We have the challenge of manifesting this through technology, though we're not going to stop until we do. The human element is so real, too important, and at the core of who we are. Yet, technology today is truly stripping us of these interactions. Our phone-conversations have turned into text messages and email. Me keeping up with old friends is secretly stalking them on Facebook and perusing through their pictures. There is just so much going on. This is just weird, and yet no one seems to have woken up from the nightmare, and probably never will.
I like pictures, too, but do you see how me just looking at your pictures and not actually interacting with you, goes against our desire to be in relation with one another? I mean, am I way off base?
It's hurtful to see so much of our generation just floundering aimlessly. No one cares, and with that, people have lost themselves. I don't think everything will be solved with what we're trying to do, but with our focus at Hey Nelly, we're going to target teams, and try to manifest a team experience online. I know people want this, because in the real-world, teams are all we have: families, sports, work, church, and on and on. These are all teams of people, yet, technology treats them all the same, and as individuals.When they're not.
We are out to change that, and will.
To shift gears, I've been really impressed with the Entrepreneurial spirit of some of the more recent graduates - people from 2008 and after.
In fact, one young man just made a huge difference for us here at HN.
Over the past couple of months, I've been manually putting in teams into Hey Nelly...one at a time. It usually went: College/University --> Gender --> Sport x 4,000 teams. This was eating into my personal life, my time with my family, weekend time, time at night, and on and on. Frankly, there was no way I was going to stop....I couldn't. This is too important. So, I just kept plugging away, day after day, night after night.
I reached out to a buddy who is a VP of Engineering at a cool startup in Boston, and he's been a great mentor and person of trust as I continue to build out Hey Nelly's platform. He invited me to their Christmas party, though I couldn't make it. By this point, I really did need the help of getting these teams in there. So, I asked if he knew anyone, and he pointed me to a young guy who has managed to graduate college in 3 years.
We grabbed lunch, and I was just impressed with this person's ability to achieve so much with what he had. I admire that in anyone: using your gifts to the fullest.
We talked, and immediately we had needs he could solve. The funny thing is, he solved one of them in 9 hours. Found a way to create an automated system that learned what teams were at what school's, and built it into Hey Nelly. Are you serious? I could probably build 250 teams in 9 hours. They built 30,000.
I'm sharing this story because of what I thought was near impossible, became possible. I just reclaimed my weekends, my nights, and some of the valuable personal time with my family (though, of course being a startup, it just accelerates other projects that were probably on hold eating into that time).
Let me repeat: what most thought was near impossible, became possible. And, this is just the start. It was with teamwork and collaboration that this seemingly insurmountable task for one, became an easily achievable task for another. This also proves one man's weakness is another man's strength. Always deploy this within your teams.
This reflected some of our core values at Hey Nelly: push the envelope, never quit, come together, overcome and achieve.
Having every team in Hey Nelly reflects that. We will achieve what we've set out to do: leverage the power of team through technology.
Every single men's and women's team in Hey Nelly? Yes. And more to come.
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