Approximately 1 year ago today, ELaMF was born. On January 5th, 2010 at TechStars for a Day Boston, then Managing Director Shawn Broderick said, “We really like teams that can execute like mother f*ckers.” At the time I had just teamed up with Chris Corcoran on his Doodlebugging project that had won Startup Weekend Boston just a month earlier.
Chris and I spent the next month working like crazy to try to get into TechStars. Many nights we were one of the few people on Twitter in Boston at 2 or 3am. It was then that we started tweeting (and emailing) back and forth at each other using the hashtag #ELaMF to signify that we were getting great work done…likely when our competition was sleeping.
As we used the hashtag others noticed and it soon became a symbol for when you’re “in the zone” and getting an extraordinary amount of work done. While TechStars application period for 2010 is long gone, the hashtag has lived on as a Boston startup community hashtag used by many.
Below is an FAQ style answer to the common questions for #ELaMF:
What does ELaMF mean?
- In literal terms, it means “Executing like a mother f*cker,” but really, it means so much more.
- It’s in the vein of GSD (getting stuff done), but with a little attitude; you’re kicking ass and taking names at whatever you’re doing…and not afraid to tell others.
Where did it come from?
- At TechStars For A Day Boston 2010, then Managing Director Shawn Broderick told the crowd of eager, first-time entrepreneurs that TechStars likes teams that prove they know how to get things done…who “execute like mother f*ckers.”
- My co-founder, Chris, and I had always planned to try to show as much progress as possible during the month or so time frame we expected to have available during the application process, but we really took that to heart. We started tagging the ends of our emails with the phrase, but it was too long to write out, so we just started closing messages with “ELaMF –Jason” and “ELaMF – Chris.”
- We then moved the abbreviation over to Twitter and started including it as a hashtag in our late night tweets; many of you were sleeping, but we were ELaMF-ing. Others started noticing the hashtag and asked us about it and we were happy to share the credo.
- Since those early tweets and emails in January 2010, #ELaMF has grown in popularity with confirmed tweets from: @JoshSamBob, @BlackScreenVFX, @KylePS80, @rSeanLindsay and many others including Twitter celebrity and founder of oneforty, @Pistachio. There used to be an archive, but it failed…so look to our @ELaMF account, which will track them via RTs and Favorites going forward.
But wait you say! Is it a verb, a noun or adjective? What about if two of us are ELaMF-ing? Glad you asked…
English Class:
Pronounciation: either say each letter…”E-L-A-M-F” or as a two syllable word: “E – lam-ff”
- ELaMF : Execute Like a Mother F*cker
- “You didn’t ask for permission. You just ….and ELaMF” – @ Pistachio quote
- ELMF: Execute like Mother F*ckers (plural of ELaMF)
- “Chris and I are going to work all night and totally ELMF”
- ELaMF –ing/-ed: Using ELaMF as a verb
- “Kabir was totally ELaMF-ing at SXSW when he was giving out his RiotVine recovery kits”
- ELaMF-er: One who is confirmed to have Executed Like a Mother F*cker.
- “I can’t believe how far your site has come in the past few months, you’re a total ELaMF-er”
Where does it go from here?
Education:
As more people hear about #ELaMF, there are increasingly more questions about what it really means and a disconnect from the origin of the hashtag. For this reason I’ve created elamf.com. From here, we’ll be able to provide additional information about ELaMF-ing including highlights of others ELaMF-ing and updates of the spread of the good word of ELaMF.
Membership:
Not everyone ELaMFs, but we certainly want to recognize those that do. We’ll be working in the coming months to recognize those ELaMF-ers and if we can settle on a great logo, we’ll be potentially making some shirts. These won’t be for sale, and not for profit; rather, like a badge of honor, true ELaMF-ers will be passed a shirt to recognize their excellence in ELaMF. If you have design skills and would like to design the ELaMF logo, leave a comment with your contact info.
Your Ideas:
This is all in good fun, so we’d love to hear ideas that you have for spreading the good word of ELaMF and having fun with it. Feel free to share in the comments or contact us at @ELaMF on Twitter.
So there’s your basic background on ELaMF. More to come in future posts specifically addressing both 1)How to ELaMF and 2) How to tell if you’re ELaMF-ing or not.
