Mr JeffProphets and Professionals
I wrote most of this with my colleague, Mallory in late 2018, when we were both at Wise (formerly TransferWise). That’s why it’s a bit more readable. -- How to think about the tensions scaling up a startup This is too simple, but hear me out. You can split start-up people into two camps. Some we’ll call Prophets. The others are Professionals. Organizations like Wise have both. Every company has both.Why do we care? Three reasons.The first is that when startups are fortunate enough to grow up ...
Mr JeffPushing yourself to take big risks
I wrote this blog post early in 2017. Besides my day job leading the analysts at Wise (formerly TransferWise) I was also a part of the “planning guild”. There were four of us and our task was to coordinate the quarterly planning cycles for all 35+ internal teams. There was just one problem: planning was broken. -- START --Outgrowing “the way we’ve always done things”Every quarter — over the last 6 years of TransferWise’s existence — each product team has presented their plans to the rest of t...
Mr JeffAn introduction to self leadership
I wrote this in November 2015 while I was at Wise (formerly TransferWise). I wrote it after being completely captured by a book I read called ‘Reinventing Organisations.’ It was such a good book, and it applied so closely to Wise that I couldn’t not write it. I was so inspired by the book an Wise that I wrote this long essay (6000+ words), hosted a long lunch interview on the topic with Wise co-founder Kristo, and got probably 100 Wisers (of 500 at the time) to read the book. Looking back, my...
Co-founder @ salv.com, formerly at Wise & Skype.
Mr JeffProphets and Professionals
I wrote most of this with my colleague, Mallory in late 2018, when we were both at Wise (formerly TransferWise). That’s why it’s a bit more readable. -- How to think about the tensions scaling up a startup This is too simple, but hear me out. You can split start-up people into two camps. Some we’ll call Prophets. The others are Professionals. Organizations like Wise have both. Every company has both.Why do we care? Three reasons.The first is that when startups are fortunate enough to grow up ...
Mr JeffPushing yourself to take big risks
I wrote this blog post early in 2017. Besides my day job leading the analysts at Wise (formerly TransferWise) I was also a part of the “planning guild”. There were four of us and our task was to coordinate the quarterly planning cycles for all 35+ internal teams. There was just one problem: planning was broken. -- START --Outgrowing “the way we’ve always done things”Every quarter — over the last 6 years of TransferWise’s existence — each product team has presented their plans to the rest of t...
Mr JeffAn introduction to self leadership
I wrote this in November 2015 while I was at Wise (formerly TransferWise). I wrote it after being completely captured by a book I read called ‘Reinventing Organisations.’ It was such a good book, and it applied so closely to Wise that I couldn’t not write it. I was so inspired by the book an Wise that I wrote this long essay (6000+ words), hosted a long lunch interview on the topic with Wise co-founder Kristo, and got probably 100 Wisers (of 500 at the time) to read the book. Looking back, my...
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Co-founder @ salv.com, formerly at Wise & Skype.
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The Context: I’ve been brainstorming what, if anything, I could do to help this covid-19 situation. Below is an idea that — obviously — doesn’t solve covid-19, but could help many families in Estonia make the most of the situation. It may even spark something incredible.
The challenge: Many students in Estonia and everywhere are stuck at home and getting restless. They're not able to go to regular classes, enjoy extra-curricular classes, or hang out with their friends. Many parents need to work, and restless kids don't allow for that.
The opportunity: There are tons of interesting people also stuck at home, also getting restless. They also want to do something to help their community keep its sanity throughout Covid-19 but don't know what they could do besides self-isolating.
I'll build a small mobile web app to help interesting people give short video-based learning sessions for school-age kids. The app & all content will be 100% free. Topics will range from cooking, to life in other countries, to singing lessons, to what life is like in startups. The sessions shouldn’t be just lectures, but be highly interactive. Groups will be small (typically 3-7 kids in a session).
The core 'app' will be built in glideapps + google sheets + apps script. I’ve built side projects with this and I know I can build it myself in my free time. Free video conferencing (Hangouts, Zoom, Messenger, WhatsApp) will be used as well as doodle for scheduling. I'll get help to localize it in Estonian & Russian.
Young bright students have an unprecedented opportunity right now to lean into learning. They'll discover that there's a whole world ready to teach them outside of the classroom. Their parents will see them getting positively obsessed with something sparked by one of these sessions.
Interesting people will have a small way to give back to their communities when their communities need it the most. They'll be able to wholeheartedly contribute. They'll also get creative and learn more than a few new skills along the way.
Parents of school age kids - If this existed, would your kids be interested & have time?
Interesting people - would you commit 1-2h a week to share your enthusiasm for a particular topic with curious kids?
I have no intention of pursuing this right now but I’d be delighted to hear if someone is working on something like it. Let me know at mcclelland (dot) jeff at gmail.com
Photo by Ralston Smith on Unsplash
The Context: I’ve been brainstorming what, if anything, I could do to help this covid-19 situation. Below is an idea that — obviously — doesn’t solve covid-19, but could help many families in Estonia make the most of the situation. It may even spark something incredible.
The challenge: Many students in Estonia and everywhere are stuck at home and getting restless. They're not able to go to regular classes, enjoy extra-curricular classes, or hang out with their friends. Many parents need to work, and restless kids don't allow for that.
The opportunity: There are tons of interesting people also stuck at home, also getting restless. They also want to do something to help their community keep its sanity throughout Covid-19 but don't know what they could do besides self-isolating.
I'll build a small mobile web app to help interesting people give short video-based learning sessions for school-age kids. The app & all content will be 100% free. Topics will range from cooking, to life in other countries, to singing lessons, to what life is like in startups. The sessions shouldn’t be just lectures, but be highly interactive. Groups will be small (typically 3-7 kids in a session).
The core 'app' will be built in glideapps + google sheets + apps script. I’ve built side projects with this and I know I can build it myself in my free time. Free video conferencing (Hangouts, Zoom, Messenger, WhatsApp) will be used as well as doodle for scheduling. I'll get help to localize it in Estonian & Russian.
Young bright students have an unprecedented opportunity right now to lean into learning. They'll discover that there's a whole world ready to teach them outside of the classroom. Their parents will see them getting positively obsessed with something sparked by one of these sessions.
Interesting people will have a small way to give back to their communities when their communities need it the most. They'll be able to wholeheartedly contribute. They'll also get creative and learn more than a few new skills along the way.
Parents of school age kids - If this existed, would your kids be interested & have time?
Interesting people - would you commit 1-2h a week to share your enthusiasm for a particular topic with curious kids?
I have no intention of pursuing this right now but I’d be delighted to hear if someone is working on something like it. Let me know at mcclelland (dot) jeff at gmail.com
Photo by Ralston Smith on Unsplash
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