Controversial take:
I went to amazing games in the 90s, many with my dad. I know they were great experiences, but my memories have faded and I wish so badly that I had pictures from them to look back on.
If you follow
@jackharlow
on IG, he tags every photographer who takes his photos. It's amazing.
Is there another artist or athlete or talent that does that too? Working on something special...
~4.5 years ago: Started a Creative Production Company.
~4 years ago: Met my future wife.
~3 years ago: Got a dog.
All those wonderful things, combined (with some special news!):
Since Twitter Sports Summit is no longer around, it feels like there's a void.
There's no event for the day-to-day social media managers and content producers in the sports world to gather, learn from each other, connect.
Should we throw one in Denver
@ongondola
??
I may have been shaking, and accidentally opened the ring box upside down, but
@melissawagasky
was crazy enough to say yes to a life together. I’m the luckiest guy ever.
On May 16, 2020, I lost my dad. He was truly the best. I miss him every day.
On May 13, 2021, we welcomed Ava Ruth Kleinstein to the world. She's named after him, and she already has his infectious smile (and his poops).
The circle of life is hard. But I hope he'd be proud.
As a creative:
- Self promotion will help people find your work.
- Humility will help you build friendships and relationships.
Find the balance, and be good to the people around you along the way. That's the 🔑.
I work in sports, but I don't work sports hours.
I run an agency, but I had never worked at an agency.
I own/manage two companies, and I'm a Dad to an amazing 1 yr old.
If any of these things are goals of yours, here's my list of tips to help you on the path (a 🧵):
The flaw in the Max McClung narrative everyone was spitting was that he was actually by far the MOST famous of the dunk participants.
Ask any basketball fan from 13-20yo. Thanks to
@overtime
and others he’s been a household name for a while. Y’all were just out of touch.
In case you were looking for “the happiest event in history,” I present:
Goldens in Golden
A gathering of thousands of Golden Retrievers in Golden, Colorado.
Three days before my dad died, we interviewed him and my mom. We didn't think he'd pass away, but we knew he was having serious surgery and had always wanted to film something like this.
Best decision we've ever made. The long cut of this video is my most valuable possession.
2022:
- Launched
@ongondola
- Opened the new
@freshtapemedia
HQ/studio/coworking space
- Grew the team(s), $$, community impact
- Healthy/happy daughter
Still slept like crap, ate too unhealthily, didn’t work out enough.
No more excuses for ⬆️. Got work to do for 2023!!
Speaking of women in sports....
So excited that this news is public/ready for the world.
@amiekiehn
has been a friend, client, confidante, and industry hero for the 6+ years since we met. I'm so lucky she's joined as our Head of Community at
@ongondola
!
One of the wildest/most exciting moments of my professional career to date. So proud of the
@ongondola
team and grateful for
@SloanSportsConf
for this honor!
🏆🏆🏆
We joined the MIT
@SloanSportsConf
in Boston, and we walked away as the 2023 Startup and Competition Trade Show first-place winners!
Thank you
@dmorey
,
@jessicagelman
, and everyone on the MIT team for this amazing honor. We’re making moves!
Outside of mayyybe FPV, we haven't innovated as an industry in 4+ years. Nothing looks different.
We just value efficiency, quality standards being met, and fan engagement metrics over doing anything particularly unique. Not a bad thing, just a...thing.
On May 16th, my life changed forever when I lost my dad.
On June 1st, my life changed forever when the
@FreshTapeMedia
team gave me this gift, initially without explanation.
This is the story of the
#ArtDepartment
.
1/8
This is Norma. She's been taking care of my family for ~25 years, and after many years of working hard for it (and more ups and downs than most of us will have in a lifetime) she became a citizen this week!
Let's celebrate the Normas of our country and keep bringing more in.
OK this is a risk, but I want to be vulnerable/put myself out there. Here goes:
I need your help.
I want
@taylorswift13
to be a part of our team at
@ongondola
.
She credits photographers. She gets the mission. I want her to invest. Can y'all help me reach her??
If you work in college sports/have been to a
@CFBPlayoff
National Championship, you know what today is. Media day, aka
@KatieCavender
's time to shine.
Join me in wishing a Happy
#KatieCavenderDay
to all the creators, players, leaders, and fans that celebrate!
Today we hit 500K credited posts
@ongondola
🎉🍾
That's over 1M credits/datapoints that no other service has. Thousands of creators getting credit for their work publicly for the first time.
(and we're just getting started!)
When we have a sports shoot that’s produced, directed, shot, and edited by women, our clients notice.
I’m excited for that to be the norm industry-wide. These ladies run our world.
#NGWSD
When I was in NYC after college, I told a bouncer I was Gene Wilder’s grandson to get into a club (...I’m not, though he’s one of my favorite actors ever). It worked.
Last night, I seem to have convinced all of Tiktok too.
My fave comments ⬇️
The cardboard cutouts aren’t just a covid gimmick. They aren’t just a charity fundraiser.
They can be a way to bring the ones we’ve lost to the games they would’ve loved to see, like my dad at this
@Broncos
win.
Everyone’s posting the shot itself. But this view is my favorite because it shows the emotion on his face. This means something to him.
Messi will change American soccer forever 🐐 🐐 🐐
(Via
@JohnParkerBach
)
Tomorrow is my birthday. And lots of my friends are going to lose their jobs.
