Hustling Out of the Boonies
People usually do a double take when I — calmly and with a straight face — tell them “I’m a hustler”. That’s the sort of privilege that comes with interning at Hustle, a software startup in downtown San Francisco. As a Waterloo CS undergrad smack-dab in the boonies between student and working professional, I wavered between these two identities like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and was never able to reconcile them. But I think there’s a third option: being a Hustler.
Backed by Social Capital, I was confident Hustle would be legit, but fuzzy on the details of what the company actually did. Greeted by Levy, my liaison to the brave new world of San Francisco startup life, we walked to the Apple store as he briefed me on what my role here would be. Trudging back to my sublet that first day, 3.48 pounds heavier, I still had no idea what exactly Hustle was.
Despite not knowing anything really, I started contributing by fixing small bugs. Before I knew it, I found myself six feet deep in React/Redux-land and promising a highly-requested feature known as ‘Response Scripts’. Admin users wanted to be able to set default replies for their agents to use when leads RSVP to events. I committed code across the board: backend, mobile, web. With the entire tech stack in Javascript (node, React, React Native), I barely noticed the difference between coding in web and mobile. There were bugs, stresses, and fixes, but overall Response Scripts was a hit and even helped Hustle enter a new market: Fundraising.
After Response Scripts I shipped out a related feature, ‘Additional Scripts’, allowing admins to add as many scripts as they wanted to a goal, often to include information like the location of an event. Election day was coming up and tensions were running high. A major client requesting Additional Scripts was on the verge of canceling their contract and not only did this feature save the client, but they also upped their contract by 40k. Being a phenomenal supervisor, Levy noticed I was burning out and sent me on a trip to Atlanta where I volunteered with the Georgia Democrats. There, I realized the only way to get people to show up to events is through building relationships. Turns out that’s exactly what Hustle does, and at scale. It was after that trip that I fully understood what Hustle was selling: a solution to organizing.
Now, in my last week at Hustle, I’ve just shipped my final feature ‘MMS’ which allows admins to add photos and gifs to scripts. Looking back, it was incredibly thrilling to build and ship these major features. Of course it would not have been possible without the support of everyone at Hustle. Some of the things I loved most were the code reviews which ripped apart my initial commits and shaped them into something decent. I learned that it’s easy enough to bang out a solution, but the hard part is making that solution good. According to Levy, the best way to do that is KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).
It also rejuvenated my soul to see Bobbi, the adorable office dog, everyday; I particularly love this painting of her by fellow Hustler Tyler:
Fig 1 Chien, the centerpiece of the Hustle office
Most importantly though, I enjoyed working with the people at Hustle and believe in what the company stands for, which is to bring people together by rebuilding and strengthening social institutions from the bottom up. In times like these, the work Hustle is doing is more critical than ever. This TechCrunch article nicely sums up what Hustle is all about.
