380 lines
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380 lines
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[1] Skip to Main Content
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[2] Viget
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• [3] Work
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We’re a full-service digital agency that’s been helping clients make lasting
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More
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• [19]Pointless Corp.
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• [21]Code at Viget
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Featured
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[22]
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Read the Article: Revolutionizing the Web
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Newsletter
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Revolutionizing the Web
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[23]
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Read the Article: The Reflection Before Christmas
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Article
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The Reflection Before Christmas
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The Enduring Point of Pointless Corp.
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[pointless-sticker-bear-article]
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[24] Brian Williams
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[25]Brian Williams, Co-Founder & CEO
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Article Categories: [26] #News & Culture, [27] #Employee Engagement
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Posted on March 24, 2023
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• [28]
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Share
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• [29]
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Share
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• [30]
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Post
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Pointless Corp. is the innovation lab at Viget, where we step away from client
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work to make fun and useful things for everyone
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P o i n t l e s s C o r p . i s t h e i n n o v a t i o n l a b a t V i g e t ,
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w h e r e w e s t e p a w a y f r o m c l i e n t w o r k t o m a k e f u n a n
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d u s e f u l t h i n g s f o r e v e r y o n e
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“Neither pointless, nor a corporation” is how we describe Pointless Corp. here
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at Viget. We founded Viget – an actual company – in 1999 during the original
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dot com bubble to build web products for clients. Serving clients has always
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been our purpose or … point, if you will. Over the decades, we’ve done just
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that, completing thousands of projects for hundreds of clients. Never
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forgetting that we exist to serve our clients has been key in our longevity.
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About a decade in, we felt the urge to build and launch our own projects. [31]
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Pointless Corp. became the internal [32]brand we adopted to remind ourselves
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that these projects can be fun and useful but don’t replace the primary point
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of Viget. A line from Harry Nilsson’s The Point! referencing the Pointless Man
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serves as inspiration: “a point in every direction is the same as no point at
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all.” We wanted the freedom to experiment in every direction.
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So we did. Ideas and teams formed fairly randomly, and Pointless Projects began
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to fill the gaps between our client work. Projects like [33]HeyCraig (2009),
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which sent you an email alert based on your Craigslist search (before
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Craigslist shut us down and added the feature). Or [34]Tincan’d (2011), a
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simple video call platform before Zoom or Google Meet. Or [35]BabyBookie, the
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baby due date office pool app over 500,000 people have used since launch in
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2012.
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These projects allow our teams to work without the input (including, ahem,
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revenue) of clients, so we’re more free to experiment, wear different hats, and
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learn … a lot. We apply what we learn back into our client work. Along the way,
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we get to know each other better, scratch our entrepreneurial itches, and
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hopefully put some fun and/or useful things out in the world for others to
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enjoy.
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For many years, we organized an annual optional Pointless Weekend. We’d kick
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off hackathon-style on a Thursday evening and wrap on a Saturday evening with a
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functional product out in the wild, as I described [36]back in 2012. It’s [37]
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always been an intense, enjoyable, but rather exhausting 48 hours. Photos from
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[38]2011, [39]2014, and [40]2016 bring back some great memories.
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[pointless-old]
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Pointless Weekend 2014 spanned three Viget offices
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A couple of years ago, we shifted the schedule to start on Wednesday and wrap
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on Friday. This made participation easier, allowing parents and others with
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weekend commitments to join. It also allowed projects to wrap up just in time
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for our Friday staff meeting. We awkwardly called it “Pointless Week” even
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though it was still only two days.
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New for 2023: Pointless Palooza
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Two things I like: alliteration and lollapalooza (specifically circa 1992, but
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that’s a story for another day). So Pointless Palooza was an obvious choice for
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what to call our little two day adventure. In addition to a new name, we’re
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trying a few other changes this year:
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Pointless Executives. Nothing injects new energy like new leadership. We handed
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over the Pointless reins to two trusty execs: [41]Andrew (day job: developer)
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is our Pointless CEO and [42]Aimee (day job: project manager) is our Pointless
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COO. They’ve done a phenomenal job setting a vision, planning, and leading the
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activities. Their enthusiasm helped inspire more than half the company to
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participate with a record number of projects and great results.
