Tag Archives: handwritten

Day 90: Brian Chesky, Airbnb

Posted on April 1, 2015 | Leave a comment

airbnbHappy April Fools Day! Be careful out there today.

Some companies have completely changed their industry. They disrupt the status quo and wreak havoc on traditional businesses in their industry. Companies like Apple, Uber, Coursera and Airbnb all have redefined how we think about the products and services they offer.

Today I’m writing Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky who, along with his co-founder Joe Gebbia, created Airbnb – a website that allows travelers to rent private residences. It’s brilliant and I’ve used it a couple times with excellent results. It competes with the traditional hotel model in a way that changes how we look at lodging.

I just finished reading my friend Amy Wilkinson’s first book, The Creator’s Code. It’s the culmination of five years of research and over 200 interviews to figure out what the secret sauce is that successful entrepreneurs possess. Airbnb is one of her case studies. She tells about how Chesky and Gebbia “found the gap” – in other words, they found an unmet need in the travel world and fulfilled it.

The book is full of inspiring stories (shameless plug) and I became very interested in how creative the Airbnb guys were. I started researching them and discovered that they had a campaign called One Less Stranger where they gave 100,000 people in the Airbnb community $10 each so that they could do something creative with it to make the world smaller, “one less stranger at a time”. Well, I couldn’t help but see the similarity to my Year of Giving.

 

So I decided to drop Brian a note. He and Gebbia were creative and took calculated risks in creating Airbnb – who knows, they might just consider my idea…or appoint me the One Less Stranger campaign ambassador!

Day 90

 

Dear Brian,

Congratulations on the #OneLessStranger campaign – I’m a big fan. I feel like I might have even somehow been part of the inspiration for the it. You see five years ago I gave away $10 every day to a stranger while I was unemployed – I called it the YearOfGiving. It was amazing, and I created an entirely new community – so you’re right, it definitely is a way to bring us closer together as a society.

Day 90-2This idea of doing something every day for a year has kinda taken over my life. This year I have embarked on a journey called the YearOfLetters where I write a handwritten letter to someone every day for a year. You’re day 90!

We should talk about next year – I’ve made a commitment to sleep in a different place every night for a year. We could call it YearOfAirbnb. I’ve also thought of doing a YearOfCouchSurfing but that sounds way less comfortable – and I guess it would make more sense to partner with that other company if I went that route. Anyway, what do you think?

Your fan and customer,
Reed

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Sunday Notes & Letters

Posted on March 15, 2015 | Leave a comment


Wow, this project takes a lot more time than I thought! Don’t let that discourage you from writing your letters though. If it was just writing a letter now and then that would be fine. But writing the letter, photographing it, creating the social media posts for it – all that takes time! That being said, I’m enjoying this adventure very much.

Today, as I do on Sundays, I take a break from sharing my daily letter with you and share with you a story about handwritten letters. Today’s story comes from BBC News Europe.

michelangelo

teachhub.com

It’s about a handwritten letter by Michelangelo that was stolen from the Vatican. Yep, a former Vatican employee pilfered several 500-year-old letters and is now demanding money, lots of money, for the safe return. A ransom note, made to the cardinal in charge of St. Peter’s Basilica, asked for €100,000 – or about $105,000.

The odd thing is these letters went missing nearly 20 years ago and the Vatican never reported them stolen. Either they didn’t know they were missing, which doesn’t bode well for their tidiness and security, or they kept it a secret which begs further questioning.

Michelangelo_menu_fish_bread_wine_1518

This is reportedly Michelangelo’s handwriting. Not the letter in question here – there does not seem to be a copy of that, but this seems to be a grocery list. Still very cool to see someone’s writing from 500 years ago. Credit: openculture.com

In any event, this is particularly interesting because there are very few letters in existence penned from the hand of the great renaissance artist. According to Il Messaggero newspaper in Italy he typically only signed his name and had one of his many assistants do the laborious tasks of putting words on paper.

Whoever you are, you are a thief. Just put the letters in an envelope and mail them back to the Vatican and be done with this.

 

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Day 71: Peik

Posted on March 12, 2015 | Leave a comment
Day 71

I embossed this card myself!

I spent seven years working for a great company from Helsinki, Finland and through that experience I met some outstanding people and made friendships that I hope to keep for the rest of my life. One of those people is Peik. A Swedish speaking Finn with an affinity for classic cars, Peik was a fantastic colleague. He knew a little something about everything in the company and was always willing to help out when needed – even if it wasn’t directly related to his job. I had the pleasure of working with him in Arlington, VA and then from afar when I was based in Brazil and he was working for the company at the headquarters in Finland.

