People are never always asking us what it’s like to work at a cool company like Ignighter. Recently TechStars held a banquet honoring their awesome mentors. To provide an update of the companies and celebrate their progress each of the past founders at TechStars were asked to make a short video showing what life is like at their Startup.
We made this:
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At first we thought it was an alarming trend; many female profiles on Ignighter describe the group of friends as “The Sex and the City Girls”. The profile anoints each member of the group as either a “Carrie”, “Charlotte”, “Miranda”, or “Samantha”.
Seeing this commonality play out across female Ignighter groups from all corners of the U.S., we realized that if we didn’t understand this crucial feminine text, we would never have a good grasp on the female perspective of sex and relationships.
In an effort to fill this void in our relationship awareness, we started a Sex and the City Book (DVD) Club and invited a few of our buddies to join us.
NBC heard about it and stopped by Dan’s Upper West Side apartment to talk to us.
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She’s already been here for a couple weeks, but her employment really wasn’t official until her A/S/L Check went up on the Ignighter blog.
It is our pleasure to introduce the lovely and talented Ayca Aksu, Ignighter’s newest Developer and Interaction Designer.
Although we’re still a young company, one aspect of company culture that we take very seriously is the nickname. We have a strict hiring policy at Ignighter: We only hire geniuses. And as a result, all of our nicknames include a reference to our genius…um…osity.
When we first hired Nicky the combination of his youth and brilliance was so rare that he was quickly labeled Boy Genius . We called him B.G. for short until two syllables became one too many and he evolved into “Beege”. As Beege’s life-mentor, I naturally became “Meege” (Man Genius). Dan, being no slouch in the genius department, became “No Sleege” while Kevin became “Keege” (Kevin Genius) and Molly, in a gesture to her heritage, became “Heege” (Hebrew Genius).
It must be noted that Kevin wasn’t always Keege. Originally his nickname was based on the fact that he was a Real Genius, however it didn’t take long until we started to feel alarmingly similar to Kelly Ripa every time we wanted to acknowledge him. Thus he became simply Keege.
It may be hard to believe, but anyone who has spent a little time at Ignighter HQ knows that this is really the way it is. We actually call each other by these nicknames at all times. It’s not to be funny, but rather it’s a celebration of our genius…um…ness. We’re a lot like Apple’s Genius bar, just without the male ponytails.
Ignighter: So with that overlong introduction in mind, Ayca (pronounced eye-cha), what would you like your Ignighter genius nickname to be?
Ayca: Umm… How about Aych (eye-ch)?
Ignighter: So Aycheege?
Ayca: No, just Aych works for me.
Ignighter: After all that? Just Aych?
Ayca: After all what? I’m sorry, I haven’t been paying attention. The truth is, you’re kinda boring.
Ignighter: So I’ve heard. Well Aych, let’s get down to business.
Ayca: ‘Bout time.
Ignighter: Hmmph. Where are you from Aycheege?
Ayca: I was born in Rize. It is a small town by the Black Sea, in northeast Turkey.
Ignighter: Do you have siblings?
Ayca: I have a 27-year-old sister and a 20-year-old brother. My sister has the most awesome job. She is the third officer on a commercial ship, soon to be the second. My brother goes to college. His major is mining engineering.
Ignighter: Your brother is a major minor? You don’t hear that too often.
Ayca: Are you doing more of your comedy?
Ignighter: Sort of. Pressing on. What do you like to do in your free time?
Ayca: I used to do scuba diving when I was in Turkey. I have more than 50 dives up to 150 feet. I am planning to go to Mexico for scuba diving next summer. I also love sculptures. I have been taking sculpture classes where we learn about formalizing our ideas. One of my favorite places in NYC is the Moma, I love going there once in a while. I also love reading science fiction, fantasy, and comic books.
Ignighter: We’re really excited to have you on the Ignighter team. What is your primary goal at Ignighter?
Ayca: As a part of the Ignighter team, I very much look forward to seeing Ignighter become a successful product not just in terms of page views or revenue but also in terms of the whole user experience.
Ignighter: OK if you’re feling up to it, we’ll get to the closing questions now.
Ayca: Yeah, just hurry it up Sachs.
Ignighter: Alright. What is your favorite word?
Ayca: Penultimate.
Ignighter: Least favorite word?
Ayca: Abysmal. It reminds me of the GRE.
Ignighter: And the penulatime question, favorite smell?
Ayca: Lavender. I also like the smell of rain, especially on a dry summer night (but maybe that’s too romantic. I am totally not romantic). Plus I have a soft spot for Gio, men’s perfume, it smells soooo good.
Ignighter: And now the final question to this abysmal interview, what historical figure would you most like to go on a date with?
Ayca: I would like to go on a date with Picasso because he is a wonderful artist.
Ignighter: Aych it’s really been a pleasure. You’ve been an awesome addition to our genius team here and we know you’re going to make an awesome contribution to the success of the company.
Ayca: Are you still talking? I’m busy reading Jezebel.
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There are two reasons why we love when international publications/blogs talk about Ignighter.
1. It gives us an excuse to Photoshop ourselves into other countries/cultures.
2. We get to use Babelfish or our bilingual friends to see what kinds of crazy translations come out of it.
So far we’ve been featured in everything from Russian (here) to Chinese pieces (here and here).
Here’s a photo from our Shanghai Press Conference back in June:
Well today we’re covered by a Netherlands blogger who apparently thinks we’re Canadian. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Here’s a Dutch to English Babelfish translation of the post:
Canada stands confessed as a social country. A good health care and a government who pieces less Right is oriented himself than those of neighbouring country the US. Logically that groepsdaten do it well in Canada. A group forty-five friends goes on step with another group willing bachelors. Of course was possible this already earlier, but the phenomenon has rapidly grown since the launching of groepsdatingsite Ignighter.com.
While two groups of 45 friends on a date may make for a scheduling nightmare, the point remains the same: groepsdating is more fun!
Here’s a photo of the Ignighter team from our last trip to Holland (check out our clogs!):
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