Posts Tagged ‘quirky team’

  • Tue, Sep 28 2010

    First of all I want to thank you all for having me and please keep those great product submissions coming. Since meeting Ben and the Quirky team earlier this year, I have been very intrigued with the business model and the great potential it has.

    My job here at Quirky is to head up our sales efforts and lead our push into mass retail and help get your products onto the shelves of some of the country’s largest retailers.

    Previous to moving to NYC and working with Quirky I lived in Minneapolis, which by far is my favorite city (disagree if you want). I worked as a consultant and sales representative for a number of different companies, selling just about any product you can imagine to retailers like Target, Home Shopping Network, Sears, and Sports Authority.

    Walk with me through just about any big retail store and I can point out a product that I had a part in someway/somehow. To be honest, I still get an amazing feeling seeing these products on shelves and I hope you can experience that same feeling sometime very soon.

    I also see great opportunities outside of traditional retail and my plan is to try and explore various strategic partnership opportunities with companies who are well aligned with Quirky.

    And yes, I’m originally from Australia, but please don’t think I just drink beer and fight kangaroos. I drink wine also!

    Fun Facts:

    1.     I was published as a case study in a book called “Startup Chat” in 2005.

    2.     In 2006 I appeared in Australian Newspapers on average 1.3 times a week.

    3.     I collect hotel room keys, wine corks, and receipts.

    4.     The first product I sold to U.S. mass retail was a cupcake holder.

    5.     I am starting helicopter lessons in 2011 and plan to have a Quirky chopper on top of our building by Fall!

  • Wed, Aug 18 2010

    Welcome, Matt!

    By danielle at 4:43 pm

    Say hello to Matt, the freshest face in Quirky’s evolving design intern clan. Hailing from the Island of Long, he is one part speed (thanks to his love of racquetball), one part strategy (yep, a baseball player too), and two parts methodical creativity. There’s no doubt in our mind that he’ll fit in swimmingly here at Quirky HQ.


    Name: Matt Dierkes

    Hometown: Mt. Sinai, NY

    School: Virginia Tech

    Design Inspiration: Scott Robertson; various findings on Core77, Toxel, and Wired magazine.

    Favorite Product: Wacom tablet, Casio calculator watch.

    What makes him quirky: I draw with my left hand, but play sports and just about anything else righty. I also have a substantial obsession with watches and striped socks.

  • Tue, Jun 29 2010

    Hey fellow Quirksters!! My name is Diana and I’m the newest edition to the finance team at Quirky. I am extremely excited to be a part of such an awesome team. I am looking forward to getting to know everyone and learning something new every day.

    Before joining the Quirky team, I handled business and financial management at various businesses in the restaurant, real estate, and fashion industries – all at the same time. I handled tenant and vendor relations, bookkeeping, and office operations – just to name a few. As you can probably tell, I can definitely be a workaholic! Now I’m settled in at Quirky. I’ll be working alongside Jovena — primarily managing the books and handling financials (among other things).

    I love Quirky because it encourages creativity. Seriously, this is awesome!!  As I mentioned earlier, I am ecstatic to be a part of such a talented team.  I look forward to hearing all of your creative ideas and seeing Quirky grow!

    Diana

  • Mon, Jun 28 2010

    Ahoy, Laura!

    By jess at 5:22 pm

    Laura’s been interning with our design team for a few weeks now. Though she’s a mechanical engineering major, she’s also proven that she can design and sketch with the best of ‘em. We’re excited to see what she cooks up this summer!

    Name: Laura Daigneau

    Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA

    School: Dartmouth

    What makes her quirky: I’m a vegetarian who studies philosophy and engineering and am planning on going to design school after I graduate next year. I am a die hard Steelers fan who used to give tours on the “duck” boats in Pittsburgh. I belong to a jewelers’ studio at school where I spend most of my free time hand-making silver pieces. I collect cool glass bottles and am trying to visit every art museum while in New York this summer.

  • Tue, Jun 15 2010

    We’re thrilled to welcome yet another design talented intern. Looking forward to seeing the fresh new perspective he’ll bring to our upcoming projects!

    Name: Jeremy Wolf

    School: Carnegie Mellon University

    Hometown: Westfield, New Jersey

    What makes him quirky: My horrible jokes.

  • Wed, Jun 9 2010

    Wotcha, Gaz!

    By gaz at 10:53 am

    Hello Quirks!

    My name is Gaz and I have just had the pleasure of joining the Quirky design team. I hail from the fair country of England and grew up among the sheep and cows of a little town called Malvern. Wooden sports cars and the spring water the Queen drinks originate there, along with my good self…

    I’ve been working as a designer in NYC for close to a decade now, and can’t wait to get stuck in helping to shape our Industrial Design capabilities. I am working with a skilled team of designers here and along with Bertha and the amazing Quirky staff I know we are going to go to great places. We’ll also be constantly investigating ways to get you guys involved in the design process too, so watch this space!

    Fun facts about me:

    Won the Design and Technology prize at Primary school two years in a row, ages 9 and 10

    Played Cello (badly) in a Manhattan-based Community Orchestra a few years ago, need to start practicing again though… :-0

    Got bitten on the face by my previous boss’s Pitbull, needing 35 stitches… not that fun really

    Outside of work I am a full-time janitor (on my own ramshackle house which I share with my wife and two cats)

  • Wed, Jun 2 2010

    On June 2, 1875, Alexander Graham Bell discovered he could hear sound over a wire, while experimenting with a gadget called the “harmonic telegraph”. The sound was that of a twanging clock spring. I think we all know how that story ends.

