From the Deeplocal website. I thought I’d seen complex workflow charts working with engineering graduate students, but this kludge takes the prize.
DEEPLOCAL
Nathan Martin, owner of Deeplocal.
Recode
Recode.com was based on Priceline and was a punk trick. Copy subbar codes; change the bar code, and you can get your item at the price you want to pay. Walmart got a cease-and-desist order.
Chalkbot
Martin set up a bot that he sent messages to; the bot operated a device that chalked the messages on the road during the Tour de France.
2006-2013 Deep Local
Martin says he is now more responsible. That is the change that he has made now that he is older and runs a company. He has to consider the effect of his decisions on those who work for him. You have to pick your battles, to pick where you want to have an impact.
Money? Don’t depend on it!
Martin’s suggestions to the audience (roughly translated):
- Be first: get ideas out first to real-life
- Be remarkable: tell a story. Live a life worth talking about.
- Be where tech and anarchy intersect.
- Be prolific: build and then spread.
- Be nice: everything is run by people.
- Be passionate: do what you want to do and do it your way.
- Reinvent the wheel: resist being labeled, do what others fear.
- Gain new perspectives: expose yourself to many things. Culture is inspired by your input. If you just see the same thing, you end up making the same this and you work will be boring.
- Be authentic: you can’t fake it.
- Work hard: and no ego.
- Don’t get comfortable: always be willing to throw it all away.
- Starting a company is just another art project.
- Having restrictions is part of the game. Be clever with what you can do.
- It’s hard to grow a culture. But you have a chance at happiness if you are doing what you want to do.
- Delegation: trust others. Let others have your ideas. Accept that your idea is not always the best one.
- Delegate creativity. I work with both engineers and artists.
Q & A
Question: When working with clients, how do you maintain integrity?
Answer: Make sure you believe in the client as a company. There are compromises but do not sell out when you work with corporate clients
Question: You work a lot! How do you draw the line?
Answer: A work- life balance is hard. It’s hard to relax.
Martin says that people do not remember more than three things they were told in a presentation. But it’s okay, we wrote all the things down. 🙂
More info on Nathan Martin
From Youtube: Nathan Martin is CEO of Deeplocal Inc. Prior to founding Deeplocal in 2006, Martin was a researcher and artist-in-residence at Carnegie Mellon University, where he led an interdisciplinary team in the development of a collaborative online mapping toolkit. As a founding member of both an art group and a touring punk/metal band, Martin has spoken, toured, and exhibited internationally since age 16. He has more than a decade of experience with mobile technology, starting in 1999 as Mobile Device Specialist for MetaDesign SF and continuing his work with clients including Palm Computing, Brodia, Panasonic, and Nike.
Martin has taught art and design at several universities; he holds an MFA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, both in electronic media art. He has received recognition and numerous awards for his work in art, music, and technology, and he continues to write and speak about his passion for integrating the artists’ process into the design and development of improved ways of experiencing people, information, and objects in this world.
Listen to the presentation on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/officialsxsw/anarchist-to-sell-out-punks?in=officialsxsw/sets/sxsw-interactive-2013
From South by Southwest: Nathan Martin is the CEO of innovation studio Deeplocal, best known for the creation of the Nike Chalkbot street painting robot seen at the Tour de France. Before working for brands, Nathan screamed in a touring metal band called Creation is Crucifixion and plotted subversive pranks with the art collective Carbon Defense League. From hacking the Nintendo Gameboy to trading sex for votes to barcode swapping, Nathan has been down more than a few questionable roads that have resulted in attacks from organizations like the FTC. Nathan will talk about how his past as a subversive artist has influenced how he runs his for-profit business.
Links:
Ted X talk by Nathan Martin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju9ZJSSP2h8
Deeplocal, Inc. http://www.deeplocal.com/
More images from 2013 South by Southwest Interactive
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clairwiloh/sets/72157632980772104/
http://eventifier.co/event/sxsw13/clairwil
2013 SxSW Interactive Presentations on Soundcloud
Find out more about the South by Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin Texas
Newosity: future report 