#inside copious

  Meet Kaitlyn: Portland native, community whisperer and yogini. Need a fresh batch of quinoa, a stretchy pant or a sweet dance jam? Kaitlyn's your lady. 

Shop Kaitlyn's closet on Copious here: http://copious.com/profiles/kaitlyn-barclay

Introduce yourself.  Who are you?  What do you do at Copious?

I'm Kaitlyn, resident Community Manager at Copious and in-house printed spandex addict.

Tell us your background.  Where’d you come from?

I hail from Portland, Oregon.  I was a start-up junkie in college and first dabbled in Silicon Valley with Wildfire Interactive while they were in the FB Fund.  Since then I've worked with a number of companies ranging from healthcare to social business.  I'm pretty keen on the social commerce space so it's a lot of fun working to build Copious.

What do you do when you’re not working?

Practicing yoga, buying more printed spandex and drinking wine.  

How would you describe your personal style?

My style is ecclectic and pretty boho chic. I love dressing for my mood because it makes personal fashion a bit less predictable.  

What's your favorite yoga pose?

While I love fun stuff like inversions and feats of flexibility, I think my favorite (and most challenging) posture is shavasana also known as corpse pose.  It's an instrumental posture for soaking up all the goodness from your yoga practice.  It lets your body settle along with your mind; the latter being the challenging part for myself. I love throwing in a shavasana after a particularly hard sequence.  It's fun to mix fast paced movement with quiet asanas.  It forces you to be present.

Leggings: Everyday flare, or purely casual wear? (We already know the answer to this one)

Everyday flare (obviously).

Macklemore or R-Gos?

This is like choosing a favorite child.  Totally unfair.  That being said, everyone has a favorite child.  I'd go with Macklemore.  

Show us what you love on Copious:

http://copious.com/listings/https-www-etsy-com-listing-125831256-dont-be-gone-long-vintage-gold-chain

http://copious.com/listings/iconic-sheer-90s-crop-blouse-huge-angel-by-shetigervintage

http://copious.com/listings/vintage-angel-wing-caftan-plunging-v

https://copious.com/listings/rocker-chic-plush-vintage-fur-coat

https://copious.com/listings/b-w-polka-dot-maxi-skirt

https://copious.com/listings/you-make-me-smile-wood-block-decor

  Meet Dave LaMacchia, developer extraordinaire and lobster-fashion maven.  When Dave isn't sporting his lobster-wear, he's helping build Copious and taking every chance to explore the outdoors by whatever means possible.  In the office, Dave competes with Travis as lead meme-expert.  Learn more about Dave here:

  Introduce yourself.  Who are you?  What do you do at Copious? Hey there, I'm Dave.  I work in engineering at Copious, adding features to the website and the mobile app.  My lobster costume was also a hit in the annual Copious Halloween contest. Tell us your background.  Where'd you come from?

Before coming to Copious I spent a long time working at a couple of security companies writing anti-spam software.  The daily cat and mouse games with spammers were really fun.  Security brought me to Copious pretty naturally.  You might not realize it, but we do a lot of things to protect buyers and sellers from scams.  Making sure people don't get defrauded online means a lot to me.

What do you do when you're not working?

In my spare time I play guitar, ski, kayak, cycle, and play board games.  I ski about 30 days a year.  Around election time here in California I volunteer as a poll worker, which I enjoy a lot.  I also collect vinyl and love music festivals; this year I'm looking forward to getting to Iceland for the first time for a festival called Iceland Airwaves.

How would you describe your personal style?

Lots of jeans and t-shirts!  I love tracking down t-shirt designers I like online.  It's been great getting to know some of the designers who sell on Copious through my t-shirt habit.

What's your favorite Internet meme?

If your life was a Boston song, which one would it be?

Can't say since I don't really listen to Boston much.  Guitar has gotten me into a lot of jazz, Charlie Christian and Gabor Szabo are two of my favorites.  I code mostly to electronica and house.  Anything with a driving beat; Vapourspace, the Chemical Brothers, Chicago house DJs like Heather and Colette.  No Boston, though!

What're your 2013 New Years Resolutions?

Definitely more travel.  I haven't gone on a big travel vacation in far too long!

Check out more of Dave's favorite things on Copious: 

  Old Italian Espresso Strap Messenger Bag

Chairlift Above Treeline T-Shirt

Mill Coffe Table

Honeycomb Spaceship Clock

Slothzilla Print

DIY At-At Table Cable Organizer

Inside Copious is a Wednesday series where we show off our illustrious team members and give you a peek at where we work.

Brian is a seasoned veteran of the tech industry counting Copious as his 10th venture into the wild world of start-uplandia.  Brian has an eclectic past which eventually led him into the engineering world.  He was employee numero uno at Copious and bides his time making the site look good and work properly (so, he's pretty important).  When he's not at Copious he's either climbing something or building something.  Read more about Brian:

Introduce yourself. Who are you?

Jock turned frat boy turned geek. I dropped out of college in the mid 90s to move west and hack on web sites just before the first big tech startup boom. Since then I have swapped coasts a few times, and continents too, but I can't seem to escape the San Francisco startup scene.