Today is his 41st birthday and I wanted to wish him well. He and his wife, Kitty, send me a nice holiday card every year and I am usually so bad about those kind of things I never get to mailing my own – I do buy them though! Hopefully this is a start of being better at keeping in touch with Peik and Kitty and a lot of other friends I haven’t written to in years.

Day 71-2

Moi Peik!

Grattis på födelsedagen! 

I hope you had a great birthday and apologize that this surely arrived well after your birthday – but hopefully you are so surprised to get a letter that you will forgive the timing.

I hope that this letter finds you, Kitty, Leo and Elsie doing well. Life here is good. I continue to do consulting work – mostly for WWF. No Mrs. Sandridge yet and not little Sandridges that I know of. My brother Ryan and his wife Mandy are expecting their second child within the week. I’m really enjoying being an uncle to my beautiful 2-year-old niece Jacqueline.

I read a little about MODZ – sounds like a great company. Congratulations on the new challenges.

It’s nice that you and Kitty post photos on Facebook of you and the kids – seeing Leo and Elsie grow up!

I hope to get to Finland some day soon…you are always welcome here in DC. I have such good memories of the time you and Kitty were here.

Terveisin,
Reed

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Day 69: Mookie Wilson

Posted on March 10, 2015 | Leave a comment

Mookie_Wilson_courtesy_of_New_York_MetsOne of my all time favorite baseball players is Mookie Wilson. And while I was a big fan of the New York Mets outfielder, my mother was an even bigger fan. Most people probably didn’t know she was a baseball fan, but she was.

I started following the Mets around 1981 and soon thereafter my parents started following too. Then in 1984 the Mets had the first draft pick and chose Shawn Abner, a graduate from my hometown high school in Mechanicsburg, PA. I think that probably solidified our allegiance to the team.

Anyway, Mom loved Mookie. The speedster on the bases had incredible work ethic and seemed to avoid all the scandals that plagued the Mets during the Strawberry, Gooden, and Hernandez era. Mom would have loved this letter. If she were still alive, I would have asked Mookie to send her a letter.

Day 69

Dear Mookie,

I grew up a die-hard Mets fan – unusual for someone living in Central Pennsylvania. All of my friends were Philly and Pirate fans. I watched every game on WWOR, captivated by Kiner, Zabriskie, McCarver and Staub’s call of the game.

My parents also became fans – I guess they gave in when my memorabilia draped room started looking more like the dugout at Shea than it did a bedroom. My mother, Lenora Sandridge, was your biggest fan. When you would get on base, she would start talking about how “Mookie’s gonna steal second.” She loved to watch you run the bases and I agree with her, few players truly make an art out of base-running. You were the best.

The other thing that you have in common with my mother is truck driving. No, she never drove a truck, but she often said that that would be her dream job – just driving the country and being her own boss.

Screen Shot 2015-03-10 at 8.01.13 PMShe never realized that dream. She passed away in 2006 of heart disease at the age of 63. Shortly after that I learned that you had an 18 wheeler and drove short routes all over the southeast during the office season. She would have loved to have known that. Or maybe she did know that and it was just another reason she was so fond of you.

Anyway, as much as it would be nice to hear back from one of her (and my) heroes – learn more about your post baseball life, your recording work, etc. I don’t expect a response. I just wanted to share this little story with you.

Thanks for making baseball so fun to watch for my family and me during the 80s.

With admiration,
Reed Sandridge

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Day 68: Toma Bedolla, House of Genius

Posted on March 9, 2015 | Leave a comment


On Sunday I participated in a very cool workshop designed to help entrepreneurs further their business. Sitting at tables configured into a horseshoe shape in the beautiful Meridian building on 16th Street, I sat amongst a dozen or so other participants as we listened to three entrepreneurs pitch their companies and be vulnerable about where they needed help.

Each of us, experts in different areas, offered ideas. The unique element to this is that nobody can talk about who they are, what experience they have, or even use their last name. This unique format helps the entrepreneurs hear everyone’s feedback and suggestions at face value instead of tagging each comment with a filter based on that person’s established credentials. Maybe it’s a brain surgeon that offers up an idea on how to fix your online storefront distribution problem – but his advice is sound and could have just as easily come from Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

Only at the end of the session are participant’s identity revealed. It’s a cool process and this was the first one in Washington, DC. Thanks to Meridian International for hosting this collaborative workshop. You can find out more about House of Genius here.

My letter today is to Toma, a cofounder of House of Genius who was at the event.

Day 68-2

Toma,

We didn’t get a chance to meet during the House of Genius DC, but I wanted to congratulate you on an excellent event. DC is thirsty for the kind of entrepreneurial environment that you foster and I look forward to being a part of future sessions.

Reed

PS. I’ve connected with Jonathan – in fact in turns out he’s a neighbor of my brother so I’m sure we’ll stay in touch.

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