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Pitching & Team Formation. Previously, project ideas were “pitched” with a
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single slide and a tight 1-2 minute segment at a staff meeting. These were fun
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and lighthearted, but didn’t always capture the full vision, and teams often
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formed and morphed during the kickoff night. This year, project ideas were
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shared more gradually via collaboration in Slack and Notion. Project teams
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formed with more structure in advance, and team members had some time before
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the kickoff to marinate on the idea and get excited to build.
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Even More Remote Friendly. There’s something magical about kickoff-pizza,
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launch day donuts, and [43]in-person collaboration. But there’s something even
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more magical about collaborating with dozens of teammates around the country
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(especially when it’s supplemented by [44]sweet swag boxes and Divvy credits
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for remote treats). Hybrid teams work. We still had fun in-office connections,
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but most of our Pointless Projects this year are being worked on with
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distributed teams, much like our client work.
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[23-pointless]
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Pointless Branded Stuff 2023 including a t-shirt and sticker pack -- very
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corporate
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Some things haven’t changed from prior years. Team members are still swapping
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roles – PMs writing code, designers running projects, the list goes on – which
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means steep and rapid [45]learning curves. We’re still trying out new
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technologies and approaches to our work, which means unexpected blockers and
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great insights to share. New connections are being formed, especially since
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more than half of this year’s participants are in their first year at Viget and
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experiencing their first Pointless event. Forming authentic co-worker
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connections isn’t easy, and our culture is stronger today than it was at the
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start of the week.
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So what projects will launch? I won’t steal their thunder, but we just wrapped
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the presentation portion of six Pointless Project teams at our weekly staff
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meeting and it was the most we’ve laughed, cheered, and been inspired in a long
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time. I expect articles will be written and shared in the days and weeks ahead
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outlining the thrills (and mishaps) of the teams this year.
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[PointlessPalooza2023]
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Pointless Palooza 2023 was a blast!
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Pointless Corp. is more than an annual palooza. We work on projects throughout
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the year in the gaps between client work, weaving the teamwork, learning, and
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teaching values of Viget into all that we do.
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If this is the kind of work and culture you might enjoy, learn more about [46]
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our culture and job openings – perhaps you’ll be able to join next year’s
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Pointless Palooza. After all, inspiring people to join us is unapologetically
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part of the point.
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[47] Brian Williams
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[48]Brian is Viget's co-founder and CEO. He does everything from advising our
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clients to building our conference tables with his bare hands in our Falls
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Church, VA, HQ.
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[49]More articles by Brian
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Related Articles
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• [50]
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Article
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Our Pointless Logo
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Brian Williams
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• [51]
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Article
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Introducing Pointless Corp.
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Brian Williams
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• [52]
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What’s the Point of Pointless Weekend?
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Article
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What’s the Point of Pointless Weekend?
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Brian Williams
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The Viget Newsletter
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Nobody likes popups, so we waited until now to recommend our newsletter,
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featuring thoughts, opinions, and tools for building a better digital world.
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[53]Read the current issue.
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[54]Subscribe Here (opens in new window)
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Have an unsolvable problem or audacious idea?
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• More
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Sign Up For Our Newsletter
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better digital world.
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© 1999 – 2024 Viget Labs, LLC. [80]Terms [81]Privacy [82]MRF
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• [85]The Enduring Point of Pointless Corp.
