Numinous Nonsense

[This post was cross-posted from Shoot the Fruit, the official blog of Falling Fruit]

Falling Fruit is one among several of the first netcasting media companies. Revision3, based out of San Francisco, is another such company who are paving the way and doing it quite well. They focus primarily on technology and offer all of their content in a video format. What’s so interesting about Revision3, and why I wanted to dedicate a post to them is that their project is similar to ours in many ways, but also diverges in some unique ways.

Age: While I’m not sure the average age at Revision3, it seems like most of their employees are in their 20s and 30s (with the exception perhaps of their new CEO Jim Louderback who is probably in his 40s … Sorry Jim if I’m mistaken). The median age here at Falling Fruit is 25, and so while I suspect we have a bit younger crew, we are both definitely younger than the ol’ TWiT crew. Sorry Leo.

Work Culture: Perhaps related to their youth, I’ve been intrigued to see what the culture is like over at Revision3. Most of the information I’ve received is from watching their video show on the inner-workings of the company, The Revision3 Gazette (see video above). They seem like they have a very humorous, enjoyable, and flexible work-environment. That isn’t to say that work isn’t happening, cause it’s obvious they are getting plenty done, but just that it is far more laid back than your average corporate environment. This is something that has naturally arisen here at Falling Fruit as well, and may even have something to do with start-ups that are founded by millennials.

Geekiness: Another commonality, and this may have a lot to do with the medium of both our businesses, is that we are both extremely geeky (in the good sense). I’d actually go so far as to say that Revision3 is just a bit more geeky than us with regards to Technology. But where we lack in technology we make up for in…

Self-Actualization: Part of the reason that we founded Falling Fruit was to provide media that helped to empower, connect, and inform people who have inclusive understandings of the world around them and want to make a bigger difference in their lives. Our mission was born out of a deep motivation to serve the world, to grow in the process, and build a healthy and profitable business. That being said, I haven’t seen much evidence (so far) that Revision3 has a similar mission. While I’m sure that some of their employees are conscious in this way, the major thrust of the company doesn’t seem to be that. Granted, I’m sure they have some vision about changing the face of media that is only one small part of what we are trying to do here at Falling Fruit.

Part of the way this manifests in our company culture, is with regards to different practices that we do. We are a group of health-nuts, who live off of organic foods, use biofeedback devices, lift weights, and will eat just about anything (well, some of us). Many of us are also committed meditators. We hold a monthly meditation retreat, which half of our staff usually attend. We are also into self-development, enlightened communication techniques, and hacky sack. How does hacky sack relate to self-actualization? If you have to ask, you obviously have no clue!

I’m very grateful to be helping pioneer the business of netcasting with such companies as Revision3 & TWiT. In many ways they are our role models and are compatriots. In other ways, I think they are missing an important dimension to what might revolutionize the business world, and that is having a business that explicitly aims to wake up, and in the process help the rest of the world wake up.