Last night, Bob and I were honored to accept the Greater Philadelphia Entrepreneur of the Year award. We got dressed up and went to a party held for us and the other nominees. We even got to give acceptance speeches.
The award and the ceremony were focused on company founders. But to the extent that Bob and I have been successful, we owe that success to the amazing people we’re surrounded by—to our mentors, investors, the Philadelphia tech community, and mostly to our unbelievably dedicated team members and the customers who have believed in us along this journey.
Since January of 2014 we’ve more than doubled, growing from 45 to more than 130 team members. Any time a company grows at that rate, it can’t help but to stretch everyone involved. What impresses me on a daily basis is the incredible way that our team has stepped up to meet that challenge. Everyone pitches in to welcome new hires and bring them up to speed, everyone suggests and implements process changes that help us scale, and everyone is responsible for transmitting the core aspects of the culture that make us who we are. I couldn’t be more proud of the company we’re growing up to be.
And our customers. From our earliest customers like Threadless and Hootsuite, we’ve been fortunate to count many of the world’s most innovative online businesses as our customers. Today that group includes new additions like Chubbies, Walker and Co. Brands, Wanderable, and more. We’ve often had the privilege of watching new startups mature into significant businesses, and these customers have lit the path towards each new innovation. They’ve spent countless hours in our product and working with our team, and we owe much of our success to their efforts.
So, while Bob and I are humbled by and thankful for this honor, we know that we are accepting it on behalf of a much larger group. Entrepreneurship is a team sport, and there is no team we’d rather be on than this one.