Warring Post-Its

In typical software start-up fashion, one group of engineers in our office keeps a tally of their users on Post-It notes. They stick new notes to their door in the wee hours of the morning, greeting the rest of us when we arrive for our (sane) 9-6 workday. They are a reminder that real companies have server problems and users and forums and star ratings - oh my!

The Post-Its first appeared on a Friday, the day after the team released an iPhone application. The numbers have been growing ever since. The first number, written in chunky black marker, reads "3,000." This number was later crossed out and replaced by 5,600 and 6,800. Here is what the list looks like now:
3000
5600
6800
11000
13000
15000
17000 (This one barely fits on the second Post-It note. It's squeezed on the bottom, a testament to the fact that the list must be updated before a fresh supply of Post-Its can be found.)

The third Post-It has the big guys:
20,000
23,000
25,000

Don't get me wrong - I think establishing a user base is a huge milestone. If we had any users, we'd be the first people tooting our own horn on a scale much larger than Post-It notes. Since no one is actually using our product, however, we have to take a more creative approach, and one that undoubtedly will have real engineers (including our neighbors) cringing.

This morning, I started a tally of the girls who have seen our paper prototypes. Our list went something like this:
1
3
5
9
12

I crossed out all of the numbers before 12 and stuck our very own Post-It on the door. I wonder what the response of our fellow office-mates will be. The unfortunate thing is that my little attempt at humor reflects poorly on us, not on them. But maybe the ultimate sin in business is taking oneself (or one's company) too seriously.