PackBack and ContextMedia’s Jam Sessions, and Why Creative Outlets Help Startups Grow
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When edtech startup Packback incubated at fast-growing healthcare startup ContextMedia last year, the two startups collaborated on more than just business.
Packback cofounder Mike Shannon and ContextMedia product manager Ernesto Rodriguez have been working on a series of hip hop songs born out of their mutual passion for making music. It’s a project that not only inspired a series of raps featuring local producers, musicians, and even other startup employees, but also offers a peek into how employees’ creativity can fortify a fast-growing startup.
A hip hop collaboration born out of an incubator
It all started with Rodriguez’s office nickname: Beats.
When a coworker found out that Rodriguez, a product manager who has been with ContextMedia since 2013, made hip hop beats and worked as an electronic music DJ on the side, he became known as “Beats” around the office (a nickname so well known within ContextMedia, he also owns the email “beats@contextmediainc.com.”)
Last year Packback incubated in ContextMedia’s offices, where they worked on growing their e-textbook and digital learning platform. One of Packback’s founders, Mike Shannon, heard about Rodriguez’s nickname and musical side hobby, and reached out to see if he wanted to lay down beats for a few rap lyrics Shannon had penned over the years.
They started collaborating, and soon word got around.
“I would be in the kitchen and a developer would come up and start talking about being a violinist or a salesperson who’s also a singer, guitar player…Other people were making beats,” added Shannon. “What we realized…is that we were surrounded by pent up latent creativity, latent creative talent that was waiting for a catalyst to jump into action.”
“It went from a casual, ‘Hey I hear other people are doing music,’ to ‘Ok let’s sit in the studio and start recording,'” Rodriguez said.
When they needed a vocalist, Rodriguez went onto ContextMedia’s various Slack channels to see if anyone was interested in helping out. They soon connected with Grace Coletta, an executive assistant at ContextMedia as well as a singer, whose vocals are featured on upcoming song “Statues Fall.”
For Shannon, the collaboration also allowed him an outlet to share his entrepreneurial journey. On the song “Snowball” featuring Christian Barnes of Chicago Funk Mafia and produced by Nifty Swell (a local producer and DePaul student), he raps about his four year journey launching Packback out of Illinois State University. It features soundbites from speeches made by ContextMedia’s Shradha Agarwal and 1871’s Howard Tullman.
More than just music
Packback has found significant success since working out of ContextMedia. Last summer they raised $1.5 million, and they just moved to a new office in the South Loop. Another key part of that growth has been encouraging employees to explore their creative hobbies, Shannon said.
“This notion of latent creative talent was really striking to me and I didn’t think it was unique to Packback or ContextMedia but I do think its particularly strong in the startup tech environment,” Shannon said.
He said the startup has a number of employees that are in bands, play instruments, sing, or have other creative talents, such as painting and drawing (cofounder Jessica Tenuta is working on a mural for the new office). With this in mind, they’re working on installing a soundproof sound booth in the new office, employees often attend each others’ shows, and office parties even turn into jam sessions, Shannon said.
“You want it to be a built in part of the business because the activities that go with it are a built in part of the individual,” he pointed out. “There should never be a sacrifice of one passion for the next. We have a team that is extremely passionate about what we’re doing to awaken the fearless relentless curiosity of a college student….That passion can be pretty time [intensive], but we don’t want it to be overshadowing these individual creative talents.”
“Why not, when you have a group of awesome individuals that you’re going after this world-conquering mission with, why shouldn’t that also be an audience for you in displaying your art or creativity?” he added.
Working at a startup also requires a lot of skills that overlap with creative industries added Rodriguez. Before ContextMedia, he worked at startups including Groupon and Redbox.
“In the startup environment, if it becomes successful, things can go very fast before you even have time to step back and plan,” he said. “That sort of environment and those situations will make or break a person, or in the instance of a creative person, allows them to use the creative side of their mind to come up with solutions.”
“Creatives in startup environments, they don’t feel the pressure to quit or give up,” he said. “Instead they stand up to the occasion and start to brainstorm.”
With this in mind, taking time to nurture the creative side of employees, particularly in fast growing startups, is a smart move said Northwestern Kellogg professor Michelle Buck.
“If a group is literally jamming together and creating something, there is no question that it gets the creative juices flowing,” she said. “If these are people in ongoing intact groups that continue to work together, the level of creativity will be increased…because it generates an energy, confidence, a sense of rhythm, and a sense of familiarity and bonding. There’s an energy that will naturally carry over.”
Buck studies the intersection of arts and business, including how art forms such as Argentine tango, Caribbean music, and jazz ensembles can help develop business leaders. With the rise in startups, using art as business development is even more relevant, she said.
“By definition, startups and entrepreneurial ventures are something new,” she said. “By definition it seems similar to the inspiration we draw from the arts, because artists are always about creating something new and startups are often about doing something different in a way that has never been done before.”
Business schools have added arts training to leadership classes as well. University of Chicago Booth’s London campus has a visiting artist, while Northwestern conductor Steve Alltop has given lectures at Kellogg.
Though not every startup has a resident beat-maker, avid lyricist, or superstar singer, Shannon said the key to bringing outside creativity into the workplace is just to be aware of employee talents.
“It’s just being cognizant of what people are doing and what their passions are, and then trying to facilitate an environment where that can be shared,” he said.