IPO: Just the Beginning

When we went public, everybody got a pair of Albirds. And it was in a little card that had a saying from Confucius that, “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” And we weren’t saying we were done; we were saying we were getting started. And that’s an important part of leadership, change the conversation, be versatile. It’s like, let’s not celebrate the IPO. We’re just getting started, people. And here’s some juice to go on the journey with us. And now every employee gets that same story when they get hired. And so I think…

That’s great. I love that story, because the IPO should not be the end. You’re right, the IPO should just be the beginning of an exciting new journey.

Yeah, let’s make sure that we don’t have people celebrating, because they should celebrate the moment but not the end. This is a huge accomplishment. And when I was ringing the bell, I was really emotional. And I was emotional, in part because of the work that Bill was on. But more so because of all the work that I knew that went into every SMB, having watched my parents and grandparents build multiple businesses, you know, I’d done some, but that connection to the SMB and like, this is the dream that people have, and to be up there representing a hundred thousand plus businesses that had been a part of our journey, that was emotional, but it’s not an end. It’s a point in time and how to use it as a catalyst going forward.