E25 - The Finale!

Wed, 04 May 2022 06:00:00 -0400

This is the season finale for This Startup is being Recorded. Thank you for listening and stay tuned for Season 2!

Agenda:

• None! This was unplanned! But then in the middle of the wedding we got an urgent email about the Series A!

Takeaways:

• Happy, joy, celebration!!

E24 - Easter Eggs and Embryo Eggs

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 06:00:00 -0400

Agenda:

• Stand up - some exciting and some disturbing news

Takeaways:

• Eric to add one more egg to the digital easter egg hunt
• Set up a Rube Goldberg machine / human mouse trap in the office
• Kate and Thea to have a discussion, NOT as a part of SYT, about Kate’s choices
• Kate to do her daily exercises to remind herself that SYT is not her real family

E23 - The Importance of Interviewing Interns

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 06:00:00 -0400

Agenda:

• Final update on the camera replacement project (to remove the WeWatch malware)
• Introduction of new intern, Melanie Hubbard!

Takeaways:

• Everyone review results of Melanie’s background check and vote on if we should offer her a position to stay
• Matt follow through on idea of how to connect Melanie and John
• Kate to remember to take breaks

Melanie Hubbard was played by Jenny Kessler, who can be found online and in person doing improv with Letters to Chicken, Brad's Dad, and Babeprov. You can request to follow @JennyKessKlump on both Instagram and Twitter.

E22- SYTizens United

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 06:00:00 -0400

Agenda:

• Executive Stand up!

Takeaways:

• Reach out to Lifetime about a movie deal related to the Product Manager / Developer GDPR Love Story
• Create a fake Twitter account for an African dictator and use it to convince John to stop illegal logging and perhaps start a revolution
• Create new landing page to take money and data from couch buyers in new markets… it’s a growth strategy

As always, follow us on Twitter @StartupRecorded! 

E21 - When SXSW goes Wrong

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 06:00:00 -0400

Agenda:

• Recap of what’s been going on at SXSW

Takeaways:

• Thea to do some social monitoring to see how beholden SYT will have to be to John’s promises (like carbon absorbing cushions, selling carbon credits, and having whole workforce - including drivers - work from home 50% of the time)
• Reach out to DJ Khalid to propose a blood exchange to make up for the incident
• Jot down ideas for next years SXSW - become the respite booth where you can have an excellent vomiting experience

E20 - Fish are Friends, Not Food

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 06:00:00 -0400

Agenda:

• Executive Standup

Takeaways:

• No one eat seafood! Except the office cat, they’re a contractor, so it’s OK
• Everyone create a top 12 list of people they care about and would like the cameras of their devices replace
• Investigate if we can geofence the new augmented reality experience to prevent people from putting couches in the middle of intersections
• Eric - bring in your smart fridge and Nest thermostat to have the cameras replaced but do NOT say you’re bringing in the Nest in front of the Nest

E19 - How Important is Privacy, Really?

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 06:00:00 -0400

Agenda:

• Melvin is here to discuss WeWatch, the software company he runs. WeWatch builds an exclusive meeting recording software. SYT has been testing WeWatch with a free trial the last week, and Melvin wants to come in for feedback.

Takeaways:

• Matt to replace all the cameras for all devices the employees, their friends, their family, and acquaintances  
• Weekly privacy meetings coming back
• DuckDuckGo is about to be required in SYT
• Thea to keep dealing with the John PR nightmare

Marvin Janine Simpson is a businessman and raconteur with homes in Italy, Manhattan, and Detroit. He is not on social media, but would like to plug his primary investor: talented actor and comedian Declan Gallagher. You have find him on Instagram and Twitter @therealdeclang

E18 - Freaky Friday

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• John dictated that to solve the Creative and Tech team conflict, Thea and Matt should do a “Freaky Friday” (idea came from The Hard Thing about Hard Things) and switch places

Takeaways:

• Thea and Matt can, shockingly, switch back 2.5 days ahead of schedule
• Matt to work on getting new iPads for the Creative team
• Someone to call Verizon about the bonfire by their trucks
• Matt and Thea to start whiskey swaps

E17 - Don't Confuse the CDN, CMS, and CRM!

