Lincoln (Guest post by Deana Ward.) Working with family and friends—like anything in life—can be completely awesome or totally awful. Over the course of my career, I've experienced both extremes (and everything in between). Currently, Gear Five Studio is a Petri dish for personal work relationships. My brother and I are business partners. Our art director is married to one of our graphic designers. Our sales guy and marketing assistant are siblings. Said sales guy dates our art director’s sister. Our newest developer is a close buddy of the same sales guy. Last week I ran an anonymous in-house survey … read more

Lincoln (Guest post by Stephanie Jarrett.) My husband Paul and I have put our marriage to the test more than a few times. We've worked at ad agencies together, we've been poor together and we’ve moved cross-country more than once. Each time after moving furniture into a new apartment, in a new city, I've looked at Paul as we sit amongst our packed garbage bags and say, "We did it! And we hardly even argued." And Paul's common response is "If that's the hardest challenge we face, our lives will be cake." I used to think that moving, creating a home or financial strife were some of the toughest tests … read more

Lincoln (Guest post by John Wirtz.) I'll never forget the most intimidating spreadsheet I ever had to face. It was winter 2009, and this piece of paper was just sitting there on my desk staring at me. It wasn't our sales goals for the year. It wasn't a list of the hairiest bugs in Hudl. It wasn't our steadily-decreasing statement of cash flows. It was a list of head football coach names, email addresses, and phone numbers from high schools here in Lincoln, Neb., and it was scaring the hell out of me. | Hudl in winter 2009: Going into the 2008 football season, our Hudl video analysis system was up and running … read more