Rework

When Robin Petravic and Cathy Bailey bought Heath Ceramics from the company's founders in 2003, they promised to keep the dinnerware maker and its manufacturing workforce in its home base of Sausalito, California. The pandemic provided an opportunity for Heath to recommit to this pledge and create a Living Wage Initiative, which in turn prompted a radical overhaul of the company's 401(k) program. Robin Petravic comes on Rework to talk about walking the walk on equity, resilience, and equipping Heath for the next 200 years.

Robin and Cathy wrote about the Living Wage Initiative in Heath's January newsletter.

Show Notes

Heath Ceramics website | Instagram - 1:02

"Edith Heath: A Rebellion in Clay" (KCET, 2019) - 1:14
"A New Year, 166 New Owners" - 6:30

"Marin County's intensive effort drove down a COVID surge among Latino residents" (San Jose Mercury News) - 10:46

MIT Living Wage Calculator - 15:46

Eau de Space - 25:16

Last episode of the year and we're talking about startups. The new dry cleaner down the street doesn't call itself a startup. The pizza place on the corner doesn't call itself a startup. They're new businesses, that's all! So, what's so special about your tech company that you need a fancy word for it? Startups make you think of unlimited growth, huge investments, no expenses to worry about. This mindset can be unhealthy and detrimental to your new business.

Show Notes

• 02:57 - Request for Proposal (Investopedia)
• 10:02 - Greater fool theory (Wikipedia)
• 15:57 - R.I.P. Good Times (Sequoia Capital)
• 23:00 - Hotwire

Whenever you start something, especially a business it's important to know why you're doing what you're doing. Having strong opinions, standing for something, can help tremendously when it comes to making crucial decisions and creating super-fans.

Show Notes

• 03:27 - Embrace Constraints (Getting Real)
• 04:09 - Signal v. Noise
• 04:18 - It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work
• 04:44 - Signal v. Noise is closed.
• 08:24 - Citizens United v. FEC (Wikipedia)
• 09:31 - Oracle
• 11:07 - Pinkberry
• 11:35 - Pinkberry sold to Cold Stone owner (CNBC)
• 12:38 - Basecamp Launches (Signal v. Noise)
• 14:38 - r/faxmachines (reddit)
• 22:07 - Badass: Making Users Awesome - Kathy Sierra (Bookshop.org)
• 25:53 - Tesla Model S Plaid

This week we discuss the importance of doing meaningful work. At least meaningful to you. What you do is your legacy, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to change the world. You just need to be doing something that changes YOUR world.

Show Notes

• 03:28 - Bullshit Jobs: A Theory - David Graeber (Bookshop.org)
• 04:37 - Drudge Report
• 04:38 - craigslist
• 05:01 - Flip Video (Wikipedia)
• 05:29 - iPod touch
• 07:46 - Rails
• 08:55 - Ta-da List
• 11:45 - Stoicism (Wikipedia)
• 13:47 - Aol.
• 16:44 - stripe
• 17:31 - Braintree
• 18:07 - shopify
• 19:01 - Paul Graham
• 19:36 - Viaweb (Wikipedia)
• 20:34 - Squarespace
• 21:21 - Stratechery

This week Jason and David discuss the essay titled "Start Making Something." It's only when you start building something the real insights come. Until then, all you have is just an idea. We also talk about Stanley Kubrick films and Jason introduces groundbreaking concepts like perforated pizza and "The Mysterious Cat."

Show Notes

• 06:04 - Getting Real
• 17:22 - Collections
• 20:44 - Stanley Kubrick (IMDb)
• 20:57 - 2001: A Space Odyssey (IMDb)
• 21:10 - Music Box Theater
• 22:10 - The Shining (IMDb)
• 22:24 - The reason why Stephen King hated Stanley Kubrick film 'The Shining' (Far Out)