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References:
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[1] https://www.viget.com/articles/the-enduring-point-of-pointless-corp/#content
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[6] https://www.viget.com/careers/
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[7] https://www.viget.com/contact/
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[9] https://www.viget.com/
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[11] https://www.viget.com/work/
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[12] https://www.viget.com/services/
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[13] https://www.viget.com/articles/
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[14] https://www.viget.com/contact/
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[15] https://www.viget.com/about/
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[16] https://www.viget.com/careers/
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[17] https://www.viget.com/code-of-ethics/
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[18] https://www.viget.com/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/
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[19] https://pointlesscorp.com/
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[20] https://explorations.viget.com/
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[21] https://code.viget.com/
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[22] https://www.viget.com/newsletter/revolutionizing-the-web/
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[23] https://www.viget.com/articles/the-reflection-before-christmas/
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[24] https://www.viget.com/about/team/bwilliams/
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[25] https://www.viget.com/about/team/bwilliams/
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[26] https://www.viget.com/articles/category/news-culture/
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[27] https://www.viget.com/articles/category/employee-engagement/
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[28] https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.viget.com%2Farticles%2Fthe-enduring-point-of-pointless-corp%2F
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[29] http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.viget.com%2Farticles%2Fthe-enduring-point-of-pointless-corp%2F
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[30] https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=Pointless%20Corp.%20is%20the%20innovation%20lab%20at%20Viget%2C%20where%20we%20step%20away%20from%20client%20work%20to%20make%20fun%20and%20useful%20things%20for%20everyone%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.viget.com%2Farticles%2Fthe-enduring-point-of-pointless-corp%2F
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[31] https://www.viget.com/articles/the-point-of-pointless-corp/
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[32] https://www.viget.com/articles/book-review-giveaway-the-geometry-of-design/
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[33] https://www.viget.com/articles/introducing-heycraig/
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[34] https://pointlesscorp.com/tincand
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[35] https://www.babybookie.com/
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[36] https://www.viget.com/articles/a-pointless-weekend-or-so/
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[37] https://www.viget.com/articles/whats-the-point-of-pointless-weekend/
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[38] https://www.flickr.com/photos/viget/albums/72157626084778456
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[39] https://www.flickr.com/photos/viget/albums/72157649003978349
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[40] https://twitter.com/viget/status/798273078132408320
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[41] https://www.viget.com/about/team/athomas/
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[42] https://www.viget.com/about/team/aiwamoto/
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[43] https://twitter.com/pointlesscorp/status/1639274400976445444
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[44] https://twitter.com/viget/status/1637891007868968980
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[45] https://twitter.com/pointlesscorp/status/1638940667060838401
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[46] https://www.viget.com/careers/
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[47] https://www.viget.com/about/team/bwilliams/
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[48] https://www.viget.com/about/team/bwilliams/
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[49] https://www.viget.com/about/team/bwilliams/
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[50] https://www.viget.com/articles/our-pointless-logo/
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[51] https://www.viget.com/articles/introducing-pointless-corp/
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[52] https://www.viget.com/articles/whats-the-point-of-pointless-weekend/
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[53] https://www.viget.com/newsletter
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[54] http://eepurl.com/gtHqsj
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[62] https://www.viget.com/careers/
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[63] https://www.viget.com/code-of-ethics/
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[64] https://www.viget.com/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/
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[65] https://pointlesscorp.com/
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[66] https://explorations.viget.com/
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[67] https://code.viget.com/
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[68] https://www.viget.com/newsletter/
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[70] http://x.com/viget
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[71] https://github.com/vigetlabs
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[84] https://www.viget.com/articles
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[85] https://www.viget.com/articles/the-enduring-point-of-pointless-corp/#hero
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[86] http://eepurl.com/gtHqsj
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[88] https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.viget.com%2Farticles%2Fthe-enduring-point-of-pointless-corp%2F
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[90] https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=Pointless%20Corp.%20is%20the%20innovation%20lab%20at%20Viget%2C%20where%20we%20step%20away%20from%20client%20work%20to%20make%20fun%20and%20useful%20things%20for%20everyone%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.viget.com%2Farticles%2Fthe-enduring-point-of-pointless-corp%2F
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