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How an early Microsoft alum was rejected by the toy industry, then went around it and built one of the world’s biggest board game franchises

How an early Microsoft alum was rejected by the toy industry, then went around it and built one of the world’s biggest board game franchises

By Andrew C. • 26 min read • 6 Comments

“It’s not about how many times you get knocked down; it’s about how many times you get back up.” – Richard Tait, co-creator of Cranium

Tagged With: accomplishment, advertising, amazon, America, Apple, aspiration, autobiography, Barnes & Noble, Bellevue Community College, beverage, beverages, board game, BoomBoom Brands, brand, Britain, career, Cesar Villaluz, character, Charades, computer, computer science, computers, confidence, connections, consulting, conviction, courage, Cranium, creativity, culture, customers, Dartmouth, defeat, demographic, disappointment, discipline, discovery, distribution channel, door that closes, door that opens, doubt, dream, Edinburgh, energy beverage, engineer, entertainment, entrepreneur, facebook, families, feedback, finance, financial models, footprint, friends, game, Game of the Year, games, Gatorade, Giorgio Davanzo, goalkeeper, Golazo, Gordon MacKenzie, green card, Hasbro, Heriot Watt, Howard Schultz, imagination, incubator, insecurity, inspiration, interview, intuition, inventory, investors, iterative design, John Peel, journey, Kinko’s, Latino, leaders, leadership, magic, Magic Johnson, Mattel, mba, Microsoft, Mike Myers, mission, movie, Nike, operations, opportunity, Orbiting the Giant Hairball, passion, perseverance, Philosophy, Pictionary, Pioneer Square, play test, product development, product positioning, programming, Prolog, prototype, QFC, Qwest Field, recession, Red Bull, REI, Richard Branson, Richard Tait, risk, sacrifices, Safeway, Scotland, Scottish, Scrabble, Seattle, Seattle’s Best Coffee, self-confidence, self-doubt, So I Married an Axe Murderer, soccer, soccer players, social network, software, Spanish, stadium, Starbucks, startups, steve jobs, striker, super goal, Target, Tazo Tea, team, technology, tenacity, Toy Fair, toy industry, Toys R Us, traction, trivia, Trivial Pursuit, twitter, Univision, vacation, values, venture capital, Virgin, wall street, Walmart, Washington Youth Soccer Association, Whole Foods, work ethic, World Cup, Yupsters

What a healthcare PhD learned at McKinsey about “relationship capital” that helped him create a new career as a Ruby on Rails software developer

What a healthcare PhD learned at McKinsey about “relationship capital” that helped him create a new career as a Ruby on Rails software developer

By Andrew C. • 23 min read • Leave a Comment

“Part of job satisfaction is knowing that you’re doing a really good job.” – Adarsh Pandit, thoughtbot

Tagged With: Abbott, academic institutions, academic lab, academic papers, academics, administrative work, adviser, alumni databases, Ann Arbor, apprentice, apprentice.io, apprentices, apps, automotive industry, BASIC, beginner, biochemistry, biophysics, biotech products, Boston, business, business degree, business education, career, career office, career path, career shift, careers, cases, ceo, charts, cheap labor, chicago, children, client, client presentations, clients, code, colleagues, college, communication, community, companies, company, computers, connections, consultancies, consultant, consultants, consulting, consulting companies, culture, decision, degree, designers, detroit, developer, developers, development, direction, director, directors, doctor, doctoral candidates, doctoral programs, doctorate, DOS, DOS prompt, drawbacks, economic environment, economy, education, engineer, engineers, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, environment, ethos, European director, experience, extrovert, factories, faculty positions, financial crisis, Financial risks, financial services, firm, flexibility, focus, friend, future, generalist, goal, goodwill, grad school, Graduate education, graduate school, graduate students, graduates, growth, guidance, hands-on training, hedge fund, hours, IBM 80, independent consultant, industrial scientist, industries, industry, informational reviews, infrastructure, institution, institutions, insurance, Interest, interface, interview, interviewer, interviewing, interviews, IT firms, Ivies, ivory tower, Ivy League, job, job satisfaction, jobs, journey, junior professor, knowledge, lab, lab science, labor, laboratory, Laboratory science, law school, law schools, lawyers, learner, learning, LevelUp, library, lifestyle, local management, machine, mckinsey, mechanical, medical school, medicine, meet-ups, meetings, meetups, mentor, Merck, method, michigan, microcosm, microfinance, microfinance institution, Microsoft, milestones, molecule, molecules, money, network, networking, new york, office, office space, offices, onboarding process, open source, open source software, operations, opportunities, organization, overhead, pair program, pair programming, partner, payment startup, performance, perseverance, personalized medicine, Pfizer, Ph.D., pharma, pharmaceutical, pharmaceuticals, phd, physical chemistry, physics, places, post-docs, post-doctorals, postdoctorals, PowerPoint, practice, pressure, process, product, production, profession, professional development, professionals, professor, professors, program, project, projects, public speaking, qualifying exams, rainy day, relationship capital, relationships, relevance, research, research papers, researcher, researchers, residency, resources, retail, reward, risk, risks, Ruby on Rails, salaries, san francisco, satisfaction, schools, science, sciences, scientists, seminar, seminars, simulation, situation, skills, software, software consultancy, software developer, solution, spouse, stability, stanford, Stanford University, start-ups, startup, startups, strength, students, subject matter, success, support, Switzerland, talent, talent development, tangibility, tangible, teacher, teachers, teaching, teaching colleges, team, technical founder, technician, technique, technologies, technology, tenure, thoughtbot, time, training, trainings, undergrads, undergraduates, universities, university, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, Unix, value, video game, videos, views, wife, work, written communication, Yammer

