why i’m leaving my dream job for my dream job
I thought explaining to my 92-year-old grandfather-in-law why I’m leaving the NFL for a company in the NFT space was going to be the wildest conversation of my lifetime.
He couldn’t possibly understand what an NFT is (he’d already heard of them).
He couldn’t possibly understand why I would leave a dream job at the NFL (he was surprised I stayed as long as I did).
He couldn’t possibly appreciate the opportunity at hand (he couldn’t have been more supportive).
So after telling myself never to underestimate a nonagenarian again, I thought I was in the clear.
That is until I realized I was probably going to have to write a “some personal news” tweet thread.
Everyone knows the deal here: You leave a job. You start a job. You write a tweet thread that starts off with “Some personal news…” and you explain how appreciative you are for your time at your old job and tell your new job, “hey, let’s do this!”
Those are the rules. Screen recording of changing your Twitter bio optional.
But writing the SPN tweet thread proved to be way more challenging than I could have anticipated. How do you synthesize all the feels of leaving your job and home for ~seven years into a bundle of tweets?
Couldn’t be me.
So here we are. A full-blown medium post. What a time.
(Will anyone actually read this?)
Anyway, here we go.
When you work at a place like the NFL for a long period of time you will undoubtedly go through a series of ups and downs. Some days I had no idea where my career would go. Other days (and especially the last couple years), I couldn’t have been happier to work where I work(ed).
But throughout this topsy turvy, the one unwavering facet of my job that I always took incredible interest in and love for is the team I helped build.
Great work, innovative work, headline work — those are critical. But those are table stakes — a given.
Promotions, pay raises, re-orgs and other politics I’ve faced — those were sometimes out of my control.
Forging meaningful relationships with those I work closest with was the one thing I knew I could control. And so that’s where a large part of my focus went.
It gives me severe anxiety to list out 40+ people, get their Twitter @handle perfect and publicly tell them why I love them and why they are so great.
So I’m peace that I’ve saved that for personal phone calls, texts, zooms and slacks I have exchanged over the last two weeks.
All I can say is that it has been the privilege of my career to build the social team at the NFL.
To the NFL Social Team: You are all so insanely talented at what you do. Very few people can possibly appreciate the breadth of what you are tasked with on a daily basis, the 24/7 pressure you face and the first-class output of your work.
You are the best at what you do — know this.
But more importantly, you are all truly wonderful people who genuinely care about each other and champion the success of others.
Putting ego aside is not easy. And being a great person, a mensch — like you all are— is special. Do not take that for granted.
So why the move to Dapper Labs?
COME ON!
I was hooked on NBA Top Shot the moment I laid eyes on it
I can’t think of a more exciting company to possibly join at a more exciting time.
For some, the idea of owning highlights that people can watch for free on YouTube is immediately met with skepticism.
For others it just clicks.
It immediately clicked for me.
And as the great Bales has said, “The best opportunities arise when you have great conviction in something and others DON’T agree.”
The power of the NFT is endless and undeniable — it’s also inevitable.
To build out a team, help build out a product, be a part of hyper-growth and evolve in this groundbreaking new space?
Now that’s a dream job.