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here.Candice is an ex-software engineer-turned product designer who believes great design should make ordinary moments feel luxurious. At WindBorne Systems, she crafts a variety of things from whimsical external-facing user experiences to tools that power operations behind the scenes. She is a city dweller who enjoys boxing, bothering her cats, and a good walk and talk.
10:00
It is a crisp Monday morning in January. I enter uncharted territory: 910 San Antonio Rd, Palo Alto, California. WindBorne Systems’ headquarters. A place of science, mystery, and dangerously caffeinated concoctions.
As instructed, I make contact with a new ally known as Darius, a powerful engineer of soft wares. He gives me a tour of the grounds and equips me with tools essential to my survival– Zulip, Notion, and the sacred Hub of Git.
10:30
A formidable being appears and introduces herself as Mei-Lan, leader of flight operations, my supervisor and new evil boss. She extends a hand. I give it a firm shake, and a psychic message from WindBorne Systems’ CEO John Dean is transmitted directly into my brain:
“We need a sticker.
For the balloons.
It must be friendly.
It must contain a QR code.
It must be readable across languages and lands.
On my desk by EOD.”
A sudden chill moves through the campus.
11:00
Thrown into the fire. I must consider all constraints:
Who do I talk to to make a sticker?
What size should it be?
Will it weigh a balloon down, affecting flight?
It must be big enough to read.
It must be narrow, the ballast bags are skinny.
I set forth to the manufacturing floor, birthplace of balloons, and seek an audience with the benevolent head of manufacturing, Nikki. She introduces me to Ilhan, an ally who helps me create many stickers of different sizes. I decide on one that will satisfy the above constraints, just before my evil boss summons me to her evil desk.
12:00
Author’s Note: We had lunch break at a wonderful Japanese tapas restaurant nearby. The food was really good. Everyone is super friendly and delightful and weird in their own way, and I have a most excellent time.
13:00
Rats, they successfully distracted me with fun banter and good food. How could I let this happen?
Back to the mission. What do I even put on this thing?
I use multiple LLMs and online sources to identify the most commonly spoken global languages. I consider where our balloons fly. I translate the message and cross-check for validity.
“Hi! I am a weather balloon. I’m part of a weather research project and got lost. Please help me return home by scanning the QR code above. Thank you so much!”
14:00
I consider John Dean’s original request: “It must be friendly”. The message is friendly, but people don’t like to read. I post a prototype to Zulip. My new allies respond immediately (folks here have unusually fast online reflexes). One suggests:
“Put a happy little balloon face on it.”
Of course. I sketch balloon cartoons like my life depends on it. I recall a powerful being someone mentioned earlier, and summon the help of the enigmatic designer of product, Julea, who bestows upon me a boon: a trio of adorable smiling balloons. They are perfect.
15:00
I generate the QR code. I am almost fooled by a “free” site with hidden costs, but pivot to a truly free one (thank you, Google). I start printing test stickers. Adjust, reprint, adjust, repeat.
16:00
I fall deep into the Figma abyss, chasing layout perfection. Mei-Lan checks in.
“How’s it going?”
“It’s… close. Just considering [this], and [that], and–”
“Remember the sacred principle: v0day1”
Like a spell, it unfreezes me. I remember the way. I stop trying to make a masterpiece and start making something real.
17:00
Mission Complete. The stickers are done. They’re printed. Shared. The Zulip reactions are 🔥. The stickers are applied to balloons leaving today.
By sunset, my first-day project is literally flying around the world, and weeks later, real humans across the globe will email us when they chance upon these balloons. This is v0day1. Not just a slogan– a truth we live by.
Author’s Note:
Hi, it’s me, Candice!
Shipping out these stickers at the end of my first day taught me something important.
I am not bound by perfectionism– especially when I am actively empowered to make mistakes and ship imperfect things by the people around me. Creating something tangible, global, and genuinely meaningful doesn’t have to take a long time. Being surrounded by people who move fast, help each other, and trust new folks to contribute from Day 1, makes all the difference.
