Why Are You So Smart, Aaron Shapiro?

Noah Davis talks to Aaron Shapiro, the CEO of Huge, about what it's like to be really intelligent.
Aaron Shapiro. (PHOTO: HUGE)

Aaron Shapiro. (PHOTO: HUGE)


Was there a moment when you realized how smart you were?
Growing up I was always one of the smart and nerdy kids. I don't know how smart I am or not, but I was brought up in a household that really placed a premium on intellectual pursuits. My father was a professor. We didn't have a TV, and there was always classical music playing. When I was in fifth grade, The Empire Strikes Back came out. All the kids were playing Star Wars on the playground, and I hadn't seen the movie. It's not that my parents didn't want me to see it; they just wouldn't bother taking me to see it. Their solution was that I should read the book. So I did. That's how I knew all the characters. I didn't actually see the movie until college, and I had a totally different perception of how all the characters looked. But that's the kind of environment I grew up in.

I was always naturally interested in science, math, and reading. When I went to school, I was in the G&T programs and the honors classes. It's always been part of who I am. I've been in environments where I rise to the top, but I think it's less about being at the top and more about being with people who you view as your peers. There was always a clique in school of the smarter kids. We worked together. Later on, there were summer science programs, and then going to Harvard. Through those things, you develop and feed off of other people. That's one the things I love about Huge. I think this is by far the smartest group of people I have ever worked with. It's interesting because there are so many different skill sets—be it designers or programmers—but they don't have traditional backgrounds.

My parents didn't let me have video games, either. They were smart about it. They didn't prevent us from watching TV or playing video games; we just didn't have a TV or a video game console. There weren't any rules; it just wasn't in our house. I've actually done the same thing for my kids. I have a newborn, a three-year-old, and a five-year-old, and we have no screens, either.


"People are intimidated by Harvard. I think it's kind of overrated. Harvard is obviously a good school, but there are many good schools. It's the brand, not the education you get."

Have you continued programming?
I have, but it's more of a hobby. I do some coding on the side. Within Huge, we have Huge Labs, which is an initiative to do start-ups. I'm contributing code to one of those.


And then in college you started a magazine. That's an interesting choice.
When I was an undergrad, I got involved in a magazine called the Harvard International Review. It had the usual in-fighting and politics around a student-run magazine. It was fun, but I thought I should just start my own. It would be easier. So I did. That was my extracurricular activity in college. It was a real company that we ran like a student organization. It was pre-Internet in the early '90s. Now, Harvard is a very entrepreneurial culture, but at the time people didn't do that. We had a little student organization that was running the business.

What was it called?
Inside Edge. It was like Seventeen for guys. Fairly sophomoric. [Interviewer note: A Baltimore Sunpiece ripped the intentions of the publication, although it also got Shapiro's first name wrong.]



When was the last time you weren't your own boss?
I've actually never not been my own boss. I had two internships: one was my stint in management consulting and one was at Time Inc. What I've learned about myself is that I need a really good night's sleep to function, so I've tried to adjust my life so I never have to use an alarm clock.

Where do you go to get advice?

Do ever downplay your intelligence?
I don't think so. The thing I have to downplay is my educational background. People are intimidated by Harvard. I think it's kind of overrated. Harvard is obviously a good school, but there are many good schools. It's the brand, not the education you get. Outside of that, I don't think much about it.

I would love to take credit for it, but that was one of the creative directors within the company. That's what they do. All I did was say "yes," and green-light it.

Yes and no. Yes, because I like how my life turned out, and I wouldn't want to change anything. If I were going to change my life, I would still go to Harvard because it was an amazing experience and I had an amazing time there, but I would question the decision to go to business school so quickly. I probably wouldn't have gone directly after college. I probably would have moved to Silicon Valley and done one of those crazy start-ups there. I did one in New York and also in Atlanta, but it's different. I also would have pursued coding much more. I would have made a concerted effort to become a great developer earlier. I think that in today's economy knowing how to program is an essential skill set, and not just for developers.

This is the dilemma with my kids. On one hand, I think it's great we don't have screens, but at the same time I want them to become good programmers. At some point, I'm going to have to break the rules. But I have a few years since my oldest one is only five.

What do you read?
I'm embarrassed to stay I don't read many books. I generally don't have time. Most of what I read is on different websites like Hacker News to keep up with what's going on in the industry and the world. We have an internal tool that I use a lot as well. When I do have time, I like to spend it with the kids.


Since then, my interests have evolved. Now, I'll get very interested in certain topics and I'll read a lot about them, but it's more of a one-off thing.

I did read Nate Silver's book after the election. That was the last thing that I read.

Who's the smartest person you know?
Stan Greenberg, who is the CEO of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. He's a well-known Democratic consultant who served as a pollster to Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Nelson Mandela, Ehud Barak, and others.
