Brad Barrish

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I… Just… I’m…. I don’t…. WHAT??? Is that they lead singer from Tokyo Hotel?

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I guess this is as good a time as any to let you know (if you don’t already) that last Wednesday was my (and quite a few others’) last day at Topspin. Talk about a great run… Man, nearly five years of everything I had. We did change things and I can hang my hat on that. I’ve mention elsewhere that I am tremendously proud of the work we did at Topspin. It felt like the culmination of everything I’d done previous and I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity that, at least initially, Ian, Bob and Andrew gave me. They certainly took a chance on me when it came to handing over the operations reigns. After I got over my initial bout of Impostor Syndrome, it turned into the most challenging and rewarding job of my career (so far). It pushed me to the edge of my comfort zone and beyond. I learned those are the kinds of jobs that can become The Best Jobs Ever. Perhaps some day I’ll write something a little lengthier on the subject.

Here’s the email that I sent to the company:

Topspin has been my family and home away from home for the last nearly five years. That’s a record for me. Not only have I been at Topspin longer than any company in my career, it’s been the best and most challenging job I’ve ever had with some of the best and smartest people. When I started at Topspin I used to tell people it felt like working for NASA, or at least how I imagined it felt. Topspin built software that not only changed the music business forever, but in many cases it changed artists’ lives in immeasurably positive ways. No one can take that away.

I wake up every single morning proud of the work I do. It took years to get to that place - to this place and I only regret I didn’t place more importance on getting there sooner. If you feel the same about what you do, congratulations. I salute you. If you don’t, make it a priority and figure out a path to get there. Eat better, get outside, exercise, dance, be grateful, play air guitar (or drums), love, meditate, build things, create, play. Do everything you can to become happy in your career and your life and do shit that matters. Happiness is armor for life.

While happiness lessens the blow, this hurts, but I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to serve this company. I leave knowing that I gave it everything I had. I will miss working with you all, but I also know that it’s quite likely we will work together again. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

If there’s anything I can do to help any of you along the way, please don’t feel weird about reaching out. I’ve been through this experience several times and am happy to offer advice or simply lend an ear. 

Sincerely,
Brad

I’m spending the next couple of weeks talking to lots of people with the idea that I’ll figure out what I’m going to do next pretty quickly. If you’re wondering what I’m looking for, it’s likely either a role focused on product or operations or a mixture of the two. It will probably be in music, but at this point I know I can apply so much of what I’ve picked up in my career to other problems in the world. You can find me on LinkedIn for a better idea of what I’ve done. If you wanna talk about solving interesting problems, send an email to brad at bradbarrish dot com. Maybe there’s something fun we can do together. 

I’m also trying to help out all of the incredibly talented people that also lost their jobs on Wednesday. I’ve set up an email address for people to email opportunities at formertopspinemployees at gmail dot com. 

(Image via nevver)

The botmaker who sees through the Internet - Ideas - The Boston Globe

The botmaker who sees through the Internet - Ideas - The Boston Globe

Kazemi is part of a small but vibrant group of programmers who, in addition to making clever Web toys, have dedicated themselves to shining a spotlight on the algorithms and data streams that are nowadays humming all around us, and using them to mount a sharp social critique of how people use the Internet—and how the Internet uses them back.