Ellie is responsible for handling most forms of external content - social media, blog posts, and PR. Her favorite part about working at WindBorne is being able to interface with engineers who are constantly building something new (whether it be bots they program and kill or a new component for our balloons). Outside of work, Ellie enjoys visiting museums and learning about heirloom apples.
Loonies haven’t zulip’d me any negative feedback about my last blog post and John hasn’t fired me for accidentally sharing top secret intellectual property... so in summation, the last 30 days haven’t been too terrible.
Instead of breaking down my days in a Virginia Woolf stream of consciousness style, unlike last time, I think it’s best to review high level themes (wins, observations, ongoing projects, etc.)
Wins
Collaborated with James to finish our manufacturing timelapse (aka I bothered a lot of people who work at Factorio to get us the rights to their music because it’s just that good)
Finally discovered a good social media analytics platform (thank you Rebecca) that wasn’t going to bankrupt us
Max joined WindBorne and built a bot that can create picturesque images of WindBorne GSBs (which is how I made the cover photo for this blog.. a little sad that it seems to really hate NYC)
Emailed a lot of interesting characters (does someone know how to get in touch with Trevor Rainbolt?) to see who would bite and what approach worked best
If I told you I’m the Content Lead that was the old me… go read my email and you’ll know when I sent it
Observations
Working in small teams, with a shared mindset of efficiency, means communicating in short bursts and ensuring clarity
45 minute meeting blocks are a consultant thing (aka “30 minutes and 15 for niceties”). I’ve accomplished more in 15 minutes than I have ever before
Micromanaging doesn’t seem to happen - a request is made and either something is delivered or a reasonable explanation is made. Everyone pivots and moves on
People love a good zulip reaction (as in Marta will say spam might become more of an issue soon and people just use a spam reaction)
John has a proclivity for creating side quests - for example, he initiated a little game called Pop Quiz Popcorn where he asks a technical problem and chooses someone in the company to answer - chaos ensues
Loonies love a “lmao” lmao.
Ongoing:
Events to engage broader communities are in the planning pipeline - we have a Friends & Family Community Launch scheduled for July. Email me for more info / an invite!
Website overhaul with Max and Julea is underway - get ready to see some great graphics and dive deeper into all things WindBorne
Launch site blogs are coming and you’ll be able to see the personalities of our operators (you can catch a glimpse of one of our mascots on Instagram)
A WeatherMesh-4 blog is being written as I type this... if you're dying to know, Anuj did provide an amuse-bouche on X
Max and I are working on creating a new interface for sailors (yes, you read that right)
I'll loop back again with a 365 Day Loonie Log (gotta keep this series going), but for now feel free to interact with us on social media.
If you found any (or all of this) to be up you're alley and would like to become a Loonie - check out our careers page.
