Pumpkin Spice
Some of the coolest stuff from this past week.
Hey friends! It's officially pumpkin spice season. Here's my weekly roundup of things I felt were worth sharing.
Dude Wipes:
Each year the co-founder of Dude Wipes, Jeffery Klimkowski, visits my class to speak to my entrepreneurship students. He shares that when they started, they were rejected by roughly 20 different manufacturers who didn’t believe “dudes” would ever use a flushable wipe. Their first delivery was received at his second story apartment, not a warehouse. In hindsight, they would have gladly given even more equity to Mark Cuban when they appeared on Shark Tank based on the value he brought to their company. Today Dude Wipes is worth north of $150 million.
Creative takeaways? Persistence is key to success. Don’t let perfection get in the way of starting. The right mentor can fast track your productivity and path to success.
Nobody Wants This:
Interfaith rom-com wasn’t at the top of my list of genres I thought I’d be into. Fortunately, the Netflix algorithm knows me better than I know myself. Adam Brody and Kristen Bell deliver in Netflix’s Nobody Wants This.
Creative Takeaway: When you're in a creative rut, explore something outside your usual interests to spark fresh inspiration.
#sticknation:
The instagram account officalstickreviews posts video content of… reviews of sticks. File this under anything can be a thing. With over 2 million followers they’ve struck a chord on the interwebs.
Creative takeaway? When things get tough, “stick” to it. Sorry, that was bad. In all seriousness though, no niche is too small. Put yourself out there, and you’ll probably find your tribe.
bmani Wireless Earbuds:
I’m not an audiophile by any stretch of the imagination. I generally listen to podcasts at 2X speed and music with only one earbud in, so sound quality is low on my priority list of things that I look for in a pair of headphones. What’s high on that list? That they actually stay in my ears—something the folks at apple are seemingly opposed to. Also, I’m pretty frugal.
If that sounds anything like you, I’ve finally found the perfect solution: bmani Wireless Earbuds Bluetooth Headphones. They’re less than $40 (though I got them on sale for under $27) they have interchangeable rubber ear putter-inners and clips that go over your ears, and best of all they don’t fall out.
Stardrop:
A few weeks ago, one of my former students, now a sophomore in college, emailed me to let me know a video game he started making in my class was now available for download on Steam—one of the leading gaming platforms in the world.
I wish I could say that I was instrumental in his success, but that would be far from true. I do like to think though that when he was an underclassman, I provided him with a solid foundation upon which he built his own expertise, and that I was smart enough to get the hell out of his way and let him do his thing.
I’ve come to think of this as my minimally effective instructional practice. Like taking ibuprofen, the correct dose will set you right, but too much will lead to gastrointestinal distress. I try not to be the latter for my students.
How has his game been received? Here’s just one of many such reviews on his Steam page:
“This game is immaculate. I have played a lot of games here recently And I can say without a doubt I have not found a more enjoyable experience in the last few months than when I played Stardrop. Even with such a small team behind this project the amount of dedication and love shows throughout. I would highly recommend this game to anyone looking for a chill experience for 2-3 hours, or anyone who is nostalgic to classic Nintendo games. 10/10 would play again.”
Well done Harrison!