm just worried that if weshare what we're feeling like,
you know, as people after thisyear that we might become
friends and I can't do that.
(05:00):
if we could all just.
Keep this as professional aspossible.
That would be really helpful forme.
Kate (05:07):
okay, but you all are my best friends.
Matt (05:13):
Oh, Kate.
That's really sweet.
Thea (05:15):
K.
Kate (05:16):
I mean, I have other best friends too, but I think there
should be no limit to bestfriends.
Matt (05:24):
Yeah.
Have, have all the best friendsyou can.
Kate (05:27):
I think, and I think we're like family.
Actually, I was thinking aboutrewriting the culture statement
on our website for, you know,people who were trying to hire
to talk about how we're familyand friends and, um, you know,
partners and, and we're ninjastogether.
And we're like astronauts that,you know, when astronauts go,
(05:50):
they have to tie themselvestogether.
So if they float into space,they never know actually why
they have to do that.
But I assume it's.
Matt (05:57):
why.
Yeah.
That is why it's like Arcticclimbers.
That's a buddy system.
So if one person drifts and theycan be.
Kate (06:06):
Arctic climbers.
That's another great thing thatwe are all to each other.
Matt (06:13):
okay.
I just, I just want to take aquick moment.
We're just talking aboutfeelings, right?
We're not creating actionableanything out of this meeting.
Right.
Eric (06:21):
no, I mean, it's, it's, it's just a retrospective, you
know, I think it's more abouthow we interact with one
another.
And if you want to, if you wantto do something about that, that
that's up to you, but.
Matt (06:31):
Okay.
Well, I'm, I'm pretty new here.
Um, I've only been with thecompany for a couple months, but
I can say, um, you know, this isa team that really wants things
to work.
And I really appreciate thatabout all of you.
I haven't met anyone really hereat, at Metta market.
That's not pulling their ownweight and then some more.
(06:55):
And, um, you know, that, thatjust feels nice.
That's why, uh, you know, Ireally want to help give my team
breaks where they can, uh, causesmall teams doing, doing hard
work.
And, um, when it comes to thisgroup here, um, I mean,
obviously we're, we're on thestream.
I don't want to go too deep intothis stuff now, but like, um,
(07:16):
you know, we're, we're, we'rethick as thieves.
Kate (07:18):
Yeah, I got you.
We're all like weightlifters toeach other and thieves.
Okay, sure.
I'll put that on the websitetoo.
I love how I can just change thewebsite by myself.
This such a good idea to set upthis platform.
Matt (07:34):
yeah.
K, you're not putting that.
You're not putting that on thejob site right now.
Are you?
I, I wouldn't.
Kate (07:41):
No time like the present.
Matt (07:44):
I wouldn't put any of those things we've talked about
so far, like these are, theseare what happens in this room,
stays in this room other thanthe livestream, obviously.
Eric (07:52):
It's a retrospective.
We're just kind of sharing.
It just stays with us.
And you know, that's why Kathy,you don't have to worry about us
becoming best friends becauseall of this is going to
disappear after theretrospectives over.
Thea (08:02):
okay.
Matt (08:03):
right.
I was also thinking, I thinksince Eric called this, and once
Eric is the one that wants thefeedback, Kathy, you could just.
Cover your ears and then youwouldn't have to learn how we
feel.
And that would probably keep.
Thea (08:17):
I would be, I would be really helpful.
I mean, yeah, really great.
I will say that, um, I did breakup with one of my best friends I
left our religious retreatbecause I no longer wanted to be
part of that family.
So I do have one opening, um,now for somebody to raise up in
(08:42):
the circle, uh,
Kate (08:46):
So this is kind of like an audition.
Eric (08:50):
I
Kate (08:50):
anyone ever.
Eric (08:52):
it's not going to be one of us.
Thea (08:54):
I mean, it very well could
Eric (08:56):
Wow.
Wow.
Really?
Thea (08:59):
not for best friend.
I'm probably gonna raisesomebody else, but, know, as I
raised that, that leaves oneperson on the lower tiers.
Um, and.
I haven't been at networkingevents in the past of weeks
because I had been working sohard on the name.
So, you
Matt (09:19):
yeah.
Thea (09:19):
what, fuck it.
It might be one of you guys.
Kate (09:23):
Well,
Thea (09:24):
That's a lot for my brand to take in right now, but it's
the truth.
Kate (09:31):
Eric, how are you feeling?
I feel like you've been so greatand asked us how we're feeling.
How are you feeling?
