I have a hard time making the 40 hours work week my friend and my ally. It and I seem to be playing a game of chicken: who gives up first. Right now, we are at a stalemate: we agree to disagree.
First of all, I am only considering this in the context of “creative industries” where people are expected to dream up new things, to come up with elegant solutions to problems, to go the extra mile and deliver superior, innovative results, constantly— the exact opposite of the context where it first appeared, in the Industrial Revolution.
Secondly, let…
Ever since I’ve deep-dived head-first no-safety-line into this adventure of co-founding Pixelgrade my life has changed, in unexpected ways. Little did I know at the time I would be taking the ride of my life, that I will be fulfilled and energized beyond my wildest dreams while being stretched and challenged to breaking point and beyond. It’s probably for the best as some things should not be known from the start.
Some would think a founder brings its experience and knowledge and sets to purposely give shape to this thing we call a business. It hasn’t worked like that for…
We at Pixelgrade have been going through some sort of an epiphany since we’ve embarked on the process to clarify who we are, why and what we are doing, what are our expectations from each other. In fancier terms, we’ve defined our core values, mission, principles, long term strategy, and last but not least, a big ass BHAG.
Early on in this process I’ve been confronted with a soul shaking paradigm: “Guys, in the end it’s Up or Out!” Say what ?!?! Just like that? You are talking about people here, about my teammates, about my second family. …
How can you start with NO and then move to YES? The proper, decent, sane business approach would be to start with one or more YESes (just to stay positive) and then, when the need arises, with NOs. That’s just good customer relations and ultimately good business.
You would probably think so but I would beg to differ (I tend to differ on many things ☺). My focus is not selling sodas, toothpaste or cars here — my concern is the creative business of digital products on the web. …
This is the story of our ongoing endeavor into the web, making a living off it and retaining some common sense and decency in the process.
The lessons I am trying to pass around here should be taken with a pinch of salt as they are quite subjective, based on years of trial and a whole lot of errors. And that’s just fine for us.
The web is buzzing with marketing talk, business insight, the next big thing, how to make it, what not to do, investor’s advice, growth, scaling, and, my personal favorite category, “how to go from zero…
Vlad Olaru
Curious human, hopeless optimist, media and web enthusiast. Co-founder and CTO at Pixelgrade | https://pixelgrade.com
