m@: überesque vägaries.

#WestwardHommes: A Surprise Proposal After more than a decade...

Wed, 21 Sep 2016 00:00:00 -0400

#WestwardHommes: A Surprise Proposal

After more than a decade in NYC apiece, Brandon and Matt are moving westward to San Francisco. What better day than Matt’s birthday for a going-away celebration? Matt had another surprise in store: watch ten glorious years breeze by in the blink of an eye and hear the true story of how Brandon and Matt met. In the end, Matt makes a surprise proposal that Brandon never saw coming.

A special thank you to the countless individuals that helped make this happen: from those that filmed broadcasted despite the dark, dungeonous conditions so our extended family could watch, to my last-minute copywriters and coworker coaches. Thank you to all the people that have encouraged and supported us over the last decade and more. This video is for you just as much as Brandon.

This past spring, Brandon and I turned a work trip into a 10-day...

Sat, 30 Jul 2016 18:17:00 -0400

This past spring, Brandon and I turned a work trip into a 10-day adventure visiting the quirky city of Portland, OR, as well as venturing northbound on the gorgeous Amtrak Cascades line to see our wonderful friends in Seattle, WA. As usual, ear-to-ear smiles and ridiculousness ensues.

My 19-second swirling Singapore whirlpool video taken in 2014 as...

Wed, 27 Apr 2016 11:14:28 -0400

My 19-second swirling Singapore whirlpool video taken in 2014 as part of our #singvielaobodia Southeast Asia adventure was Digg’d yesterday, causing a fun and unexpected spike in traffic and interest.

It’s a very merry Perka holiday season around the office...

Fri, 04 Dec 2015 17:11:08 -0500

It’s a very merry Perka holiday season around the office today!

Four transit nerds escaped the typical domestic throes of the...

Tue, 01 Dec 2015 13:32:36 -0500

Four transit nerds escaped the typical domestic throes of the American Thanksgiving holiday for a quick, winter jaunt to Berlin, Germany and Copenhagen, Denmark.

Possibly the most exciting and unexpected part of our trip was our railway journey between the two cities via a high-speed train that boarded a ferry mid-trip… with us aboard. See how it turned out.

On Saturday, May 9, 2015 I was invited to speak to a group of...

Sun, 10 May 2015 23:04:57 -0400

On Saturday, May 9, 2015 I was invited to speak to a group of graduating and current Visual Studies students. I was honored to give my talk.

For those that asked, my slides are available on Speaker Deck.

Excited to pop down to Philly this Sat to give a talk at my alma mater #UPenn on Visual Studies @Pennalumni panel. pic.twitter.com/tSdQOuXGbV
— Matt Leiker (@mattleiker) May 5, 2015

Sometimes adding a bit of “secrecy” helps get side...

Fri, 24 Apr 2015 20:04:28 -0400

Sometimes adding a bit of “secrecy” helps get side projects done. I catalogued the process of developing an Apple Watch offering for Perka leading up to launch day. Read about it on Medium.

The execution of Perka’s pan-continental #demoday requires...

Thu, 15 May 2014 18:23:49 -0400

The execution of Perka’s pan-continental #demoday requires a careful mixture of nerdiness, sorcery, and tunes. (Also Hangouts, AV, and Airplay.)

It all starts with a handful of seeds… (View last season.)

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 09:26:24 -0400

It all starts with a handful of seeds… (View last season.)

You know it’s an exciting day at Perka when you get to...

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 15:21:00 -0500

You know it’s an exciting day at Perka when you get to play with sticky notes.

New running shoes arrived! Think they’re appropriately...

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 14:27:00 -0500

New running shoes arrived! Think they’re appropriately bright enough for me?

Be sure to view 2013 and 2012’s awesome kicks.

Excited to be back @newyork_cm in the gorgeous Galapagos...

Fri, 31 Jan 2014 09:15:12 -0500

Excited to be back @newyork_cm in the gorgeous Galapagos auditorium for a jolt of caffeine and creativity with @TinyBopInc. #cmnyc (at Galapagos Art Space)

Joining the Perka and First Data Families How a Simple Tweet...

Thu, 23 Jan 2014 11:25:00 -0500

Joining the Perka and First Data Families

How a Simple Tweet Landed Me a New Job

“What’s going on with that iPod touch there?” I asked the blue-haired barista at Pushcart Coffee, my coworkers’ destination of choice for seeking fresh air and an afternoon caffeine fix.

“That’s Perka, our customer loyalty program. It basically replaces the ‘Buy 10 Get One Free’ cards with an app.” she replied as she swiped my credit card through her Square cash register setup.

“Of course there’s an app for that!” I exclaimed. “I love the deals, but hate those stupid cards.” A firm adherent to the minimalist’s slim wallet, I never have them with me. I downloaded the app on the spot.

From that moment forward, I regularly collected “punches” for our group’s purchases on our frequent afternoon Pushcart escapades. It was no surprise that my coworker Sarah thought of me when she saw news of Perka’s acquisition on Twitter:

@sv02 @TechCrunch Wow. Go Perka app!
— Matt Leiker (@mattleiker) October 30, 2013

@mattleiker Thanks for the applause Matt. We’re pretty psyched about the future of @getperka and @FirstData
— Rob Bethge (@rbethge) October 30, 2013

The Twitter conversation above led to an unexpected email inquiry from one of Perka’s founders, who presumably caught a glance at my Twitter profile and clicked through to my website.

Sidebar: See kids, have a consistent online presence, engage in social media (at least professionally), and take minimum steps to demonstrate your professional experience online in a way that’s consumable and accessible.

