Porter Bayne

DailyCandy

Coding, managing, & rebranding in the choppy waters of a post-acquisition startup

— ROLE

UX Developer turned Director of Technology


Led to record-pace output from the tech team


Maintained existing systems sending 1 billion emails annually


— TECH

Javascript

HTML/CSS

Video generation & asset management

Photoshop



DailyCandy needs no introduction for those online in the 2000s.


Creating a category — the daily email — by creating the best content, DailyCandy used brilliant curation with relatable and clever language to truly highlight a city's not-yet-known secrets. It was a voice that would stand out even in today's ocean of overwhelming online information.


I joined 8 months after NBCUniversal — one of the world's largest media companies, desperate to figure out digital — bought them. A culture clash was already underway, where NBCU management insisted on micromanaging this once-soaring startup. Every department was affected.


I took this job so that I could clock in, clock out, and work on
building my own startup). But it's hard to watch a ship sink rather than sail, and as tends to happen, I got increasingly involved.


My role evolved from engineer, to co-conspirator on internal innovation projects with the then-head of product, to being in charge of the 15-person engineering team & a member of the executive team for the 120+ person company.


In this time, our team shifted in its work and its ability to contribute to the organization.


We:

• Shifted perception from an NBCU-driven assumption that our tech team needed to lean on third party "expertise" to being able to take the lead on critical projects — enabling the company to pursue more projects.


• Launched the rebrand (below) in 6 weeks, despite the initial timeline from management being 4 months.


• Maintained and evolved our infrastructure, successfully sending 1 billion emails per year and serving over 20 million visitors per year.


• Launched, or appropriately ended, a range of products touching editorial, sales, marketing, digital interactivity, and more.

DailyCandy (finally) rebranding was news

Before & After

My biggest impact at DailyCandy was — with the help of several people in product, editorial, and sales in particular — increasing the tech team's visibility and responsibility in the organization, which in turn increased the company's ability to deliver reader- and advertiser- focused innovations more quickly.


Don't outsource your core technology.


There’s a good chance you have a team of people mostly or fully capable of getting to your vision. Whether you’re a team of one, ten, or more (DailyCandy was 120+).


My approach — cross-departmental, curious, urgent, outcomes-focused — can help bring out great solutions, unite and motivate people towards a goal, and overcome inertia.


As a team of one or working with many, I can get you to your goal. And, perhaps refine the goal to truly meet your needs and your budget.


______________________

Let's talk. Book a meeting or just send me an email.