I started at Backupify Customer Support less than a month ago. This job is my first experience in a true startup environment and so far everything I hoped for has been realized. The open environment promotes a lot of cross-department communication and collaboration, The casual dress code is nice (wearing jeans to work was a foreign concept to me), and the small company size means I’ve already worked with just about everyone in the office in some capacity in a short time. Plus I already know everyone’s name.
But late last week I experienced first-hand one of the biggest advantages of startups – a truly agile environment. I stumbled upon an interview with Felicia Day on Lifehacker where she mentioned that she uses Backupify to backup her social media and Google accounts. This was a huge deal to me.
For those unfamiliar with Ms. Day, she is an actress/writer/producer/director perhaps best known for her work in TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and her current web-based series The Guild. She also recently launched a YouTube channel called Geek and Sundry, which gets a lot of mention for helping to pioneer a potentially enormous change in video content delivery away from TV. Most importantly, she is a poster-girl for the fantasy/indie-geek culture that I am a big fan of.
When I saw the brief mention in the article I informed some people in the office and word spread like crazy and the entire office was talking about it within minutes. The agile nature of Backupify meant that we could take action immediately rather than being slowed by red tape and hierarchies. Word went out on our social media channels and I wouldn’t be surprised if our PR agency is already trying to contact Felicia Day’s “people” to see if there’s a more formal way we can work together.
We all seemed to take a little extra pride in our work that day as well. When you learn that someone you admire and respect uses a product that you work on it is an amazing feeling. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it feels like I am contributing directly to Felicia’s work – we are a backup company and our job is to be there on a rainy day when valuable data gets deleted or goes missing. But knowing that you work on something that helps a woman like Felicia Day continue to create content that you (and so many others) love? That, more than anything else ever could, reaffirms how lucky I am to have landed with Backupify.
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