George Taylor McKnight

Career Move: Hype Machine to SCHED*

As of this month I have made the transition from working on Hype Machine to working on SCHED* full time.

It’s been an exciting and scary decision for me to arrive at. A decision like no other I’ve made because I absolutely love working on The Hype Machine, with a team that is passionate about this little revolution born from Anthony’s dorm room. In the past year I’ve tried balancing Hype Machine, SCHED* and Phobooth and have come to conclude that I’d rather be the VERY BEST at one thing instead of doing 3 things very well. I’ve already left Phobooth to my dad and sister in January, who’ve already booked $40K+ of booths this year.

What’s Next?

SCHED* turns 4 years old this month and we have a passionate team of 4 people (Marvin, Sasa, Davor and myself) that are set on being the world’s best scheduling platform for conferences and festivals. Currently we’re all living in a house we rented in Austin for the month, then Marvin and I are driving around the country for awhile, wandering. I’m building my dream company, one where travel is ingrained into our culture and we give up office space for house rentals and team meetups around the world.

I’m REALLY looking forward to showing off our team’s killer progress on our product at SXSW:
SCHED* Unofficial SXSW 2011 Schedule

Nothing has changed since the first SXSW event we ever did. I wanted to make something for myself and got insanely excited that other people enjoyed it too. Now I thrive on building something nobody else is doing right and making atttendee’s scheduling experience efficient and enjoyable so they can enjoy attending actual parties and shows. I’m excited that I get to be obsessed/focused on one thing instead of having to change gears so often.

Help me spread the word and make this the very best year for SCHED* @ SXSW ever. It will mean the world to me. Tell your friends to use it, tweet it, and most importantly give me feedback on what we can do even better.

And now, a retrospective of my favorite Hype Machine projects over the years:
* Joining Anthony in 2007 and redesigning the original site into what you see today.
* Being able to work with Anthony, Scott, Zoya, Arkadiy, Dev, Abbey, Seb + other collaborators while following our passion.
* Music Blog Zeitgeist from 2010, 2009 and 2008 and 2007.
* Running a goofy little merch shop and getting things like vinyl necklaces and pillows custom made.
* Throwing various events, but mostly the 4 day long, 80+ band lineup we did for last years SXSW 2010 party.
* Almost getting bought, funded, and various other adventures but remaining self-sufficient and independent.
* Traveling to London to meet the Last.fm team, numerous work trips to NYC and random trips to LA, Berlin and Barcelona.
* Contributing to the much demanded, always around the corner iPhone app that I use every day and hope to see in the store soon :)

My email is taylor *at* sched *dot* org if you want to chat!

1. christopherlee liked this
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3. hypem reblogged this from gtmcknight and added:

   Taylor’s moving...app full-time. We’ll miss him, but we’ll

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   While disappointed...met Taylor over five years ago at

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13. david-noel said: Awesome dude! All the best of success!
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26. whitneymcn reblogged this from fascinated and added:

    This is awesome, and it seems entirely right that Hypem would be the incubator for a company “where travel is ingrained...

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38. joelaz said: congrats! totally psyched for you. i’m sure it’s tough leaving hypem, but focus is a good thing and sched* deserves the attention. i’m jealous of the indie, nomad lifestyle, too. good luck.
39. mmctaw reblogged this from gtmcknight and added:

    company together! Watch out world. Here

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42. superamit reblogged this from gtmcknight and added:

    his own path. Follow him...check out Sched!

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