Jonathan Grado

Growing up, and as of five seconds ago, I had stage fright. It started when I was going to be the lead in a play in the 5th grade, and a classmate got in my head right before I went on so he could be the lead. He freaked me out so badly I went downstairs and hung out with the custodian. Great guy. The custodian, not the classmate.

But for things like being on VICELAND, or speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt and being in an American Express commercial, I can shove things I need to work on way, way down.

Working with Vice

VICELAND, the television channel for the media company Vice, asked me to be a judge/consultant on their new tv show, Hustle. The episode focused on a Brooklyn 3D printing company, and what they should be focusing on in the future.

I was asked to judge and consult because of my experience overseeing creative design and manufacturing at the headphone company Grado Labs. I showed up to a building in midtown Manhattan with just instructions to meet at a room. It was very ominous and already I was having a great time. I arrived first. Then another judge whose background is  fashion. Two more followed, one also in fashion and one who designs glasses. Lastly the production crew showed up and told us how it would all work.

The two founders of a 3D printing company came and pitched us their plans. Afterwards we consulted with the founders on their ideas. I talked to them about using 3D printing for rapid prototyping. How at Grado, we sometimes need to test headphone designs quickly without molding more parts than we actually need.

Being on camera is always nerve wracking, but when it comes talking about my family through Grado Labs or photography I'm happy to push through it.

Appreciate the invite, Vice.

You can see it here: Printer Problems S1 E7.