The Ramp
Each step is uphill, but each step has taken us higher.
Tom’s thoughtful post about his “Why” for starting Red Argyle resonates with me the same way it did in 2011, except I was lucky enough to experience it first hand! Tom took the fragile idea of Red Argyle and poured his passion and energy into it to the point where former “on and off” work turned into more “on and on” work than one person could handle. At that time in my life, I was exploring professional options and thought maybe Red Argyle would be a great place to do some contracting and bill some hours while I figured out what I wanted to do with myself.
Conversations were had, lamb chops were grilled (remember the food theme?), and after a few late nights of dreaming, I was blown away when Tom invited me to the business as a partner. To this day there’s not a moment I don’t appreciate Tom’s leap of faith, and I’ve done everything I can to help make the Red Argyle dream succeed! If I were playing a game of poker, you could say I went “All In” and put my chips down for Red Argyle.
So I have a question for you, what do 21 Pilots, Mumford and Sons, Metallica, Beck, Live, and Our Lady Peace have in common? They’re all bands Tom and I have seen together for fun! While we have similar music tastes, our brains are wired differently, and that’s our secret to success. Tom is analytical (with a deep architectural and design background) and I’m more of a storyteller with enough tech chops to get the job done. We’ve always celebrated our differences and amplified each other’s strengths. Our joke is we’re two sides of a brain. I feel very fortunate that after my 9+ years here, we’re still friends and have fun doing what we’re doing. Nothing feels better than knowing you have each other’s backs!
There were two inflection points in our evolution at Red Argyle and our relationship that set us up for success. The first was at the beginning, it happened about a few months after we started. We hired employee number one. I know companies who go years before staffing up. We flipped the script and started very early with a team that grew steadily between 2010 and 2016. During that time we matured and learned how to be a company and deliver great work with consistently positive outcomes.
In mid-2016 Tom and I made the startling realization that we don’t need to co-sell everything. In the theme of capitalizing on our strengths, I started owning sales while Tom took on architecture and delivery. This gave me some runway to spend the time that was needed to win, and that sure worked. In early 2017, I was driving home from a project meeting and I got a phone call from none other than Google. With my new-found time to focus on sales, I spent 3 weeks attacking every line of an RFP and we were lucky enough to win our first contract there. Since then we’ve been fortunate enough to continue working there along with other global brands to fill their Complex, Custom, and Weird Salesforce needs. I mean, who thinks parking enforcement is cool? On Salesforce, it is VERY COOL!
2017 Onward things accelerated on all fronts. Sales became not just a full-time job, but now a full-time job for four of us. We have marketing support. We have a finance and “Argyler Ops” team to support our staff. And that’s backed up by an army of Argylers delivering solutions to our customers through the Consulting, Development, and Configuration practices. As of today, our team is just over 40 people, and I expect more by year’s end. Who knew this would be possible?!
Looking ahead, challenges abound. We’re not through the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 was the most difficult year we’ve had. The best decision we made this spring was to double down on our team and we echoed Salesforce pledge for no layoffs. Thankfully we made it through with the whole team intact. Good thing we did because right now we can’t hire fast enough! With all that said, we’re keeping an eye on the future and moving in a way that we feel can weather another storm. As my Mom always said, “It’s getting brighter”. It used to refer to the weather when we were camping, but in this case, I think it also applies to the pandemic and the global ability to recover. Might be a few dark days ahead but on the far horizon, it’s getting brighter!
To get to this milestone, we have so many people to thank that it would be impossible to fit in a blog – but here’s a few:
- Our Argylers! Thank you for the hard work over the years and for continuing to live in the “discomfort zone” of growth and challenge
- Our customers, who have given us the runway to build and do complex, custom, and weird things for you on the Salesforce Platform! Cheers to weirdness!
- Mentors who have taken the time to help us be successful. Words of wisdom shared that changed our lives. We promise to pay it forward and help those who we can!
- Salesforce for the support over the years, 10 years of being an SI and ISV partner!
- Marc Benioff for being a personal inspiration and making Organizational Philanthropy a cornerstone of our company. 1% all the way!
- Jessica, my wife! She helped me decide to go on this adventure! My kids as well who are champs about putting up with my travel schedule and penchant for late-night emails.
With all of the words above and excitement about being in business for 10 years, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that all that experience has woven into the company you see today. We’re still as hungry as we were in 2010 and looking to help bend Salesforce to your will. If you feel so inclined, we’d love to talk.
Hire us and you’re going to get:
- Owners who care deeply about the business and successful project outcomes
- Transparent, Articulate, and Purposeful work
- A partner who gives back to the community
- A chance to work with some great people, a gang of technology-enabled creatives who are interested in the complex, the custom, and the weird types of projects and needs with enough enterprise experience to make it work in any company in the known universe
- Affordable – being based in Upstate NY, we’re able to offer onshore work at offshore prices with decades of experience on our team. While we won’t always be the lowest cost option, I do believe pound for pound we’ve got the right value proposition for you.
