Yesterday, Mixergy interviewed our Founder and CEO Wes Wilson. We’d first like to thank Andrew Warner and Mixergy for conducting such a great interview and giving us the opportunity to get the Brandstack name out there.
Check out this video of the interview:
How Brandstack is building a profitable marketplace for brands
If you prefer to just listen, here’s an audio version of it.
You can also head over to Mixergy to read a full transcript of the interview. Thanks again to Andrew for the great interview!
Today we will be speaking with Upstack’s mascot Uppy. This is the first interview granted to the public by the legendary and notoriously reclusive spokesman. Read on to have all your burning questions answered…
Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, Uppy. We know you’re a busy mascot. So let’s get right to it.
1. First, what is your philosophy on mascotting in general?
People don’t realize how tough it is being a pansexual, non-threatening spokesthing. I have to pose for promotional materials and say clever things. There’s a lot of pressure on me to be representative of all things Upstack by just simply existing. It’s hard work. So next time you see the Phoenix Suns Gorilla or the Phillies Phanatic walking down the street, say “Hello.” They’re hard-working people, too.
2. And you’re quite the graphic designer as well. What’s your angle?
I have found a bit of a niche designing personal logos for my mascot friends. I feel specifically qualified to design mascot logos because I understand what a mascot needs as far as identity goes. I’m sure there are some very talented graphic designers out there who could probably create something gorgeous, but it wouldn’t have the soul of a mascot in it, which is often reticent of ridicule.
3. Are you taller than your parents?
I’m taller than my mother, shorter than my father. My mother is 3′1″ and my father is 7′2″. What did you expect?
4. Did you have a nickname growing up?
“Upchuck.” When I was in third grade, I threw up in gym class once…
5. We’re privy to the fact you used to be a pro basketball player in the now-defunct ABA. Would you care to clear the air about that?
I had game. In fact, I had so much game, I had to give some of it back. I had a mean set-shot and formed a dynamic duo with Walt “Chocolate Chip” Robinson. Besides that, I really don’t like talking about it.
6. But you won the dunk contest, didn’t you? How did you do that, considering your height… and lack of arms?
Haven’t you ever heard of Spudd Webb? Anything’s possible.
7. How do you dribble? You know… without arms? Actually, how do you do anything without arms?
See my last answer, please.
8. Coke or Pepsi?
I don’t drink carbonated drinks. Gotta watch my figure.
9. There’s no easy way to seque to the next topic, which I’m sure can’t be easy for you to talk about. You are a veteran of the armed forces, correct?
Yessir, I served my country with valor like all other veterans of foreign wars. Please support the men and women who put their lives on the line in the name of freedom.
10. You were awarded some medals for your bravery and got to meet the president at the time, correct?
That is correct. It was one of the greatest thrills of my life and it’s an honor I’ll always cherish.
11. You’ve led quite the Gumpian life. Have you ever stopped to think about how much you’ve accomplished in your life so far?
I get the “Forrest Gump” thing all the time, but I’m quick-witted. Make no mistake.
12. What advice do you have for little mascots out there? What has gotten you where you are today?
Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or can’t be. So you have a giant, bulbous head covered in pink feathers. So what? So you have no arms and look kinda like a mushroom. It doesn’t matter. You’ll find your place among the mascot family. It’s a very accepting and caring community. I’m proud of who I am.
13. I think that just about concludes our interview. Is there anything else you’d like to add in conclusion?
It’s a great honor to be working as Upstack’s mascot. I mean… it was such a big break for me in the business and I was so lucky that I look vaguely like the Upstack logo. How lucky is that? In conclusion, I’d like to ask you to please take a look at my work over at upstack.com. I’d be a poor mascot if I didn’t let you know you can get great custom graphic design work there.
Thank you, Uppy. It’s been a pleasure.
Likewise.
We’d like to thank Uppy again for taking the time to speak with us.
From time to time we like to spotlight one of our users and give you a profile on the type of people who come through Brandstack, and the results of their experience.
Today we are profiling Paul Singh, buyer of MailFinch who has turned the brand into a direct mailing service.
BRANDSTACK: Tell us about yourself, Paul. Where are you from? What makes you tick?
PAUL: I’m originally from the DC area — born and raised here. I hate the weather sometimes, but love being close to my family. I’m an entrepreneur at heart; I think I’ve only ever had one “real” job. Then I learned that corporate life tends to suck, so I jumped ship and never looked back.
I love building stuff — whether that means doing it on my own or helping other people get their ideas off the ground.
You’ve been a part of some rather high-profile projects. What were some of your previous accomplishments?
I don’t know if I would call them “high-profile” but I’ve been lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and work with top-notch people.
Prior to MailFinch, I founded Philtro which was a real time relevancy engine for social networks. We were acquired in late 2009. Prior to that I worked at PBworks, the world’s largest provider of hosted collaboration solutions for business and education, where I was responsible for building out the back-office systems and building their support team. And prior to that, I helped build Symantec’s SaaS business unit (which, incidentally, booked millions of dollars of pre-sales before we even finished building the thing).
