Why Ninjas?

Because ninjas are awesome!!!

The Ninja Standing Desk Story

Dan McDonley was experiencing debilitating sciatica pain and numbness in his elbow from sitting at a computer all day, so he created his own standing desk to see if it would help. After a week, his pain was completely gone! He was more focused and productive and even lost weight from burning extra calories by standing up. Dan was assassinating his deadlines, slicing through his work day, while feeling healthier and nimble as a ninja.

He dreaded the times he had to work sitting down, like when he traveled. Then the solution hit him like a throwing star: the Ninja Standing Desk!

Dan joined the TechShop in San Francisco to design and prototype the Ninja Standing Desk over the last 10 months. The design worked so well he was encouraged to share it with world. We’re raising money on Kickstarter.com to fund the first large production run. The Ninja Standing Desk is currently manufactured entirely in the USA - mainly in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Dan “Ninja” McDonley

Dan is the inventor of the Ninja Standing Desk. A serial entrepreneur who started his first online business in college, Dan has gone on to create several successful businesses, both on and off the internet.

Dan learned woodworking and sewing (both from his Mom) when he was little and has been building things ever since. His degree in Ethnobotany hasn’t been very helpful in creating the Ninja Standing Desk. But Dan’s drive to solve problems and desire to help others has been.

He currently is a communication and internet marketing consultant living in San Francisco and loves traveling, kiteboarding, making sushi, and inventing things at the TechShop.ws

As a big supporter of entrepreneurs and the Maker movement, Dan is an instructor at the San Francisco TechShop, as well as an active member. He recently won the Startup Weekend/ Google Pitch Night with judges Kevin Rose and Don Dodge. He created and leads two mastermind entrepreneur groups, participated in the Maker Startup Weekend sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation and is a member of Hardware meetup groups. In addition, Dan is dedicated to giving back to the community and currently volunteers to inspire middle-school students through SPARK.

Shannon Kennedy - Director of Ninja Ops

Shannon is the Ninja Standing Desk’s biggest fan. So much so that she insisted on helping launch the company to bring the life-changing product to market. (See, there she goes!)

Shannon had a hip problem which made it incredibly painful to work sitting down, and even after surgery to fix her hip, still prefers to work standing up. As a contract Sr Project Manager on short-term projects, the companies she works for do not provide standing desks. Before meeting Dan, Shannon had built some creative temporary standing desks (think printer boxes and phone books). At one national company it would actually have cost them $2,500 to install a standing desk! The Ninja Standing Desk was the perfect solution!

Shannon’s degree in Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, does come in handy when working on the Ninja Standing Desk. It’s very helpful in saying things like “yeah, it would be stronger if you designed it this way” or “it could probably hold over 100 lbs, let me sit on it to try it... oops..." or “I’m an engineer, I don’t sew.” She is also a TechShop member who grew up designing and building things.

In her day-job, Shannon is a Sr Project Manager for user experience and mobile design agencies. She has helped design and launch new products and currently advises several start-up founders. Shannon is a dedicated volunteer and fundraiser having lead corporate community involvement programs and worked with HandsOn Bay Area and Project Homeless Connect.

Special Thanks To:

Amanda Platsis, the wonderful artist behind the Office Ninjas!