    From the “twang” to the “Cloak”, great minds have been coming up with great stuff for years. And now, they can do it online through Quirky.

    A year ago when I walked into Quirky’s offices, I thought, “Cool little office, and damn, this guy Ben even sleeps in the back conference room! This is going to be a BIG hit.”

    WOW, how much has changed: new digs, great team, and no bed in the conference room. Although I’m not based in the NY Q HQ, our team is building a great company that wouldn’t be possible without the help of our partners, the community.

    As a youngster, I didn’t have any birthday parties (summer birthday, so I was never home) so today I’ll celebrate with all of the Quirksters. It’s a great day, and it’s something I’m so pumped to be a part of. Thanks to Ben for giving me an opportunity to help him fulfill his passion and execute the vision of Quirky!!

    And now we’re working on a few BIG Partnerships that will add significant promotion to Quirky…

    By the way, for all those Jeopardy fans: did you know that Ken Jennings began his 74-game winning streak on June 2?

    “Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” Vince Lombardi

    – PortoDog

    P.S. Hoping someone will take that awesome ice cream cake out of the freezer…

  • Wed, Jun 2 2010

    A year has gone by.

    And to echo what Mike said before, I could not feel more lucky to be part of such an amazing company. It is truly unbelievable to think that a year ago it was literally 3 of us sitting in a room trying to make it all happen. And well, I think we have all proved that it is more than “happening” now. I feel the office is humming with excitement, buzz, movement, energy, enthusiasm and knowledge. And of course rock star products, people and smelly melting plastic from Bertha.

    I continue to be thankful for the opportunity to grow and develop with this company. I started out in sales (for Kluster), then switched to PR, then to copy writing, then to customer service, community ambassador, and I am settled here (for the time being) in Operations with a side dish of Domestic Sales.

    So while you Quirks are thankful that we have created a place for your innovation and invention ideas to come true, I am thankful for a work environment where I continually learn and feel challenged each and every day. (Sorry if that got slightly corny, Quirks.) It is the truth.

    I will admit – I remain perpetually cold in the office. At Avenue A it was because of our faulty heater, and here, well we have to thank Bertha for needing so much AC so she does not overheat. (well, or maybe, it is just me!)

    But if the AC is my only issue here at Quirky, well then, I think I have it pretty good. :)

    Looking forward to our upcoming year/s ahead. Thanks once again to Ben, the entire Quirky Team, community and investors.

    P.S. For those interested, I was able to purchase a $3 pashmina in Soho… you can really bargain for scarves when it is 85 degrees outside in NYC!

  • Wed, Jun 2 2010

    Getting Our Old On

    By mike at 10:03 am

    All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much. ~ george harrison

    A year ago today, we turned the Quirky machine on and told the world about it. Here’s what’s happened since then.

    People have spent nearly 100,000 hours on quirky.com. That’s 11 years.

    We’ve been seen in every country around the world except the following: Sierra Leone, Guinea, Western Sahara, Niger, Central African Republic, Somalia, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, North Korea, and Svalbard and Jan Mayen.

    The top 10 cities that love Quirky are (in order): New York, London, Los Angeles, Sydney, San Francisco, Singapore, Chicago, Paris, Atlanta, and Hamburg.

    The iPad is the top mobile device used to get quirky.

    52% of you are a PC. 39.7% a Mac.

    And the following chart lists the most popular Quirky staffers as determined by Google stalking, er, i mean, search results. Those flying under the radar will have their names withheld in order preserve their personal SEO ranking, or lack thereof.

    There’s so much more I can say about the last year but you probably have the attention span of a gnat so I’ll keep it short. Quite simply, none of this would have been possible without you. Thank you so much for taking part in this Quirky experiment and making it a success.

    Having gone from 3 of us sitting in a shared office space in midtown to 20 people and 1 robot now filling our sweet SoHo office with a constant creative buzz, I am nothing short of amazed of what we’ve been able to accomplish. It’s our job to help bring people’s ideas to life and I cannot tell you how much fun that is.

    I am greatly looking forward to this next trip around the sun. I can’t imagine what you all will surprise me with next.

    All experience is an arch wherethrough gleams that untravelled world whose margin fades for ever and for ever when I move.  ~ alfred, lord tennyson

  • Tue, Jun 1 2010

    Meet Danielle, our rad new general intern. This summer, she’ll stay busy learning the ins and outs of the Quirky machine and helping out with everything from community education to customer service to social media and more. She’s a talented gal, and we’re jazzed to have her on board!

    Name: Danielle E. Alvarez

    School: Syracuse University, Class of 2010 – Magazine Journalism, Modern Foreign Language

    Hometown: Valhalla, NY

    What makes you quirky: I don’t really like cake (or most desserts for that matter) so I’ve always had birthday brownies instead. I make my bed each and every morning. I sometimes find myself apologizing to inantimate objects that I accidentally bump into. I take pictures of my food before I eat it (because of my food blog). Apparently I’m incredibly quirky.

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