In the earliest days, my “team” was family members walking alongside the trucks in a parade, handing out candy in exchange for pizza afterward. We had no money, but we had people willing to show up. I’ve never forgotten that.
As the company grew, one belief stuck with me: if you want your team to hit their goals, give them a piece of the outcome — and make it crystal clear what those goals are. People don’t run hard toward a target they can’t see. So we keep our goals written down and our data clean and visible, because clarity is a form of respect. Everyone should know what we’re building and how their work moves the number.
But culture isn’t only about goals and growth. It’s also about knowing what the growth is for.
We used to do every parade we could find, because back then every parade was a chance to earn another client. These days, we don’t do many. I’d rather give my staff that time to spend with their families, and spend it with mine, too. That trade-off matters to me. I worked the early years the way I did precisely so that, down the road, the people in this company wouldn’t have to sacrifice everything to be part of something successful.
I take real pride in the fact that I get to run this company now — and that I get to bring good people along for the ride. It’s not common to find leaders willing to break off pieces of the upside to make sure their team shares in what they helped build. I want our company to be exactly that kind of place: somewhere people can grow, share in the success, and still go home to the people they love.
The hard work of the early days bought all of us that freedom. That’s a legacy worth building.