How this White House intern landed a job in the West Wing as Deputy Associate Director of the National Economic Council, and then founded a venture-backed company worth millions

How this White House intern landed a job in the West Wing as Deputy Associate Director of the National Economic Council, and then founded a venture-backed company worth millions

By Andrew C. • 27 min read • Leave a Comment

“If you make a line from the Oval Office to people’s offices in the West Wing, and you measure that distance, there is definitely a correlation with IQ.” – Jonathan Swanson, former White House staffer

Tagged With: AARP, academia, acquire, acquire users, administration, advertise, advocacy, amazon, ambitious, angel investor, angel investors, Angie’s List, antiquated, army base, aspirations, August recess, authority, back office, Ben Bernanke, Bernanke, bid, big company, bill, bills, bittersweet, Bloomberg, boss, bosses, bottleneck, brainstorming, browse, bulletin board, business, business plan, Capitol Hill, caterer, Chairman Bernanke, challenged, challenges, channel, city, CNBC, competitors, Congress, connected, Connecticut, connection, connections, conservative, consumer, consumer internet, consumer web, consumers, country, craft, create, creativity, credit card, CRM, culture, customer acquisition, customers, D.C., data analysis, DC, decades, decisions, dedication, Democrat, Democrats, Deputy Associate Director, destiny, detail, dictated, digital storefront, DJ, dog walker, donors, ebay, economic advisors, economic crisis, economic issue, economic office, economic policy, economics, economist, Eisenhower Executive Building, electrician, empowering, encouraging, engineer, engineers, entitlements, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, events, Excel, exciting, Fannie Mae, faster, finances, financial integrator, financial markets, flyers, focus, Ford Motor, foreign policy, Freddie Mac, friends and family, future, generation, generous, Grover Norquist, handyman, Hank Paulson, healthcare, healthcare reform, Henry Paulson, hire, home improvement, home improvement services, house painter, human machine, industries, influence, information, inspiring, instinct, intellectual, interests, intern, internet, internship, interview, intoxicating, introduction, invoicing, journalism, Karl Rove, lead generation, Lehman Brothers, liberal, libertarian, local services, locksmith, majority leader, marketing, marketplace, markets, meetings, membership, mentorship, meritocracy, Midwest, Mint, Mint.com, Mississippi Banker’s Association, moderate, monetization, monetize, money, moving company, narrow interests, nation, National Economic Council, new york times, news, newspaper, newspapers, non-profit, online, op-ed, operations, organization, organizations, Oval Office, partisan, Paulson, payments, perseverance, Philosophy, pictures, plumber, policy, political, political junkie, politics, position, power, president, President Bush, President Obama, pressure, pressured, prestige, process, processes, productive, products, profile, promoted, public policy, purchase decision, quarterly, quotes, rallies, receptive, rejected, reports, representative, representatives, Republican, Republicans, request for quote, research, resources, responsibilities, responsibility, retirees, return on investment, reviews, right-wing conspiracy, Rock the Vote, role, roofer, san francisco, scale, scheduling, scrappiness, scrappy, Secretary Paulson, seed funding, seed round, Senator, senators, service, service provider, services, set goals, shameless, shared interests, silicon valley, skeptical, small businesses, soccer, social issues, social security, Social Security Administration, SoMA, Speaker of the House, speech, speed, startup, startup world, stressful, student, student advocacy, student loan, summer, superficial, taxes, team, tech company, think tank, Thumbtack, thumbtacked, time, tools, traction, training, transaction, user acquisition, users, validating, validation, vision, volunteer, wall street, Wall Street Journal, Washington, Wednesday morning meeting, weekly, West Wing, White House, world, yale, Yellow Pages, Yelp, young people, youth

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