Eric (09:39):
I, you know, I'm, I'm feeling, I'm feeling a lot right
now.
I feel like this has been soturbulent, uh, the last year,
Kate (09:47):
um, like we were like we're pilots together.
Co-pilots yes.
Okay.
Sorry.
Go ahead.
Eric (09:57):
no, no, that's, that's, that's, that's not quite it.
I guess.
I, I feel like it's, you know,we've had to change our name.
We've had to change ourbusiness.
W we, we, we burned a housedown.
Um, and all of this has kind ofjust like weighing on me a
little bit and, you know, I justwanna to.
To admit that to everybody it's,it's, it's been, it's been
(10:19):
pushing some of my dreams out.
It's been pushing, I'm notsleeping well.
And I just want to make surethat other people weren't going
through the same thing.
Thea (10:30):
No Derrick my last guy, Alaska trip, I the Baldy.
Eric (10:39):
What.
Thea (10:39):
he's not happy.
I thought told you as much thathe to go.
He loved couches so much.
That is how he wanted to go.
But I don't think that anymore.
I think that was not in theplan.
And now I feel really bad aboutit.
(11:01):
I'm not used to feeling badabout my actions cause I a
cleansing fire.
Eric (11:09):
um, I don't know that I've ever heard you admit anything
like that kind of theater.
That's really helpful.
I didn't realize I wasn't theonly one going through some of
this with the stress ofeverything going on and, um,
Thea (11:25):
I keep one of his Eagle feathers underneath my keyboard.
Kate (11:30):
oh,
Matt (11:31):
um, so I'm a little lost.
Are we talking about our realEagle?
I thought this was just a visionyou had when you were doing the
iOS.
Thea (11:41):
No, the Eagle.
Kate (11:43):
the one that got hurt by one of our couches, supposedly
that there was the lawsuit about
Matt (11:50):
oh,
Kate (11:51):
at that meeting.
I, cause I could send you thetranscript.
Eric (11:55):
Yeah.
That's why we have to all of ourgiving, giving Tuesday donations
to the U S national wildlifefund.
Matt (12:04):
Good organization.
And you know, it's nice that thegovernment is now actually
putting more weight behind theendangered species list.
Um, but listen, I knoweverybody's stressed out where
it's never fun when you'retrying to pull a fast one and,
you know, we wouldn't betiptoeing around, uh, doing
(12:25):
espionage if we were in a normalsituation.
You know, this is investing inAmerica.
Like we are, we're a techcompany and we are in the
gauntlet and it's not fair.
I mean, this is the squid gameand we're all the competitors
and the VCs, they have themoney.
Kate (12:45):
a good one.
Okay.
We're all competitors in squidgame together.
Join us.
We have three open roles.
Matt (12:53):
not super good for a hiring website.
Eric (12:55):
Yeah.
It doesn't only one of them.
Matt (12:57):
Yeah.
And the rest done.
Um, which, which I think as ametaphor for like companies that
are competing for a small poolof big change, that that is a
more apt metaphor.
Kate (13:10):
okay.
That's a great point.
I'll put that on ourdifferentiator.
Um, you know, page.
Thea (13:17):
we just, could we really lean into that?
And could we have.
40 people come into his zoominterview together and put them
through a test or challenges andslowly have them filter out.
Um, I'm not talking murder, I'mjust talking, showing them the
Kate (13:37):
murder.
Thea (13:39):
that
Eric (13:40):
Nope.
No, I think he took the wrongwords out of that, Kate.
Um,
Kate (13:46):
I, I love that idea, you know, and we have that winter
internship that starting inJanuary, we have so many people
applying for that.
Um, yeah, people who lovestartups.
Let me just write up a littlenote to them.
Um, I love this.
(14:07):
I just love how talking aboutour emotions leads to so much.
Action.
I'm getting so much done so muchmore done than I thought I would
in the holiday party.
Eric (14:18):
honestly, this is, it's just supposed to be a sharing of
feelings.
Like it's a retrospective.
We don't have to have any actionitems or follow-ups, or you
don't have to take all of thisand go do stuff.
You're, you're always, alwaysdoing stuff with everything.
Like that's, I, I feel likeevery word I say, I put
something on your to-do list andI don't want that burden on
sometimes.
I just want to be able to think.
Kate (14:40):
That's so nice.
You know, if you, I talkingabout emotions and to do lists,
sometimes put emotions on myto-do list.
Because I find that I'mneglecting certain things, you
know, when you're so busy andthe way to really not neglect is
(15:02):
to, to do
Thea (15:06):
Kate, is that why we've seen laugh on your to-do list?
