s t e l l a t o

Lately, I ask myself “is this from China?” Perhaps I should rephrase the question and think “Why isn’t this from the USA?”

The former is a popular question that more and more people are paying attention too. Perhaps it’s the heightened awareness of workers’ rights and conditions globally, a factor that holds merit. However, I believe more and more people ask the question “is this from China?” for one simple reason. Fear. It is the basic emotion that we innately have to detect the threat of danger, a survival mechanism. Fear could easily stem from the raise in unemployment but for whatever the reason, the question that should be asked is “why isn’t this from the USA?”

Either question creates a complex response. I could write about global sourcing and manufacturing and try to explain the investments made by US entities in foreign markets but that’s not where I would like to focus the conversation. I would rather write about the people, cultures, companies and products that are part of a quiet resurgence in American tradition. Those that have honed their skills over generations and those that are just beginning to share their craft. The masons, fabricators, designers, shoemakers, brewers, distillers…the American craftsman.

Over the next few weeks I will pick a platform to build and curate what I intend to be a rich set of photos, videos, stories, experiences and people that are building.

Oct 19

blog platform

When I started blogging I picked tumblr. However, more then a year ago (give or take) I switched to posterous because I liked the ease of the facebook and twitter integration for comments. Plus their iPhone app was better at the time.

Since Posterous threw me a curveball and totally redesigned their UX I tried to adapt and give it a shot. Posterous now feels overly complicated so I will be switching back to tumblr as my primary tool.

I don’t blog often but that will change over the coming weeks. I plan to add at least one substantial post a week regardless of the topic. I never did find a topic that I wanted to talk about on a regular basis. I explore, share things I like, past experiences and mostly reblog posts I find interesting.

Sep 09

how I got my foot in the door (two years ago, today)

Two years ago today, I stuck my foot in the door at LocaModa.

In my first blog post, No Free Lunch, I discuss how it took me over a year of continually following up with Steve King before he gave me a shot as an unpaid intern that lasted three months before I was offered a fulltime position. I thought I would share the email chain that got me where I am today.

Steve,We last spoke in February and it was to early for you to hire an
inexperienced sales guy.
To be candid, I want to join your team and I want to become a
sales/marketing intern. I am fully employed but I still have the
desire to get on the ground floor and do what it takes to help build a
winning product. I have no problem putting in endless hours.I would be more than happy to discuss further when convenient for you.
Cheers-Gregory Stellato

Steve replied with the following;

Greg, you want to sales intern here? Bust your ass, make calls, dial for dollars, send emails, manage campaigns, log hours of database transfer on SalesForce? If yes then let’s get you in. Thing is, when will you find the time seeing as how you’re working full time?How will this work?
SK

I was fully employed but I knew I had to be on the ground floor of a startup even though I had never been. Without anything to lose, I responded with this;

Steve, to give you some perspective, when I was a headhunter I was
working 80 hours, before I discovered the appeal of startups I wanted
to be an investment banker (100 plus hours)… I love espresso and I
want to bust my ass, make calls and be the little sales bitch that
could. I have said it before, I’m hungry and I want to get my foot in
the door…. so I will do whatever it takes to get some exposure and
learn.I’m not sure how things run in the DOOH ad space but I assume it’s not
a 9 to 5 gig. (previous employer) only allows me to work 36.25 hours a
week…. so I have plenty of time on my hands. I get out of work at
4pm, I’m at Central by 4:30 and I can make calls until whenever the
west coast decides to leave the office. I will work weekends, make
calls at lunch…whatever it takes.

Greg Stellato

If you want something, be persistent, target and go for it. There is no such thing as a free lunch and you have to Act as if.

Aug 20

The Web Outside » Blog Archive » #HereNow: A New LocaModa App

#HereNow: A New LocaModa App

Social media never stands still. In the past few weeks, foursquare has updated their APIs and they have recently announced their events feature. This is a big deal for any company focused on place-based social media. So foregoing summer cookouts and coding through the night, our engineering team has developed LocaModa HereNow, the first digital out-of-home application to compliment foursquare’s events feature.

HereNow has been a concept that we have had for a very long time and something that several clients recommend we build. For reference, we think about what is the best experience from a venue, consumer and then brand perspective and build accordingly. We use social media as a way to build value inside of digital place-based advertising networks (digital out-of-home) with fit for purpose applications. Our fullscreen foursquare application is great for our day-to-day business because our applications are built for schedules that contain a variety of content but in an event setting displaying the Mayor, tips, and total check-ins for more then 30 seconds becomes less then exciting.

That mentality of thinking about the venue first then the consumer has made our products very popular for events whether it’s a concert, NHL game, NBA game, CES or a party with your friends, people love to see their messages on screen and event producers need the ability to moderate.

LocaModa HereNow displays users as they check-in via foursquare front and center alongside their name and where they are from. Behind the scenes, profile photos hit the LocaModa Manager where they can be moderated. The profile photos are then assembled into a background mosaic of check-ins that dynamically updates as more people check-in. The area where the user information is shown rotates with venue safe tips that are controlled in the LocaModa Manager. We have also thought about what will happen when 50 people check-in (swarm!) and so forth. The application displays the appropriate swarm badge when each milestone is reached.

Like all of our applications, LocaModa HereNow includes standard cross-channel ad units that brands can leverage too (skyscraper & fullscreen).

We are already responding to brand and agency demand for the features in LocaModa HereNow so I don’t think we’ll have to wait too long to see this in the wild.

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Jul 26

Jun 24

Thousands of locations are using foursquare check-ins on screens already via locamoda (note: I work for LocaModa).

May 05

The Monster In Your Head » Work-Life Balance is Bullshit

Loved Jerry’s latest post:

In our vain effort to assuage the guilt of not being at the other end of work-life seesaw (regardless of which end we find ourselves on), we end up neither here nor there. Remember running back and forth on the seesaw trying to stand legs apart in the center, one foot in each world, getting both ends to balance? I remember the nasty bump I got in that vain effort.

The real gift is learning to be present in whatever third you’re living. So when you’re working, work. And when you’re loving, love. And when you’re eating, eat. As the wise old Ram Dass said: Be Here Now.

Being present is a challenge but something I strive to do each day. Some days are easier than others.

via bijansabet.com

Work-Life balance has always been a challenge and I’ve been told several times, ‘put down your phone.’ This is a great post & something I will continue to work on.

Mar 24

“When we started, we thought we were looking for smart people, but it turned out that intelligence was not as important as we expected. If you imagine someone with 100 percent determination and 100 percent intelligence, you can discard a lot of intelligence before they stop succeeding. But if you start discarding determination, you very quickly get an ineffectual and perpetual grad student.” — Paul Graham - Money Man - Entrepreneur.com (via bijan)