This is why I'm here.

Startups can sometimes be a royal pain in the ass. Sometimes you have to miss out on a vacation or a night out. You don't have a start and end time to work. You're always at work. You check email constantly. You put out little fires All. The. Time. Most of the time, the personalities at a startup are strong ones, so you fight. You fight like siblings who've been sharing a room a little too long. You're never the smartest one. Someone can always kick you down a peg. You don't roll in money, even when all your friends are. Instead, you lovingly stroke a little pile of stock options, hoping that they'll one day be worth more than the paper they're printed on. There's no Christmas bonus. There's no 20 paid holidays per year. What there is is a lot of work to do and not a lot of time in which to do it.

I love every minute, though. I love working with insanely smart people who are passionate about what they do. I love working on products that I'm proud of, and that people GET. I love that every day is a learning experience, and that my drive to become better never stagnates. I love that my ideas are listened to and considered, regardless of my job title or how inappropriate it would be at some larger companies for me to contribute them. These are the rewards of the startup, and to me they're worth more than money or public stock or job security.

Today, though... I'm loving on THIS startup. Don't get me wrong, I'm usually loving on this startup, but today it moves me. I love that I work on a product that would move someone to write this, and that I work for a company that would reward such an action with this (those last two links are very much worth clicking on). I know I'll get half a dozen private messages or IMs from people telling me what a fucking cornball I am, but I don't really care. I'm very proud and happy to work here and be part of what Six Apart does, both in terms of innovation and technical achievement, and personal connections and relationships.

Throughout my career, connecting with customers has always been my first priority. It might be because of my tech support background, or all those long nights at AAA I spent sending tow trucks out to pull peoples' cars out of the washes in rural parts of Arizona. One way or another, it was pushed in to my brain early on that you are nothing without your customers, and you'd better not ever forget it. I never do. I form relationships with them. I make time for them. I appreciate them. Six Apart does all of those things too and that's why I'm here. I like you guys, and I want you to like us.

That said, you tell anyone I wrote such sappy shit and I will cut you.