#484 – Built Something Special, Check!

How many roads must a man walk down? Forty two. (THGTTG)

Do you, in work or in life, have good problems? At Parabol we’ve had the good problem of being a real business. In recent years, we’ve worked toward a goal of operating profitably and funding our expansion. A handful of us are stepping away from the company, helping us achieve that goal.

This is my last week as a full-time employee. Having started this company as a co-founder in 2015, I’ll engage the business as an advisor moving forward.

In the Parabol way, we had a retrospective of our time together. We shared stories, learnings, and made plans to support each other in taking next steps in our professional lives. One principle that we borrowed early on from Ray Dalio is the value of doing meaningful work and fostering meaningful relationships. This theme stood out as we reflected on our journey.

Being remote-first we embraced a way of working that enabled us to reach many milestones. However, our fondest memories come from team meetups we held over the years. We sailed around Greek islands, went road-biking in Portugal, went horseback riding in Arizona, perused fruit markets in Mexico, and had beach picnics near Coney Island.

Parabol has reached a staff and alumni network of nearly 50 people. I’ve caught up with former colleagues who have moved on to other jobs and everyone concurs that we have a unique culture here. It is something they miss. It might be hard to replicate.

How can we be the change we want to see? Wherever we go next, we bring our values of transparency, empathy, and experimentation. We bring our principles of sharing early and often, making every effort to understand all sides, and trying the riskiest things we can get away with.

We ship good over perfect. We build relationships with our customers. We iterate.

It has been an honor to work here over a decade. The four of us set out to build something special. There were many points where we thought our next meetup would be our last. I’d do it all over again.

Thank you to every current and former teammate. Words fall short when sharing appreciation and gratitude. Let’s check in on each other, early and often.

It was a quiet week! I wonder how much usage reflects typical time away for spring break.

…explored enhancements to private instances of Parabol. Security, privacy, and control of data are top of mind for customers. We aim to provide the highest level of service and ease of maintenance in these environments.

…plan our next product cycle. We’re focused on making Parabol more accessible to agentic workflows, helping our customers make the most of their data.