What do you do at Copious?

A little bit of everything engineering-related, but I mostly focus on the parts of the site that users see. The product team makes something look pretty and then I make it work. The commerce-related functions are my special favorites.

What did you do before Copious?

Copious is my tenth Internet startup. I've built lots of different kinds of software over the years, from one of the earliest web-based mail readers (way before Gmail revolutionized those) to a suite of open source calendaring and schedule software to a platform for delivering targeted advertising into PC and console games. I also spent a few months as a bouncer at my friend's club. Wasn't exciting enough, had to go back to software.

What do you do when you're not at work?

Most mornings I work out at a boot camp in Golden Gate Park. After leaving the office I like to catch a film, an improv show or a rock show, have friends over for dinner, or relax at a neighborhood bar with a book (my goal for this year's Goodreads challenge: 65 books). On weekends I'm frequently tramping around northern California with my hiking club. I've lost count of the number of half marathons I've run. And okay, I'll admit it, I've spent a significant portion of the last decade playing World of Warcraft.

How do you describe your personal style?

Overgrown child? Drunken frat boy? I've tried wearing so-called fashionable clothes, but honestly, give me jeans and a hoodie any day.

Which type of metal music do you identify with the most?

Was it Kierkegaard or Dick van Patten who said, "When you label me you negate me"? Honestly I couldn't pick just one. The song that made me want to learn to play drums is Iron Maiden's "Hallowed Be Thy Name". I can listen to the first four Metallica albums on repeat for days on end. For a long time I was obsessed with a local San Francisco band called Slough Feg whose list of influences included Thin Lizzy, Queen and Dungeons & Dragons. A Copious coworker recently turned me onto Skeletonwitch; not sure how I missed them before. I'd have to say my current favorite is Opeth, although I really couldn't get on board with their most recent, extremely self-indulgent album. I feel like I'm doing a poor job of dropping more obscure band names like a true metalhead should, but generally speaking, if it's proggy or doomy or sludgy or stonery or fuzzy or speedy or grindy I am down to check it out.

What're you looking forward to in 2013? Any New Years Resolutions?

Backpacking the Inca Trail, climbing my first 14er, playing my drums more, studying German and and re-taking all those college math courses I didn't pay any attention to the first time around.

Check out more of Brian's favorite things:

The Hemingway Wooden Bar

THe Empire Needs You Poster

Vintage Rome, Volkswagen Beetle Print

MC Chris

Wild West Bamboo iPhone Cover

Meet Robert Zuber, one of our fearless founders.  By day he hacks the Gibson blindfolded, by night he assumes his natural role as dad.  When he's not wielding Ruby, Clojure and Python to tame the monsters of the Copious server rooms, he's running to Crossfit or seeking out some form of dark chocolate.  Check out more from Rob here:

Introduce yourself.  Who are you?



I like to make stuff.  Mostly software, which is kind of my job.  But if you can build it with your hands, I've probably tried.

  My kids recently wanted to make a gingerbread house.  Instead of buying a kit, we drew up plans in OmniGraffle and baked our own gingerbread.  They mastered the geometry and arithmetic.  They were so proud of themselves and they still got to eat a billion M&Ms.  What could be better? What do you do at Copious? I do my best to hire really smart engineers so that I can relax.  I'd say I'm winning on that front.  Our engineers are amazing and I try to stay out of the way. What was life like before Copious? I have a pretty short attention span, so I've done a bunch of different things.  I started my career in electronics manufacturing then jumped into software in the late 90s and have done enterprise, telco, and consumer stuff.  Web sites, mobile apps, consumer electronics.  Seriously.  Disturbingly short attention span. What do you do when you're not working? Mostly spend time with my kids.  Soccer practice and swim lessons.  And I'm a master of jigsaw puzzles.  No more than 30 pieces, though.

I also try to balance things out with some exercise, aka CrossFit.

If your life was a Green Day song, which one would it be? *quickly looks up some Green Day songs*



There's this urban lore in the office that I'm the world's biggest Green Day fan.  I barely know enough to give you a real answer, but I'll go with "Welcome to Paradise."

If you take the title at face value, I really do lead a charmed life.  But I also live in Oakland.  And not with my mother.  Which I'm pretty sure is what the song's about. If Crossfit were to create The Rob workout, what would it be like? Definitely for time.  Probably 5 rounds of alternating rowing and clean and jerk.  It wouldn't take long, but I think it would hurt.

Checkout a few of Robert's favorite items on Copious:

White Vintage Roller Skates Deer Skeleton Print Tee The Lion King Print Unisex Ray Ban Sunglasses Roark Fall Hooded Coat 1970s Plaid Jacket 1960 Napoli Black Peak Lapel Flannel Suit Reclaimed Barn Wood Dining Table

Inside Copious is a Wednesday series where we show off our illustrious team members and give you a peek at where we work.

