While I have been a startup founder, investor, and advisor, and previously a product manager, I have spent a meaningful portion of my life with a Rubik’s Cube nearby. I learned to solve the Rubik’s Cube from my brother, Toby Mao, and in 2004, I started the World Cube Association, the international governing body that regulates competitive speedcubing events.
I was 19 years old when I started the WCA, and I am of the philosophy that if you don’t look at your younger self and think that person was clueless, then you haven’t grown very much. Looking back, the WCA grew to a scale that I could never have imagined. I’m very proud of the work that I did and extremely grateful for the community that has provided me with so many rich experiences in my life.
But things are different now. Twenty-two years ago, the stereotypical speedcuber was a college student or a young adult. Today, the competition scene is dominated by elementary school kids.
I am proud to announce the launch of the Scholastic Cube League.
My hope is to take all the learnings over the last 22 years and create an organization that prioritizes students. There are two main things that I am hoping to accomplish.
Make every solve matter
First, I want to democratize the emotional stakes of Rubik’s Cube solving. It is more fun when your efforts contribute to something greater. As a cross-country runner, my high school coach used to tell us that the fifth person mattered as much as the first person: you all pass other runners during the race. With SCL, the focus is on the school team, and the scoring is structured so that as long as you’re on the team, the cubes that you solve will matter.
Build something together
Second, I hope that students will look beyond the individual achievement of solving the Rubik’s Cube and embrace what it means to build something for their school and community. It’s impressive to people when I solve a Rubik’s Cube in 15 seconds, but ironically, I am not an impressive cuber. Today, the world record is under 4 seconds. After I won a competition in 2008, posts on internet forums used data science to show that if Tyson Mao could win a competition, then it must be one of the easiest competitions to win.
I’ve made my mark in cubing as “the administrator”—totally not an em dash by AI, by the way—the person who makes things happen. Someone had to conceive of the idea of regulating speedcubing and hosting regular events, and then someone had to make it happen.
My hope is for students to have the opportunity to build something at their school. I ultimately believe that the leadership experience from SCL and the camaraderie they build with their classmates will be remembered over their individual achievements.
It’s going to be a lot of fun, and I hope to see as many of you as possible in Las Vegas.