God, I feel old… but I’m not.
For those who don’t already know, what is MailFinch?
MailFinch is an on-demand direct mail platform. Whether you need to send one piece of mail or thousands, we guarantee that it will be in tomorrow’s mail. There are no long-term contracts, no minimums and no fine print.
Sneh is normally our interviewer for our Showcase Designer segment, but the thing about that is: she’s also an amazing designer. We couldn’t very well ask her to interview herself when we decided to make her our latest featured logo designer (though she offered to try), so we tried our best to fill her big, yet still ladylike shoes.
We’re sure many of you are already aware of Sneh’s presence in the graphic design community and her tireless effort on her blog, Little Box of Ideas. For those who aren’t familiar, that’s perfect because we conducted a little interview so you can get to know the very lovely Sneh Roy.
Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, Sneh. It’s your turn to bask in the interview spotlight.
1. Who exactly are you? Tell us about yourself, please. Name, age, occupation, birth place, credit card numbers?
In my past life I was Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots on Cybertron. I was red, blue, shiny, brave and noble. In this life I am Sneh Roy, best friend to Nick, fighter of my older son’s dragons, ass-kicker of my younger son’s nighttime monsters, serial coffee chugger, sees-logos-everywhere-designer, Pixar fan, hopeless romantic, compulsive list creator and a chatterbox. I am 32. I do several jobs a day, the most favorite would be sketching, planning and designing, the least favorite would be changing diapers and re-filling sugar. I was born in a city called Pune in western India in 1977. I have put a scan of my credit card in the mail and you should be getting that shortly.
2. For those who don’t know about “Little Box of Ideas,” could you tell us a little bit about it and its origins? (This is your chance to plug!)
I was going to be a neurosurgeon, and no I am not kidding. It was all I had ever known and worked for. Right before admission into medical school, I spent a day at a hospital watching how it all worked. At the end of that day, I broke down, cried my heart out because I knew I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t that I wimped out, just that I couldn’t take all that pain and suffering. So I enrolled in engineering, met Nick and flew blind for a bit. Then I discovered HTML and started designing websites. We started working on projects together back in 1998 and the seed for LBOI was planted. In 2005 when we officially set out to register our company, Little Box Of Ideas was a fitting name, seeing that my head is exploding with a bunch of them every single minute. In 2009 I designed my first logo and we rebranded to LBOI studio, taking our skills and work to a new level, offering a wide range of creative solutions for businesses.
We’ve added someone new and important and awesome to the Brandstack team. But before we’ll allow them to contribute, they must answer the gauntlet of questions
To introduce the Brandstack world to Katelyn, we asked her a few straight forward questions. Here are her answers:
Q: In less than 8 words: Where are you from? What do you enjoy? What do you want?
A. Knoxville; art, food, cats, internetz, FUN PPL; fulltimejobatBrandstack!! (does that last one count as one word if I squish it all together?) [Nope. --Ed.]
Q: So honestly, how annoyed are you by the music in the office?
A. Haha I really like it! More plz.
Q: Have you ever seen anyone taller than Ryan Kelly (@pearanalytics) in person… seriously?
A. I thought so once, but then I realized I was at a zoo and it was a giraffe.
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I have not had the pleasure of interacting with Nadir personally in the past but I have admired his work for a while. Once in a while, a logo would crop up that I would really take a shine to and I would see that it was from “Logorado” which happens to be Nadir Balcikli’s design name and brand. There were times when I wondered why he wasn’t creating more logos, because it was such a joy to see the few he had created. Then I realized why? “Less is More” is Nadir’s motto and it is evident from the sheer honesty he pours into his designs, not going for quantity but definitely producing top quality work. Today, Nadir takes time out from his busy schedule to talk to us about how Logorado came into being, how he found Brandstack and what are his thoughts behind the wonderful logos he designs.
Thank you Nadir for speaking to us today.
1. Tell us a bit about yourself. Who you are? Where you are from? And what do you do?
I am a 25 year old married designer living in Ankara/Turkey. The absolute musts in my life are my wife, my paper and pen, and my computer. If these were not in my life, I wouldn’t have been telling you these things today. I thank my wife very much for all that supports she’s been giving me. Taking photographs, reading personal development books and watching psychology- thriller movies may be counted as my favorite hobbies.
2. What is the story behind Logorado? How did your brand come into existence?
While I was working at the office one day I reached the decision that I needed to develop my expertise in a specific field of graphic design. What would that be? Clearly, It did not take me long to make my decision and to tell the truth the first and the single most thing that came to my mind was logo designing. This is how I started Logorado. In a significantly short time I achieved a reputation in the market and I continued and still continue to improve myself in this specific field.
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