We Wear Neon Shoelaces in the Arena
On their first day, every new teammate who joins us at Arena receives a pair of bright neon shoelaces. But why?
The tradition comes from triathlon, which I raced competitively in college and graduate school.
Triathlon combines 3 events – swimming, cycling and running. In this sport, transitions are everything. You have to be quick to rip off your wetsuit and get on your bike, and fast to swap shoes and switch from the bike to the run.
Tying regular laces is too slow, so before a big race, it is tradition to replace normal laces with elastic laces and swap your trainers for lightweight racing flats. Racing flats are almost always loud and brightly colored.
The difference between a podium finish and an average race comes down to a series of tiny mental choices - hundreds of micro-decisions to push past pain and exceed what you thought were your maximum capabilities.
The decisions that matter most are the ones you make when it hurts the most. With lactic acid burning in your muscles and every fiber telling your body to quit.
Being a part of an early stage company is like racing a triathlon.
It’s an endurance race, but it’s more like a triathlon than an ultra marathon. Intensity matters. And there are real tradeoffs. Athletes don’t shoot for the Olympics by looking for balance. They are shooting for victory. It’s an explicit choice. A commitment.
As each new teammate accepts their laces, they join us in our own Olympic journey. The laces symbolize their trading-in cushioned running trainers for a pair of racing spikes. The laces are a physical expression of our commitment to each other in pursuit of an audacious common goal.
When we raised our Series A, it was a milestone. But we wanted to remind ourselves that raising funds itself is not a sign of success, but rather an invitation to the race.
So to celebrate, all of us signed a pair of neon racing spikes. They hang on the wall in our office in New York City, reminding us every day of the race we are running, and the need for intensity and mental fortitude to make the millions of micro-decisions required to win – when to fly to another country to spend time with a user, when to push late into the night, when to pivot strategy, and when to take a rest day.
Ultimately, I think we all do startups not because they are easy, but because they are worthwhile. Our neon shoelaces remind us of the privilege we have to be racing in the Arena versus watching from the sidelines.
And if you’re ready to lace up, we’d love for you to join us.