7 ms·

The Way I Work: David Karp of Tumblr

66 points by mmphosis 15y ago

wrrice 15y ago
Printer friendly: http://www.inc.com/magazine/201106/the-way-i-work-david-karp-of-tumblr_Printer_Friendly.html http://www.inc.com/magazine/201106/the-way-i-work-david-karp...
willtildesley 15y ago
...remember this? http://postdesk.com/debates/should-tumblr-care/ http://postdesk.com/debates/should-tumblr-care/
- msh 15y ago
  What relevance does that have to this piece?
hristov 15y ago
You linked to the second page. Here is the first page: http://www.inc.com/magazine/201106/the-way-i-work-david-karp-of-tumblr.html http://www.inc.com/magazine/201106/the-way-i-work-david-karp... Overall, quite a heart warming story of someone being very successful yet also being happy and not killing themselves with work and pressure. BTW, I hope Mr. Karp is not offended, but he definitely has some asperger tendencies. For example, he found it necessary to describe exactly which brand and type of pen he uses to write notes in his notebooks.
- rmccue 15y ago
  > BTW, I hope Mr. Karp is not offended, but he definitely has some asperger tendencies. For example, he found it necessary to describe exactly which brand and type of pen he uses to write notes in his notebooks. I don't think it's that weird to know what type of pen you use, especially if you write a lot. For example, I use a Pilot G2 (or a G2-ex, depending on what I'm writing).
  - shazow 15y ago
    +1, I care about my writing utensil a lot. I'm a big fan of the Pilot G-Tec-C 0.4mm (also known as the Hi-Tec-C if you buy from Japan). I don't think I can ever go back to another pen. I'm still in search for the perfect notebook, my next candidate is a notebook from a Crumpler store in Amsterdam--as soon as I'm done the last few pages of my Moleskine sketchbook whose pages are far too yellow.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- jacobbijani 15y ago
  No, seriously, we have a drawer full of them. They are the best pens ever made.
- mhd 15y ago
  I'd say that's more "hipster" than Asperger's. The search for the perfect pen for your moleskine (or filing cards, aka.'hipster pda') was quite popular in the, erm, blogosphere a couple of years ago. Productivity minutiae can be quite amusing.
  - sunchild 15y ago
    Or just dilettantism, which is perfectly OK and healthy, esp. for a youngish person.
  - Apple-Guy 15y ago
    Well, doesn't matter if Karp is a "hipster" or not, he is the CEO of a $40 million venture funded company. What have YOU done lately?
    - mhd 15y ago
      Huh? I'm not one of those guys who thinks "hipster" is automatically an insult, and I didn't even call him one, just that carefully selecting your pens is more a fashionable ("hip") thing to do than a sign of mental condition. And I just sorted and took out the trash, so I'm very satisfied with myself, thankyouverymuch.
    - bastiat 15y ago
      I'm not the author; but I am the lead quant at a profitable $1B hedge fund. I don't generally mention this, but it seemed like it might give you pause to think about how you deal with people.
- astrec 15y ago
  I found that one of the more interesting parts of the article, and made a note to find one and give it a try. I take a lot of notes too, but have never found a pen I with which I was entirely happy - these days I use a pencil.
  - ismarc 15y ago
    I'd suggest giving the Zebra F-301 a try. I've used them for years and they're cheap, write extremely smooth and don't smudge. And I can fill 1 1/2 to 2 notebooks on a single ink cartridge.
    - astrec 15y ago
      Thanks!
- rudiger 15y ago
  Sorry, but you can't diagnose Asperger's from a fuckin' interview/article.
- OoTheNigerian 15y ago
  Maybe you should consider that this is an interview that was turned into a first person essay. So it is very possible that the follow up question to his note taking was " what pen do you use?"
devinfoley 15y ago
"Every feature has some maintenance cost, and having fewer features lets us focus on the ones we care about and make sure they work very well. For every new feature we add, we take an old one out. A lot of big sites don't do that, and it's a problem." Very well put.
michaelochurch 15y ago
This guy seems really capable, balanced, and mature. We need more focus on people like him and less on flash-in-a-pan lottery-winner success stories.
adrianparsons 15y ago
I briefly spoke to Karp at SXSW this year. I had no idea who he was. Me: "So what do you do?" Karp: "I work at Tumblr." Me: "What do you do there?" Karp: "...I'm an engineer" Me: "What kind of engineer?" Karp: "...A little of everything." One of my friends had to tell me he was the goddamn CEO. I've never met a CEO who was that modest.