Fast-forward a few weeks, a handful of exciting conversations, and Perka asked me to join their growing team as a Project/Product Manager hybrid in their downtown Manhattan offices. I’ll be helping them to scale, organize, and create process as both the Perka product and team evolves.

There were a few elements that drew me to Perka beyond the potential of their existing loyalty product. The most prominent of which is their new ownership by global payments and e-commerce titans, First Data, the largest credit card processing company in the United States. This partnership coupled with another recent First Data acquisition of Clover, an Android-based point of sale system (i.e. cash register), makes for an exciting play. Here’s how TechCrunch described it:

The move enables First Data to give customers that are using its old school credit card terminals an opportunity to upgrade without having to turn to the Squares and PayPal Here’s of the world. And, today, by adding Perka’s subscription mobile loyalty services to the mix, First Data is beginning to build out the other side of its fledgling in-store payment solution.

Another element that really drew me to the Perka team was the established track record for success amongst its leadership. It became very clear in my research and discussions with them that these folks have worked together in a myriad of capacities over a number of years:

The startup is co-founded by Alan Chung, Rob Coury and Rob Bethge, all three serial entrepreneurs who count six exits between them ranging from $25 million to $1.5 billion, with buyers including Facebook (Zenbe), Aol, Sun Microsystems, and TD Ameritrade. (TechCrunch, 2011)

After six years working in agencies, I’m also excited to step back and work in-house on the product side of things. In the project-based, client-driven agency world, I’ve had incredible exposure to an astounding variety of projects, challenges, technologies, processes, cultures and talents. I’m looking forward to applying these learnings in a focused and ongoing manner.

Here’s to new and exciting challenges in 2014!

(PS: We’re hiring aggressively! Give me a shout if you have interest beyond the roles listed here or here.)

Watch out Seattle & San Francisco, I’m coming to sees...

Sun, 05 Jan 2014 13:38:18 -0500

Watch out Seattle & San Francisco, I’m coming to sees you Jan 10th, 14th respectively.

I absolutely love this picture that the audacious Victor snapped...

Thu, 19 Dec 2013 19:21:48 -0500

I absolutely love this picture that the audacious Victor snapped of me at the AMNH Planetarium event last week. It looks like it should be the cover to my other-worldly memoirs.

io9 and the American Museum of Natural History hosted a special screening of Dark Universe last night. Neil deGrasse Tyson[’s voice] lead us on a journey through the ever expanding universe of dark energy, dark matter, red shifts, and all things that make one feel incredibly inconsequential and scared that something much more advanced than ourselves is somewhere out there.

Spotify’s 2013 Year in Review It’s December, which...

Wed, 04 Dec 2013 13:54:33 -0500

Spotify’s 2013 Year in Review

It’s December, which means it’s the time of year that every media agency under the sun puts out their “Year in Review” listicles. This year, Spotify is no exception.

Their endless-scrolling, pseudo-parallax site is heavy on the Spotify slime green treatment, but custom account analytics at the end are a lot of fun. Mine (above) turned out a lot less embarrassing than expected.

My stats are a little inflated due to using my account as part of the office jukebox (hence “501 Tunes” playlist, our suite number), but Album, Artist and Tracks all seem fairly legit-Me.

See you next year #urbangarden on our ‘balcony’....

Sat, 23 Nov 2013 13:42:00 -0500

See you next year #urbangarden on our ‘balcony’. (View the whole season.)

Campfire Fun and Drinking From Streams Toleak Point in Olympic...

Mon, 14 Oct 2013 17:52:30 -0400

Campfire Fun and Drinking From Streams

Toleak Point in Olympic National Park, Washington State

“Wait, you’ve never had a real hiking experience?” questioned my Seattle friends while visiting NYC early this year. “Well, when you finally come visit, we’ll take care of that.”

Maybe it’s a little too much Grey’s Anatomy, but I’ve always had a romantic fascination with Seattle—but never gotten the chance to visit. Having amassed an incredible group of friends there, their seemingly coordinated visitation campaigns finally wore me down and flights were booked over 4th of July weekend.

I had a confession to make: I’d camped as a kid with my Dad, but not since then as an adult (I don’t count Burning Man). Luckily, we’ve got some pretty crunchy friends who had the gear and know-how to make it easy and approachable.

It might not be obvious by my choice in hiking garb (life’s too short for drab clothing), but it turns out I was a natural. Our three days and two nights were fantastic: we explored the tide pools, we made our own amusement around the campfire at night, we drank (filtered/purified) water from streams. The stars shined brighter than I’d ever experienced, I laughed until I cried, and there was even a washed-up whale that Jason unfortunately mistook for a log. I’d never experienced a true pack-in/pack-out camping trip.

Comparatively, I only spent about a day and a half in Seattle, but I suspect I’ll soon be back; having such easy access to the outdoors is intoxicating. Couple that with the incredible people and it’s surprising my next visit isn’t already booked.

Photo credits: Dusty Hauck and Tom Hudson

I’m so brainwashed by pop tech that I can’t even...

Mon, 07 Oct 2013 22:05:47 -0400

I’m so brainwashed by pop tech that I can’t even look at this 10 year old album cover without thinking the images are Instagrams.

Happy 5 years of #creativemornings @NewYork_CM ! @darrellhammond...

Fri, 04 Oct 2013 09:23:24 -0400

Happy 5 years of #creativemornings @NewYork_CM ! @darrellhammond of @kaboom presents on “Play.” (at Galapagos Art Space)