(originally posted on Medium)
The past year working at Nucleus has been an amazing experience for me. I joined the team in March of last year with the goal of having our product on store shelves the first week in August. After having worked at a hardware startup that sadly never made it to market, I was intimately aware of all the challenges that hardware companies face and I was determined to make sure we not only shipped but that the product experience was as simple and delightful as it could be.
At the time I joined, we had a functional technical prototype of the core product but none of the experience designed around it. What followed was a crazy 5 (!!!) months where we rebranded the company, focused the value proposition around rich family communication, designed the whole experience (packaging, device, mobile apps, website), worked closely with Amazon to integrate Alexa, ran a successful beta program and got the product shipped on time. Most importantly, we built a strong relationship with our initial customers thanks to a) solving a problem dear to their families and b) showing them, with our actions, that we care about customer experience above all else. This resulted in a consistent 4 star rating at Amazon and many more units sold through the holidays than we could have imagined.
All this was accomplished with a small team of great people who were always eager to contribute to aspects of the company far beyond their area of expertise because they believed so deeply in the mission. As lean as we were, being scrappy was the only way for us to make it all happen.
While I’m incredibly proud of what the team has accomplished and grateful for having had the chance to play a role in it, I’ve decided to move on as I was presented with an opportunity I couldn’t pass up — this week I’ve joined the Product team at The New York Times as Interim Product Lead for news products.
Those who follow the media space know The New York Times has an ambitious, inspiring vision and set of goals for the future. They’re delivering some of the best news reporting out there while also pushing so much incredible work across a variety of platforms (The Daily podcast, Beta, VR, Snapchat to name a few). When a chance to join the News team was offered, I was eager to jump in and do what I could to contribute. The role may change over time (hence the “interim” label) but for me — at this moment in history where uncovering the truth has never felt more important and to work alongside friends, former colleagues, classmates and people’s who’s work I admire — this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
My mother worked at Time Magazine for 33 years so media and journalism have always been a big part of my life. Growing up, I spent a lot of time at her office in the Time-Life Building and experienced many world events through the eyes of the people who told the stories about them (the Berlin Wall coming down, the start of Desert Storm and many others).
I couldn’t be more excited to carry on the inspiration that drove my mother for so many years and contribute to the critical role the New York Times has always played in our society.
Can’t wait to get to work.