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• We’re ready to reveal the new company name!
• Also, Executive Standup

Takeaways: 

• Kate to keep wearing away at Francis’s fear of robots
• Take away the pavlovian shock keyboards from the Support team
• Eric to create final report on covert supply chain QA test
• Create a decriminalized typography zone for Tech and Creative to resolve conflicts in
• Try to subliminally convince John of different brand scents

E16 - A Focus Group of One (w/ Adal Rifai)

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 06:00:00 -0500

 Agenda:

• A user finally showed up to our weekly user interview session! Zach Lambic from Al Dente, Wyoming

Takeaways:

• Kate to figure out if the server room’s sprinklers are going, hope the company isn’t destroyed, and hope she doesn’t have to pull Matt out of his therapy session
• Add “Wresting with Dog” as a human impact couch breaking test scenario 
• Calathea and Zach to talk offline about paying for some sponsored content on Dominic the Mastiff’s Instagram account

Zach is played by Adal Rifai. Adal is an improviser, podcaster, producer and writer in Chicago. He is the creator and host of Hey Riddle Riddle and plays Chunt on the podcast Hello From the Magic Tavern. You can find him on Twitter @adalrifai

E15 - Three Matts, One Meeting

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda: 

• Review pitches for branded content from Matt Matthews and Matt Matthews of Big Matt’s Content

Takeaways:

• Reach out to Matt and Matt, by letter, with our decision
• Matt and Matt are going to meet with their lawyers… as always
• Whoever sees John first (or ever again) tell them hi from everyone

Matt and Matt Matthews were played by Austin Weiford and Andrew Farley. You can hear them both with co-host Leah Morse on the Better Movie Club podcast, an improv comedy podcast about movies that could be better. Find it on your favorite podcasting app or visit www.bettermovieclub.com for links.

E14 - How to Review a Contract

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda: 

• Meta (Facebook) has sent over some terms for an agreement to buy the Meta Market name. We ran out of legal hours this month, so get to do the review ourselves.

Takeaways:

• Thea and Matt to work together to tame the negative energy leaking out of the server room
• Kate to make some red lines with her red pens
• Updates to the Delivery teams zombie apocalypse planning process to be updated.
• Eric and Matt to have discussions with David and Lars, respectively, about their “marital issues”

E13 - GDPR, Account Deletion, and Disposable Couches

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• Executive Stand up

Takeaways:

• Pull all the embroidered couches and disposable couches - NOW
• Contact Zola about pausing partnership temporarily
• Support doesn’t get to handle account deletion requests for a little while
• Thea will be in Des Moines for the rest of the week
• Kate to make executive decision on the Dessert Machine vote

E12 - Undercover Bosses for Hire (w/ Dr. London Smith and Cameron Clark)

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• John called this meeting an hour ago and said there were two important people to meet. They have a pitch to make the company better… somehow?

Takeaways:

• Everyone send feedback to Kate on Mr. Mister Vooo and Frederick Lamar. She’ll add it to her positives and negatives notes and send that to John.
• Update the “prohibited words” sheet
• Look out for another Craigslist ad (depending on how John interprets the notes)

Our guests today were Cameron Clark as Mr. Mister Voooo and Dr. London Smith as Frederick Lamar. They have their own character-based improvised comedy called the Jock Doc Podcast that’s an absurdist take on medical education podcasts. Links at JockDocPodcast.com.

E11 - The Great Rebranding

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 06:00:00 -0500

If you're interested in the visuals for this episode, check them out on our Twitter @StartupRecorded

Agenda:

• Review proposal from Creative for new names - start saying goodbye to Meta Market!

Takeaways:

• Consider the name ideas… must decide on something soon.
• Reconsider partnerships with dating apps
• Kate to read all the updated contracts NCIS sent over
• Thea to reach out to the typeface contractor and work through their unique pricing, perhaps while at sea

E10 - All PR is Good PR and Matt’s Peloton

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• Clean up odds and ends from 2021

Takeaways:

• Matt to have a gentle 1:1 with Rachel
• Matt going to move his Peloton and get a telehealth visit and some EKGs
• Complete contracting regarding NCIS cameo

E9 - Taxes are Due! Fuuuu...