Kate (15:10):
yes.
Yes.
That one specifically came frommy sister.
She said, I don't think you'vedone this in awhile.
I said, you know how you do it?
You to do it.
Matt (15:23):
I I've been wondering, um, like how, how are you in
general?
It's it seems like.
You really have taken on a lot,not just here at the company and
peripherally people related tothe company, but in your, in
your home life and, and your,your personal dealings.
Um, when do you get.
Kate (15:46):
I have a break.
You're right.
I should put that on my to-dolist.
So I guess I'm wondering when Itake a.
What, what do you do during
Thea (16:00):
Um, okay.
Okay.
Kate, I feel like, I feel likeneed to have some about self
care and I feel like this is allof us, you know, I feel like I
(16:21):
been carrying.
A baby for a while.
And didn't realize that the babyis not Bugsby, but the baby is
you.
Kate (16:31):
oh, so sweet.
Maybe I don't need to be yourbest friend.
I could be like your, yourchild.
Wait, am I happy about that?
Eric (16:44):
no, no, I'm going to go, I'm going to say, I'm going to,
I'm going to say no.
Matt (16:48):
I mean, it's not my place, but, um,
Eric (16:53):
Yeah, I know we're not supposed to interrupt during the
retrospective, but I'm going to,I'm going to interrupt and say
no, that's,
Thea (17:00):
I just missed them so much.
And I feel like my maternalenergy is not going towards
Eddie thing.
You know, I just stare at awhiteboard with our names all
day.
And it's because I'm not in acreation mode because my
creation has decided to stay inthe Arctic possibly perpetually.
Eric (17:24):
I mean, isn't that, I mean, it wasn't that part of the
mission of Bugsby in the, in thefirst place to create, create
something that was bigger thanits.
Thea (17:39):
yeah, bug SPI has been successful for everybody, in
that process, I realized thatbugs me.
In his purest form is no longerserving me.
that feels selfish.
What if I'm the person who can'tliberate bugs, SPE?
Matt (17:58):
oh, Califia I don't think those feelings are selfish.
I think if, I mean, obviouslyyou've put so much of yourself
into Bugsby you're going to missthose pieces.
If you're, if you're not stillin touch with.
Thea (18:13):
yeah, I just feel like ghost.
Good as it gets my core as afreedom fighter to fight against
bugs.
Peace, freedom.
Kate (18:26):
Uh, maybe it's just cause I've been drinking, but like I'm
lost.
So we're definitely talkingabout bugs be again, right?
Our mascot, our,
Eric (18:38):
the lifeblood of our creative
Kate (18:41):
I was excited for you to be my mother because I'm a human
and I thought maybe that was youprogressing, but I feel like
you're not.
Thea (18:53):
Kate, you were excited about me taking a maternal role
over you because you don'tbelieve that I can be a maternal
figure to bugs B.
Is that what you're saying?
Kate (19:06):
Sort of E.
I just, I was starting toimagine our little family, like
if I was the baby.
And if you were the mommy thenwould Matt or Eric be the daddy
or would we have like a
Matt (19:23):
like a cool neighbor or something.
Thea (19:25):
first of all, there can be unconventional family they
Kate (19:29):
Okay.
Or.
Thea (19:30):
to be in this family structure is what I mean.
Kate (19:33):
Okay.
What are you all?
Yeah.
What do you feel like your rolein this family structure is Eric
and Matt.
I just kind of, don't want totalk about bugs, getting into
the womb of my womb shit.
So.
Matt (19:48):
okay.
Um, I mean, I think of myself asthe S the CTO, and I know that's
not what you're looking for.
Um, I don't know.
I, um, I think of myself maybeas, um, the elder son who went
away and found success in theworld and, uh, has now had to
(20:09):
return home as the family hassuffered a crisis and they need
someone to see them.
Kate (20:17):
oh,
Eric (20:20):
wow.
I saw myself as the, as like theyoungest son.
Is trying to live up to allthese expectations and doesn't
really know if they're doingwhat they're doing because they
want to, or because they alreadysaw their older siblings do it
or trying to figure out theirown identity.
And are we all just John's kids
Kate (20:45):
Oh,
Eric (20:46):
No, that's, that's terrifying.
Matt (20:48):
that's kind of where my head was at.
Yeah.
Thea (20:51):
I was, I w I am the older sister who was parentified at a
very young age, who feels likeshe,
Kate (20:58):
Hmm.