Let us formerly introduce you to El Presidente of the Copious Uber Nerd Club, Sir Travis Vachon.  He's one of the most energetic, positive and intelligent people you'll meet in Ithaca, NY ever.  Between rousing conversations about science, seeking out the latest internet meme and listening to Snoop Dogg, Travis also spends his time improving the experience on Copious.  Check out more about Travis:

Introduce yourself.  Who are you?

I'm Travis Vachon. I like to build stuff that connects people on the internet. I'm a fan of whiskey, animals with captions and sundry outdoor activities. I spend a lot of time hanging out with grad students in coffeeshops and dive bars, so I've got that going for me.

What do you do at Copious?

I build stuff! I've worked on just about every part of the site at some point. Most recently I've been working on the system that aggregates the thousands of actions users take on the site every day into the personalized user feeds on the front page. We've got a bunch of exciting new feed features in the works to make the feed even more fun to use - needless to say I'm super psyched to ship them to see what people think!

Describe life before Copious.

Before Copious I worked at the Climate Corporation (née WeatherBill) building systems to help farmers manage the massive risks they take on every year in the course of operating a modern farm. Totally different kind of business than Copious, but super interesting. Massive amounts of weather data, mathematical forecasting, tons of super fun problems for a nerd like me.

What Snoop Dogg song best represents your life?

Gin and Juice is a pretty good description of my day to day I guess, except that I'm not totally sure I subscribe to it's wealth-centric view of happiness. So maybe Lodi Dodi, cause "Lodi Dodi, we likes to party / We don't cause trouble, we don't bother nobody" kind of says it all.

Favorite non-work activities?

Heated discussions about science and education (seriously, so many grad students), board games, some combination of running, climbing and cross country skiing depending on the season, finding new whiskeys and new delicious preparations of same.

What're your top 3 favorite things you did in 2012?

I spent a lot of time this summer swimming in the gorges around Ithaca, NY: hot weather, long days, natural water slides and a six pack of a good crisp lager makes for a pretty much perfect summer evening. I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at Clojure Conj in Raleigh, NC where I talked about some of the cool tech that powers Copious - it was a blast, so many smart, passionate people! I'm headed to Costa Rica for the holidays with my wife's family to visit my sister-in-law who's teaching english and saving the world. We're gonna spend some time on the beach surfing and drinking Pina Coladas, so I have a sneaking suspicion one of my favorite parts of 2012 will be in the next two weeks...

What rad, interesting, quirky or otherwise awesome things do you want to do in 2013?

I'm pretty psyched about some of the ideas we have to make Copious feeds super fun to use. Deep, exciting nerd stuff that I think qualifies as rad, interesting, _and_ quirky. So that's cool. I'm hoping to get back to the Sierras more - I don't know of anyplace better in the world than 13k feet on a ridge high above Tuolumne, but I haven't gotten out there since I moved to New York three years ago (my wife's getting a PhD in Plant Pathology, so we're there for a couple more years). Otherwise, I like to avoid making too many plans and just roll with whatever awesome comes my way!

Check out more of Travis' favorite things on Copious:

Moustache Beer Mug

80s Fantasy Movie Poster

Nintendo Handmade Soap

Landmark Bench

Wild West Bamboo iPhone

Andy Warhol/Velvet Underground Poster

Hand Painted Earrings

The Cat of Oz digital print

Bear Punch print

Inside Copious is a Wednesday series where we show off our illustrious team members and give you a peek at where we work.

We JUST welcomed Calvin onto the Copious team and we couldn't be happier for scoring this sky diving, Canada lovin', Product guy.  When he's not jumping out of airplanes, he's helping improve your experience on Copious one feature at a time.  While perhaps lower on maple syrup than he's used to, Calvin loves San Francisco and plans to keep exploring the city one restaurant at a time.  Find out more about this artist turned engineer turned product maven here:

So, who are you? Where are you from?

Oh hi! I’m Calvin, and I’m from Canada. It was hard to leave the great white north, but I have to say, the weather is much nicer here in California.

What's your background and what do you do at Copious?

Good question! I was an artist who became an engineer, and now I’m a product manager with a particular focus in user experience design.

You're from Canada, ay?  How do you show off your Canadian pride?

I may or may not dress up for the first of July.

What's been your biggest traveling adventure?  Where do you hope to go next?

I went on a Euro trip last year. Best time of my life. What’s next? Probably an Asian trip next year!

What are the 3 best moments of 2012 for you?

1.      Living in Los Angeles

2.      Moving to San Francisco

3.      Changing the world of e-commerce 

How would you describe your personal style?

Less is more. Mmmm… that doesn’t sound right.

If your life was a Kanye song, which one would it be?

Power – no one man should have all that power!

Check out a few of Calvin's favorite things on Copious:

Top Left: Curved Bookshelf by Scott Blackwell

Top Right: Gucci Jacket by Lyka Bonifacio

Middle Right: Ferragamo Shoes by Brad Goreski

Bottom Left: Ceramic Bird Planter by SewZinski

Bottom Right: Leather Elephant Journal by In Blue

Inside Copious is a Wednesday series where we show off our illustrious team members and give you a peek at where we work.