4 things I learned at Unsplash so far
Hi there, I’m Wyn! 👋
I graduated from McGill University in 2018 and joined Unsplash as part of the Partnerships team in October of the same year. I wanted to share a few things I learned that other people might find useful.
1. Partnerships is a rollercoaster
I quickly learned that this role is a rollercoaster. There are plenty of ups and downs. One example that sticks out for me is a company that I was talking to in my first month. I set up a couple calls with them to discuss Unsplash’s API and the way I imagined their users could benefit from it. As both parties were extremely excited by the prospect of an integration, things were going smoothly.
However, it was too good to be true. While I had envisioned a direct integration on their platform, they saw Unsplash as another service in their plugin marketplace. What ended up killing an API integration was their requirement that we pay $100k a year to just be exposed on their platform.
While we had spent a lot of time discussing the integration through email chains and calls, it didn’t matter as both parties were on vastly different wavelengths. This experience was eye-opening in that basic things, such as how the API would actually be implemented and used in their service, was overlooked.
I learned to manage expectations and to always think about the next potential API partner. Situations can always change and you need to be able to move on quickly when things don’t work out.
2. Be direct and keep things short and sweet
On the partnerships team, we spend a lot of time writing, reading, and sending emails. I’ve come to realize there’s an art to crafting emails and it’s difficult to write one that people want to open and reply to. By no means am I already perfect at it, but in four months I’ve seen a lot of progress in how I draft emails.
Re-reading the first emails I sent at Unsplash, I saw that they were long-winded, full of unnecessary information, and were quite formal in tone. People are busy! They want to read content that’s easy to digest and has value to them. The most useful tips I could give in writing emails is to keep them short and to be upfront about what you’re offering.
To my surprise, I actually got a response to the very first email I sent out! My joy was quickly crushed when it turned out that this potential partner had a sister company that was one of our competitors. An integration just couldn’t happen. A stark reminder that this job is full of highs and lows (see lesson #1).
3. The multi-uses of Trello
My teammates have talked about how much they use Trello, but it wasn’t until I started at Unsplash that I understood the extent of it. I’ve known Trello before as a productivity tool and even tried it for personal use, but I didn’t find it intuitive.
It’s safe to say that my opinion has completely changed. Trello is a game-changer. When I get to work, I check Trello before I even check my email and it’s an essential tool to Unsplash being built. We use it to manage projects, assign tasks, track deadlines, and, most importantly, keep a list of snacks that we want for the office.
For the work that I do, I always imagined that I would be using Salesforce, HubSpot CRM, or some other specialized CRM (customer relationship management) tool. I never thought Trello could be used as one.
But there it is. Although this would be difficult to do at scale, Trello gives me flexibility in how I want things to be organized, easy visualization of where each company is at in the partnerships funnel, and allows me to provide plenty of documentation and context for each company.
The major advantage of using Trello in this manner is that my teammates already use it and I didn’t need to sign up or learn how to use another tool. On the partnerships side, Steph and Chris can quickly get caught up to what I’ve been working on and help in any way that they can.
4. The reach and impact of Unsplash
Before joining Unsplash, I heard and read a lot about how creators from all around the world contribute to the platform. The impact is incredible and the metrics are pretty jaw-dropping. Here are two stats about Unsplash that I found particularly impressive: there are over 9 billion photo views a month with 20 photos being downloaded per second.
To me, this still felt a bit abstract. I didn’t fully understand the reach that Unsplash had until I uploaded a few of my own photos.
I was shocked that my photos — unedited and taken directly from my iPhone — had over 160k views. Admittedly, there are plenty of creators who get more views on their photos but that’s not the point. My photos were being downloaded to be used in projects, applications, and as background wallpapers. It felt good to share something with the world that gave people joy and utility.
Without Unsplash, these photos would just be sitting on my phone and would be lucky to be seen sporadically. This is an audience that I never imagined I could have. I hope this motivates some of you to share your photos with the world!
Feel free to view and use my photos!
If you want to chat about Unsplash or about our API, don’t hesitate to reach out.