Thea (20:59):
To be creative, but feels like she has to, you know,
nurture
Kate (21:06):
Wow.
So we all just have like daddyproblems.
So.
Eric (21:12):
yeah, I mean, what's the last time we saw
Kate (21:16):
John.
I mean,
Eric (21:17):
not I, um, I wasn't going to John.
Kate (21:20):
yeah.
I mean, we saw, I saw him anhour ago when he came in and
took that vodka bottle, but tobe fair, he was trying to do
that secretly.
So people couldn't see him, butI did.
Eric (21:33):
like the last time I saw John just, know, put a bunch of
papers on my desk and I didn'treally even fully like see his
face.
He just put, put some of likecontracts down for, you know,
what we need to do to change ourname and wow.
Matt (21:51):
I mean, the last time I saw John was, um, I thought he
had stood me up for ourquarterly ramen date and catch
up and.
I went to leave and pay, uh, Iactually saw him leaving with
someone else.
Um, I didn't say anything.
I just, it was awkward because Ican't be a hundred percent sure
(22:11):
it was him, but like, it washim, you know, who held
Eric (22:14):
it's definitely, of course.
Matt (22:15):
Yeah.
I mean, that's a custom Teslathat he drives.
I don't know who else was.
Thea (22:21):
Yeah.
I last saw him when he invitedme out to a little meet and
greet on Jack Dorsey's yacht andhe just.
Introduced me to Jack Dorseysaid, do something.
And then he jumped into thewater and there was a smaller
boat in the water
Matt (22:35):
my God.
I'm so sorry.
Califia
Eric (22:39):
my God.
Thea (22:42):
nothing to say to Jack Dorsey.
Matt (22:44):
no, um,
Thea (22:46):
I mean, you can't sell couches on Twitter
Matt (22:50):
Oh, God,
Kate (22:51):
We do
Thea (22:52):
extremist.
Matt (22:53):
that
Eric (22:53):
even buy them with block.
Matt (22:56):
yeah, I meant, I don't know if we've updated the list
Califia but, um,
Eric (23:01):
Oh,
Matt (23:02):
still runs square, uh, sorry, block now as of December
10th.
Uh, so they've taken the nameblock and they also have taken
the name spiral.
Um,
Eric (23:12):
Spiral.
Matt (23:13):
And I know we were thinking about things related to
couches and Springs.
Kate (23:16):
Yeah.
Eric (23:18):
Well, what can we just put TBD on the documents for now?
Matt (23:22):
you know, what, the, the article that I read, um, on CNBC
it's, it's not a hundred percentclear, but I think square also
has a cryptocurrency focusdivision that seems to be named
TBD, or it could have been anerror in the CNBC document.
I have.
I feel, I know we've been usingthose placeholders, your app
teams been doing a great job,finding places where we've
(23:44):
hard-coded in Mehta market andgetting ready for the name
change.
But we've got to be carefulabout TBD too.
Eric (23:50):
thanks.
Yeah, no, I appreciate it.
It's good to hear that, youknow, it's um,
Matt (23:55):
Anyway, fucking Dorsey.
Excuse my language.
Kate (24:01):
anyway.
Okay.
So we're all, we're allchildren.
We have problems with ourfather, John, and I don't know.
I know Eric, we're not supposedto like come up with resolutions
necessarily, but I feel like, Ifeel like we should, there
should be something like that.
(24:21):
Or do you just want us to staysad like this all year?
Eric (24:27):
now, I mean, now, now we know this is not where I
expected it to go, but I mean, Ithink we needed to all, all come
to this realization.
I don't know.
Did we just, do we tell John weneed to meet with them more
often or do we just rely on eachother?
Matt (24:45):
I guess what we've been doing?
Thea (24:49):
Yeah,
Eric (24:50):
I feel like I've been holding back the waiting,
waiting for him to come in andyeah.
Yeah.
Kate (24:55):
No.
Eric (24:56):
Why do that?
And yeah, just screw, screw him.
Kate (24:59):
Yeah.
We are the boxcar children.
Eric (25:03):
Yes.
That's the one.
Matt (25:05):
Uh, I kind of remember those.
Kate (25:09):
Where I remember how many of them there were, but they
were definitely orphaned, suchas lived in the woods, in the
box car for at least half of abook.
And that's where we are.
We're in.
Oh, this is going, this is goingto be such a good way to
convince people to be on thewebsite.
Matt (25:28):
Uh, Kate, please, please.
Don't use that.
Eric (25:30):
Yeah, we don't need to change any.
