I’m Mapbox CEO Eric Gundersen and This Is How I Work
You may not recognize the name Mapbox , but you’ve seen the company’s work on CNN, Snapchat, Instacart, and the Weather Channel. (You can also use it to create a beautiful lock screen .) Eric Gundersen created Mapbox after creating open source mapping tools for international development agencies such as Doctors Without Borders. We spoke to him about his mobile workspace – he recently upgraded his laptop to an iPad – and about putting his entire team on GitHub.
Name: Eric Gundersen Location: San Francisco, California Current job: CEO, Mapbox One word that best describes how you work: Mobile Current mobile device: iPhone X Current computer: iPad Pro with a Macbook backup
What is your workflow like?
I push people to solve root problems. I like it when teams work together. The best ideas come from different groups working side by side to solve really difficult problems.
Tell us about a recent work day.
I started in the office looking at data updates for our logistics and navigation product, chatted by the fireplace at a software conference in the afternoon, and spent the evening at the Deputy Mayor’s Office of D.C. to discuss diversity and inclusion. It was a busy day.
What apps, gadgets or tools can’t you live without?
Dropbox Paper changed my mindset. It’s almost perfect for an iPad flying to Minsk, and I use it with my team to stream my day live, from appointments to follow-ups and reminders.
How is your workplace arranged?
My desk is a docking station for charging things. Mostly I work in the office, joining the product team on the sprint, meeting with clients or recruits – or flying to do the same in DC or our offices around the world.
What’s your best shortcut or life hack?
Booking round-trip tickets with a long-haul return flight is often cheaper than one-way tickets.
Tell us about an interesting, unusual, or challenging process you have at work.
We are communicating on GitHub . Not only our engineers, but everyone. That’s all, but there is something special about loosely coupled open systems that allows us to scale quickly.
How do you keep track of what you need to do?
I have a Dropbox Paper doc where my team and I list the most important things I need to focus on every day – I cross them out – they fill it out.
How to recharge or take a break from work?
I drove 300,000 miles last year but only missed one weekend at home with the boys. I love that we can get a January beach day to work in San Francisco.
What else would you like to add that might be of interest to readers and fans?
We started advising nongovernmental organizations such as the World Bank, UN, Doctors Without Borders. I spend two cycles in Afghanistan helping the US Department of State monitor election results. Where we made the maps, the maps were blank, so we needed to learn how to map the world in real time and visualize complex data. This experience is embedded in our DNA as a company and forms the basis of what makes our product great.