Starting in December 2015, a colleague and I at my former employer, Slack, wrote most of a musical about startup life. The Google Doc is 44 pages long. Much of it is WAY too inside baseball about our time there to be fit to print, but with the recent public offering I wanted to at least acknowledge its existence publicly and share with you my own lyrical magnum opus: Cryin’ in the Nap Room (to the tune of the 1973 Brownsville Station classic, “Smokin’ in the Boys Room“).
Cryin’ in the Nap Room
To the tune of “Smokin’ in the Boys Room”
Did you ever seem to have one of those days
When everyone seemed to be on your case
From your CTO all the way down to your best girlfriend
Well that used to happen to me all the time
But I found a way to get out of it
Sittin’ in the open plan thinkin’ it’s a drag
Listening to the agile coach rap just ain’t my bag
When two bells ring you know it’s my cue
Gonna curl up with a blanket and do what i gotta do
[Chorus]
Cryin’ in the nap room
Cryin’ in the nap room
Bossman don’t you fill me up with your rules
Everybody knows that cryin’ ain’t allowed in
Checkin’ out the halls makin’ sure the coast is clear
Lookin’ in the gcal, nah, there ain’t nobody here
My buddies Mike, Matt and Mark
To get caught would surely be the death of us all
[Chorus]
Put me to work in the support queue
Tweetin’ on the corp account, and I got bored
Boss was lookin’ for me all around
Two hours later you know where I was found
[Chorus]
Cryin’ in the nap room
Cryin’ in the nap room
[Chorus]
One more time
[Chorus]
There were other songs – oh boy were there others. Here’s a selection:
Learning Objective-C
To the tune of “Defying Gravity”
The Interview
Setting: Whiteboard Interview
To the tune of “Greased Lightning”
Asking for a raise
Setting: Coffeeshop, with friends trying to recruit eachother to eachothers startups, by explaining perks
To the tune of “Pure Imagination”
Hooking up the AV
About hooking up AV for a meeting
To the tune of “You give love a Bad Name”
Go your own way
I Have an Idea / Leaving the Startup
To the tune of “Go your own way”
Acquire You
To the tune of Coldplay’s “Fix You”
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