Kate (25:32):
I'm putting I'm using Photoshop, which thank you,
Cathy, for giving me access to,to put our heads inside of box
cars, everyone will understandit.
Matt (25:43):
I know.
I think you need to be moreclear.
Eric (25:46):
I think, I think we'll, we'll just lock the site until
the start of the year.
When we do the name.
Matt (25:54):
Yeah, that's a good idea.
Kate (25:56):
so seven potential interns have already responded.
Yes.
Thea (26:02):
Great.
Matt (26:02):
Wait, you're a diet going through those now.
Are you?
Kate (26:06):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I sent out the note.
So do you want to be in thesquad game, but startup style?
Matt (26:13):
Well
Kate (26:14):
I realized now that I forgot to put a title on the
email, but people are agreeingto it.
Matt (26:22):
Okay.
Well, let's all like tools downfor the night.
Um, yeah, once, once the drinkstart going down, the tools
should stay down and, um, youknow, what.
Eric (26:36):
You too, Matt.
Yeah.
Thea (26:37):
a, there's a, listing for a murder doll on Craigslist.
Do you think I should go getthat for the squid games?
Kate (26:44):
yes.
What is it?
Thea (26:48):
Uh,
Kate (26:49):
Did they include pictures?
Thea (26:51):
Yeah, they didn't include pictures and the, uh,
description is a littleesoteric, but I'm pretty sure
it's like that all in like redlight, green light, you know, it
goes like at
Kate (27:04):
that's scary.
Thea (27:05):
fire.
Kate (27:06):
Oh yeah.
Matt (27:07):
not going to do the squid game games on the internet.
Eric (27:11):
Right.
Is this over zoom too?
Thea (27:14):
I just thought we could adapt it, you know?
And like you have to read theoriginal fiction to adapt it.
Like you have to get the firstedition of of Notre Dame.
If you're to adapt it into amusical set in a mall in the
1980s.
Matt (27:38):
well, it's your team's budget.
You have.
You do that?
Look, I am.
I've been out of the server roomfor awhile and why most of our
stuff is on, on PagerDuty.
There's still a few things thatare just beeps and boops inside
the cage.
So, uh, I'm going to have to goget back to it.
Kate (27:53):
before you
Eric (27:54):
come help out.
Kate (27:55):
I just want to let you know that I bought you all a
holiday present and it should becoming.
Thea (28:02):
that.
Kate (28:03):
It's fine.
I love it because you're all mysiblings slash parents.
And.
I got you all couches.
I used our website to buy youcouches.
Now you have three new coucheseach coming to you.
Yeah.
Matt (28:24):
okay.
God, where am I going to put it?
Uh, okay.
Thank
Kate (28:29):
I'll know if you return them.
Eric (28:32):
That's true.
Matt (28:33):
do you want.
Thea (28:35):
Um, I'm sorry.
I have removed all furniturefrom my house until I come up
with a new name.
So there a place we could likestore those here, you know,
until, until I'm like notallowing myself to sit on
furniture you notice.
I am on the
Kate (28:55):
Yeah, right right, Uh, should we use John's office?
Thea (29:02):
I mean, it's not
Matt (29:03):
Oh, that's a good idea.
Yeah.
Kate (29:06):
Okay.
Okay.
I'll have them shipped here.
Not a problem, Kelsey.
Yeah.
Anyway.
Yep.
Matt, you cargo.
Matt (29:17):
You guys, Hey, enjoy the rest of the party.
Okay.
We're this is a hard time.
It's a confusing time, butwe're, we're pushing through it.
This is not how it's going to beforever.
Okay.
It's not just going to be crisisafter crisis.
Kate (29:30):
Nope.
Eric (29:32):
Yeah, well, Sean.
Kate (29:34):
Great.
Okay.
I guess I should stop therecording or Eric, did you have
more emotions you want to share?
Eric (29:40):
that's good.
Kate (29:42):
Okay.
Eric (29:42):
Thank you.
All
Ben (29:45):
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.
(30:05):
Valerie is a health tech productmanager and regularly plays with
the improv troupe letters tochicken online.
You can find her on Twitter atthe vulgaris.
Eric has played by Barry.
Right.
Barry is a product manager atSpotify and a co-founder of
high-wire improv.
Find him by his name onLinkedIn, where he holds regular
office hoursor@highwireimprov.com.
Matt is played by MartinMaguire.
(30:27):
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.
Califia is played by RobinStegman.
Robin 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 oursteaky.
(30:49):
Thank you for listening.
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