As a company with three offices across two countries, Zenreach enjoys many advantages – great local talent, strong team identities and diverse perspectives. Unfortunately, one that we do not enjoy is the easy coordination that can come with just one office. There’s really no substitute for face-to-face collaboration.
Consequently, we decided to bring our three offices together for the company’s first all-hands summit. We spent a day and a half together connecting all of the people who work to make Zenreach’s products and culture strong. Many companies would be happy to stick to dinner and a few team-building exercises. But since our vision for the future is a bold one, we decided to go bigger.
Meeting our customers
Zenreach is obsessed with our customers. We were fortunate enough to have three of our key customers attend the summit to share their perspectives about what it has been like to work with us. Our panel included: CJ Ramirez the Director of Marketing for Dog Haus, Cydney Shapiro the Director of Brands & Communications for the JOEY Restaurant Group, and Chelsea Peterson the Regional Sales & Marketing Manager for Troon. More than one of them mentioned our people were a major reason they’ve enjoyed our services.
As someone who has spent most of his career in client-facing roles, I find direct customer feedback to be the most important feedback you can garner. Our customer panel was no exception. They gave us insight into how they use Zenreach, provided feedback on our support, and shared some good ideas about ways to enhance the product offering.
Hearing from investors
We were delighted to have a panel featuring two important investors in Zenreach. Jamison Hill from Bain Capital and Matt Kinsella from Maverick Ventures gave us their perspectives on venture capital markets, what makes a great company, and why they are bullish on our future.
Many people said that this was one of the most illuminating parts of the summit. When we opened up the panel for questions, our team was able to get some deep insight into the value we bring as a company and the size of our opportunity.
Listening for inspiration
Jen Dulski, entrepreneur, executive and best-selling author, was gracious enough to join us for a “fireside” chat about working purposefully: how important it is to be a force for purposeful, positive change. She also shared her thoughts on how to build a great company culture, something we’re focused on.
Jen has had a storied career including time as CEO of Dealmap, COO of Change.org, VP at Yahoo! and most recently Head of Groups at Facebook. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience. On a personal note, I know first-hand that she is also a fantastic manager. (I worked for her at Yahoo!)
Planning the future
Naturally, we spent some time going over our recent performance (it was good!) and the long-term direction of our company (headed to big places!). The highlight for me was seeing the personal connections being made across our various offices. A few individuals mentioned that this event was the first occasion they had in more than four years of working together to meet some of their colleagues face-to-face.
Well, there’s no need to wait that long again. We’re already planning next year’s summit!
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