Wed, 29 Dec 2021 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• Emergency meeting (again)! Taxes are due we need our employer ID number from Iowa

Takeaways:

• Kate to complete taxes
• Matt taking a Lyft ASAP to the airport
• Everyone delete the medical records from their phone
• Thea to feed the office cat
• Someone to re-register Meta Market in Iowa

E8 - A Retrospective meets Squid Game

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• Share feelings - not about OKRs or goals - share your true feelings

Takeaways:

• Eric to lock down the website so Kate can’t change it anymore
• Kate to coordinate Zoom interview with up to 40 intern candidates
• Thea to decide whose made it on her best friend list
• Store Thea’s holiday couches in John’s office

E7- Facebook Reaches Out

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• Emergency! Email from Facebook/Meta’s legal counsel! Will explain more in meeting!

Takeaways:

• No one disturb Creative team for the next week, no matter what noises you hear from behind the privacy curtain. 
• Eric to send everyone the video of John getting stuck in a couch, just for fun
• Kate to work with Phil to pull Bugsby out into it’s own legal entity
• Email back Facebook! Drink some alcohol! 

E6 - Screaming Room Training (w/ Katie Overbey)

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• Prep for screaming room training with Lindsay, who is here from Bhutan

Takeaways:

• Eric to make extra carpet square for John
• Kate to share with Lindsay template for how to have 30 people share one toilet
• Everyone to send out the experience from the warm up (WITHOUT specific details) to their teams to encourage participation
• Listen to Katie Overbey's podcast, Teach Me Something Good, which can be found at teachme.show

E5 - Soviet Spies, Flammable Cereal, and Connected Couches

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• Executive Standup 

Takeaways:

• Matt and Chelsea to follow-up about the Des Moines servers… which are somehow still on
• Calathea to reach out to her Russian study abroad friends(?) about if they know a Soviet handler named Parkov
• Approve the small grade explosives from Chelsea (once she submits her invoices!)
• Kate to not report Calathea to HR for the next week for looking at liberation front websites during work

E4 - Team Building with a Buzzfeed Quiz

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• Executive Team Building exercise (to help everyone get to know Matt a little better! Plus team building is FUN!), go through this quiz together: https://www.buzzfeed.com/joannaborns/which-season-actually-matches-your-personality

Takeaways:

• Find ways to get Calathea’s answers to the quiz questions (likely by changing the 2-factor authentication questions required to use the VPN)

E3 - The Animal Death TOU Amendment and #LiberateBugsby

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• Executive Standup 
• Screaming Room training
• Discussion on new benefits to offer

Takeaways:

• Eric and Matt to review archeology/topography/illuminated, interactable manuscript of the code base to see how it affects the product roadmap
• Calathea to follow up with Lindsay about visiting from Bhutan to do a Screaming Room training - ensure Lindsay’s training aligns with when Jen is released from the hospital
• Matt to ask Tech Team to start storing Tax ID information, hopefully can backfill data that was written on wall and posted on Facebook
• Kate and Calathea to follow-up on the #LiberateBugsby campaign and practicality of freeing the Meta Market mascot

E2 - Mushroom Coffee and an Investor Misinformation Plot

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 06:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• Dig into Series A Goal

Takeaways:

• Re-evaluate data center strategy
• Encourage fans to play Fortnite with their Bugsby skins and take the high ground (literally)
• Matt to give Kate some USB sticks to take to the investors houses when she babysits
• Calathea and Matt to meet offline about a Bugsby NFT
• Calathea to work on thank you message from Bugsby for being saved from the Arctic
• Calathea to remove coven blade from Screaming Room

E1 - A New CTO and an Ambiguous Goal

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 05:00:00 -0500

Agenda:

• Onboard Matt.Yachts! It’s his first day, we’re so excited to have a new CTO!
•  Overview of each person's domain - not to overwhelm Matt, just give him a glimpse into the amazing rocketship that is Meta Market

Takeaways:

• Reminder (again) to make sure to stop Victor if you see him in a fast food parking lot
• Eric to send documentation on the 1, 3, 5, 10 and 20 year roadmaps
• Dig into Series A goal and progress (and lack of progress) so far

Introducing: This Startup is being Recorded

Fri, 12 Nov 2021 16:00:00 -0500

Coming November 2021! New episodes every week. It's the one meeting you won't want to miss.