If I had a dollar for every person that came up to me and told me how to run The Hickory Algorithm, I would be able to pay for more trips to Denny’s with Coach Mike's Always Improving.
Ain’t it funny how all the people that don’t do what you do tend to have an opinion on how you do it? I blame watching football a bit for this.
Same, same but different
I was watching a show on YouTube about a company that specialized in pro football analytics called Pro Football Focus (PFF) and how that company just sold for 100 million dollars.
That sounds like a huge win doesn’t it?
To me it’s a huge failure because it should have been so much more. Not in money but, in purpose.
This show was by 3 former employees that left the company a couple years before the sale happened this week.
Even if you aren’t a football fan, they spoke about work culture and how you can still feel like you have failed even though you weren’t the one steering the ship. The previous owner put his son in charge - who clearly didn’t know what he was doing and brought in multiple people from the outside, whom were considered ‘experts.’
Those same outside experts took the company into uncharted waters by making and partnering with the easiest ways to make money, all at the cost of the work culture.
When you hear these guys talk about PFF and the ‘glory days’ your reminded about the pride people take in their jobs.
How ownership didn’t value the vision and valued their own pocket books at the cost of their staff.
While Cris Collinsworth is running victory laps with his heavy pockets, how many people are unemployed? How many lives were affected by being laid off and simple - discarded? The ripple effects of the sale in people’s lives.
I remember back in - the waaaay back, I loved PFF and the new data these guys were creating. I loved what they were doing so much I applied for a job at PFF when they first started to expand. I had no coding experience, no idea how I would fit in, but - I just wanted IN. I wanted to be in the room with these guys and I could have found my way. They were in Cincinnati and I was in Pittsburgh, I was ready! Clearly, I wasn’t qualified.
When they ended up leaving the company I pulled my subscription. I unfollowed everything on PFF and cut ties without even knowing the whole story. I just knew I wanted to be following these guys. They were PFF to me.
These three guys were the talent. Hearing them talk about how bad the company stumbled and their missed opportunities in this podcast is kind of wild. Because Sam is 100 percent right about one thing.
PFF shouldn’t be, being acquired, it should be acquiring.
I had to send my older brother this episode because ever since I started watching football back in the 1900s (as my teenage sons remind me) my brother was very consistent with his messaging when the (former?) owner of PFF would appear on TV he would say one thing consistently as soon as his voice came on over the speakers. The first day I ever heard Cris Collinsworth’s voice my brother said these words:
“Cris Collinsworth is such a moron.”
I only heard it every time Collinsworth was announcing or on HBO or whatever show he would pop up on.
Only a couple hundred or thousand times in my life.
And every time it was followed with, yeah - that shit is even more funny.
Growth at Your Speed.
Their story reminds me of how other people tend to stick there fingers into a winning team just to say they can improve it while ignoring the work of the talent of the people who were there from the beginning.
Wanting to hit ‘a billion’ dollars the fastest way possible wasn't the way to go and while the company sold for 100 million dollars. To me it’s a huge failure. Because the idea and the premise of what PFF was doing should be the pillar of the professional football community.
Letting outside influences and other ‘experts’ wasn’t the way to go.
Everyone is looking for that easy button.
No one wants to hear ‘just stay the course.’
But, when you have something you’re proud of, going out and finding others to be placed over the core foundation of your business, or listening to outside influences about the direction of your company isn’t something I would recommend.
The Video above
We went to the Juice Apothecary and filmed an episode but the b roll we shot wasn’t up to the standard of what we wanted it to be.
It didn’t fit with the episode and we wanted it to, so badly.
We decided to pull the plug on the b roll altogether and release the full episode without it. We were just going to leave it in our achieves but, decided today not to.
John showed me the final product (at the top) and I asked him if he’s ready to release it. He started talking about how it’s been too long since the episode. He had a point but, I didn’t care. It’s awesome let’s share it.
Now, if we were tied to outside source or company this would have been “just put in the video” and move on. It would have been attached unlike what it is now. Maybe it doesn’t matter.
But it did to us.
We were told by outside influences to just release it anyways and all these outside opinions poured their influence into pushing us into something that we felt wasn’t what we wanted it to be.
That episode about PFF, was a reminder that when we have something we are proud of it’s ok to hold in near and dear to us. To make hard decisions about our businesses with what we feel is right and to not take the easiest way to things if it’s the wrong way.
It’s your ship.
Have a little faith in the work done. In the community you are building. The community your team is building. The power of walking into work every day with that feeling.
Grow at your own speed, no one else’s.
Steer the ship.
#fortheloveofthegame
Events:
Hickory Literary Festival
⬆️ LINK for more information ⬆️
Hickory Public Library will host the second annual Hickory Literary Festival on April 25-26, 2026, on the SALT Block.
The festival will offer a variety of vendors, activities, writing workshops, author talks, and entertainment at different locations across the SALT Block.
Swing by and come see your boy on the 25th of this month.
Petals & Pop-Ups Market is coming this spring!
Accepting vendor applications for our upcoming market experience where small businesses will bloom!
DATE: April 11th
TIME: 10 AM - 2 PM
LOCATION : Red Bird Ridge Estate
Vendor categories are limited to keep the event balanced and successful for everyone.
If you’re a boutique, craft maker, baker, farmer, or food truck — we’d love to have you join us!
Apply now and bloom with us
FIRST COME FIRST SERVE- Limited spots
40$ to be a vendor.
CLICK HERE TO BECOME A VENDOR
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FACEBOOK EVENT
Connecting you to the algorithm of Hickory, North Carolina.
Chris Goldby is a writer and multimedia storyteller based in Hickory, North Carolina. He owns The Hickory Algorithm a hyper focused lens on Hickory, NC and is a contributing writer and Head of Documentary/Docuseries with Akula Literary Partners.
Need attention to your business? Want the Hickory Algorithm to come spotlight your business? Check out the website we made for ourselves.
🔦 TheHickoryalgorithm website 🔦
Past articles:
The Hickory Algorithm
Some weeks there are so many things to choose from when picking a topic to write about in Hickory, North Carolina.