66 points by mmphosis 15y ago

Printer friendly: http://www.inc.com/magazine/201106/the-way-i-work-david-karp-of-tumblr_Printer_Friendly.html http://www.inc.com/magazine/201106/the-way-i-work-david-karp...

willtildesley 15y ago

...remember this? http://postdesk.com/debates/should-tumblr-care/ http://postdesk.com/debates/should-tumblr-care/

msh 15y ago
What relevance does that have to this piece?

hristov 15y ago

You linked to the second page. Here is the first page: http://www.inc.com/magazine/201106/the-way-i-work-david-karp-of-tumblr.html http://www.inc.com/magazine/201106/the-way-i-work-david-karp... Overall, quite a heart warming story of someone being very successful yet also being happy and not killing themselves with work and pressure. BTW, I hope Mr. Karp is not offended, but he definitely has some asperger tendencies. For example, he found it necessary to describe exactly which brand and type of pen he uses to write notes in his notebooks.

rmccue 15y ago
> BTW, I hope Mr. Karp is not offended, but he definitely has some asperger tendencies. For example, he found it necessary to describe exactly which brand and type of pen he uses to write notes in his notebooks. I don't think it's that weird to know what type of pen you use, especially if you write a lot. For example, I use a Pilot G2 (or a G2-ex, depending on what I'm writing).
- shazow 15y ago
  +1, I care about my writing utensil a lot. I'm a big fan of the Pilot G-Tec-C 0.4mm (also known as the Hi-Tec-C if you buy from Japan). I don't think I can ever go back to another pen. I'm still in search for the perfect notebook, my next candidate is a notebook from a Crumpler store in Amsterdam--as soon as I'm done the last few pages of my Moleskine sketchbook whose pages are far too yellow.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
jacobbijani 15y ago
No, seriously, we have a drawer full of them. They are the best pens ever made.
mhd 15y ago
I'd say that's more "hipster" than Asperger's. The search for the perfect pen for your moleskine (or filing cards, aka.'hipster pda') was quite popular in the, erm, blogosphere a couple of years ago. Productivity minutiae can be quite amusing.
- sunchild 15y ago
  Or just dilettantism, which is perfectly OK and healthy, esp. for a youngish person.
- Apple-Guy 15y ago
  Well, doesn't matter if Karp is a "hipster" or not, he is the CEO of a $40 million venture funded company. What have YOU done lately?
  - mhd 15y ago
    Huh? I'm not one of those guys who thinks "hipster" is automatically an insult, and I didn't even call him one, just that carefully selecting your pens is more a fashionable ("hip") thing to do than a sign of mental condition. And I just sorted and took out the trash, so I'm very satisfied with myself, thankyouverymuch.
  - bastiat 15y ago
    I'm not the author; but I am the lead quant at a profitable $1B hedge fund. I don't generally mention this, but it seemed like it might give you pause to think about how you deal with people.
astrec 15y ago
I found that one of the more interesting parts of the article, and made a note to find one and give it a try. I take a lot of notes too, but have never found a pen I with which I was entirely happy - these days I use a pencil.
- ismarc 15y ago
  I'd suggest giving the Zebra F-301 a try. I've used them for years and they're cheap, write extremely smooth and don't smudge. And I can fill 1 1/2 to 2 notebooks on a single ink cartridge.
  - astrec 15y ago
    Thanks!
rudiger 15y ago
Sorry, but you can't diagnose Asperger's from a fuckin' interview/article.
OoTheNigerian 15y ago
Maybe you should consider that this is an interview that was turned into a first person essay. So it is very possible that the follow up question to his note taking was " what pen do you use?"

devinfoley 15y ago

"Every feature has some maintenance cost, and having fewer features lets us focus on the ones we care about and make sure they work very well. For every new feature we add, we take an old one out. A lot of big sites don't do that, and it's a problem." Very well put.

michaelochurch 15y ago

This guy seems really capable, balanced, and mature. We need more focus on people like him and less on flash-in-a-pan lottery-winner success stories.

adrianparsons 15y ago

I briefly spoke to Karp at SXSW this year. I had no idea who he was. Me: "So what do you do?" Karp: "I work at Tumblr." Me: "What do you do there?" Karp: "...I'm an engineer" Me: "What kind of engineer?" Karp: "...A little of everything." One of my friends had to tell me he was the goddamn CEO. I've never met a CEO who was that modest.