So in an effort to feel less shitty, I have a proposal. If any of you
#Tweeps
fly/drive/come to denver, I'll be at a dive bar called Candlelight all night. Drinks&burgers are on me. Let's have a time.
me: HONEY, STAY INSIDE TODAY. NO MATTER WHAT.
her: Why? We have errands to run?
me: JUST TRUST ME. IT'S NOT SAFE OUT THERE. THERE IS A MAN COMING FOR YOU. AND HE'S WEARING CAMOUFLAGE SO YOU MAY NOT SEE HIM COMING.
We built it to be for personal value (you track your own work across all channels/accounts) not to be a clout tool. Charts/stats def motivate people to engage, and as we grow we'll have more mechanisms to find/ promote/ empower more creatives.
Any/all tips would are welcome!
Hot take: Gondola is just another platform that separates the haves (P5 & major league creatives) and the have-nots (D2/3 & minor league creatives)
The ranking system is just another way to give us imposter syndrome…I mean c’mon that can’t be healthy
To my wife (and every other soon-to-be mom by proxy):
Pregnancy is F***ING HARD. The physical effects, the mental toll, everything. Yet she fights through it.
She doesn’t see how beautiful she looks. How in awe I am. How proud I am. How lucky I feel.
So proud of what we've built and where it's going. Thank you so much
@FOS
for the recognition, and to the FTM team for making every day that much more fun!
Some of the world's best creatives have millions of followers. Some have 250.
You all should be able to quantify the impact of your work and see the reach of your content.
Your influence > Your personal follower count.
That's why we started
@ongondola
. Hop on!
Entire clip of Jamal Murray’s game winner, along with my heart rate during the experience (standing still). The only thing blocking the shot at the end was…The Sheriff.
LETS. GO.
@nuggets
.
Next week we're going to launch something that the
@ongondola
community (and the creative community at large) has been asking for since day 1.
It's time to change an industry. So pumped. 💼
Milestones
@ongondola
are live!
It may seem like a small feature, but we think it'll be super helpful for our users. Here's a little breakdown of why we did it and where it's going (🧵):
A way to tell a company you want to work for them, even if they don’t have an open job.
Pay transparency.
Hiring creators based on what they have actually made.
This is just the start!
Introducing
#GondolaJobs
, a first-of-its-kind hiring tool that connects creatives and their work directly to top organizations that are hiring. 🤝
We know it's difficult for a boring ol' resume to stand out, especially for creative roles. Gondola automatically links your digital…
First Father’s Day without my dad but as a dad myself. It’s so complicated and emotional and wonderful and hard. Sending love out there to everyone who’s celebrating, mourning, and everything in between.
What no one is talking about RE: the
@titans
schedule release is that it’s not original. It took a fantastic Tiktok meme and gave it a new twist.
And THAT is what makes it brilliant creative. Something familiar + a different angle. BRAVO!
People stole 3
@FedEx
packages from our office porch yest. We spent last night trying to get refunds/report.
...then the driver showed up with them this AM. She had seen the thieves, chased them around the block, put them back in her truck, and brought it all back. What a hero.
Working for a sports team isn’t as glamorous as people think. But when you do it well, you build trust, relationships, and real friendships with your team.
This is what it can look like, what it should look like, and proof that it lasts.
Entire clip of Jamal Murray’s game winner, along with my heart rate during the experience (standing still). The only thing blocking the shot at the end was…The Sheriff.
LETS. GO.
@nuggets
.
Creators finally have their own 'wrapped'
Beyond proud of this one. The team has worked so hard to get this built, and it's AWESOME. Can't wait to hear feedback/keep building on this every year!
Let me tell y'all about
@Mahuggi
,
@freshtapemedia
's first hire many years ago.
This is the story about how big of a deal I think he is.
He lives in South Carolina now, so I get to make him blush via a long a** Twitter 🧵:
Creativity is NOT doing something entirely original.
If it's too original/novel, people can't connect with it. It needs to have at least some element of familiarity for people to both feel comfortable and enjoy the new twist.
Moral: the best things are inspired by others 😊
UNBELIEVABLE. 100K+ posts that you don't have to ask "Who made that??" for ever again.
We're not just making portfolio pages. We're not just giving analytics. We're trying to change an industry. LET'S GO!!!
We need to change the way creators see analytics.
Numbers aren’t just for clout. Every one of your employers tracks their social analytics, and clearly not just to flex.
They do it for (among other things): 1. education
2. empowerment
3. strategy
And you should too.
🧵:
It blows my mind how many people have their
@ongondola
as their link in bio.
It's the most wonderful, validating thing, and it makes perfect sense. You should be sending people to the content you make, with the numbers showing the impact of your work.
Layoffs are hard.
If you're a creative and you suddenly need to figure out a new gig, we've got you. If you're not
@ongondola
and/or you just want help figuring out how to get going, DM me and I'll send you a link to demo/talk through strategies.
You've got this 💪
On January 1st, 2017 (within a few hrs of this pic) I was talking about how great the feeling of fresh tape on a hockey stick was. Something clicked right then and the name
@freshtapemedia
was born. Thanks to the
@NHL
for bringing it full circle and having us at
#NHLDraft
!
Two things are true:
1) We
@freshtapemedia
have a podcast!
2) I asked my daughter if she'd rather go to the zoo, the museum, or my office...and she made her choice. She's the real star.
Check out episode 1 of FINAL FINAL !
When Vine shut down, the Twitter team wasn't just there for me emotionally. They had my back, encouraged me to start
@freshtapemedia
, and remained dear friends/clients.
You are all the best. Thank you for everything. I'm here to return the favor in any way I can.