Today, I turn 35 years old.
Yesterday, the FullContact team threw a surprise birthday for me.
And boy, was it a great one. Twenty hours later, I’m still trying to process my emotional response, but it was full of shock, laughter and tears.
Here’s how it went down:
It started with a diabolical setup. Sean Porter, FullContact’s VP of Product, sent me a calendar invite titled simply “coffee” for 4PM Friday. He sent the invite on Thursday evening.
At many companies, this wouldn’t be a big deal.
But at FullContact – especially for our VP of Sales Ben Deda – “coffee” has somehow become code for either a) someone is getting let go or b) someone is leaving for another company.
Sean and I had just had our one-on-one Thursday over lunch, so the “coffee” invite totally, completely freaked and weirded me out.
I emailed Sean immediately. No response.
I called him. No answer.
I called him again 15 minutes later.
I texted him:
I was at a friend’s birthday party, but I spent three or four hours spending background cpu cycles worrying about what was going on. I was worried that I might need to find a new VP of Product. I love Sean, and he’s had a tremendously positive impact on FullContact, so I really, really didn’t want him to tell me that he got poached by some other company, or that he was headed back to San Francisco, or the other horrible thoughts that were going through my head.
I was telling my good friend – Yoav Lurie, CEO of Simple Energy – about it on Thursday night and he said “I hate that. We have a policy at my company called ‘no agenda, no meeting’ – you should just decline the invite.”
Finally, Sean called me back. He told me everything was fine and that he just needed to talk about some “strategic product stuff.” This allowed me to sleep easily.
The next day, in my one-on-one with Scott Brave, FullContact’s awesome CTO, I was telling him about ‘agenda-less coffee meetings’ and let him know how neurotic I am about those types of meetings and how they freak me out. Scott just laughed without letting on he knew anything.
4PM on Friday rolled around.
Sean swung by my desk and still wanted to grab coffee.
I told him that we should go grab a beer instead. I then swung by Kãrlis’ desk, who had just arrived from Riga, Latvia and told him to meet us at the Wynkoop in about an hour for a beer. Kãrlis agreed.
Sean and I headed to the Wynkoop. About 10 minutes into the beer, Sean received a phone call from Jaclyn Pickard – our super office manager – telling us to come back to the office.
Sean told me he forgot that he had asked a Product Manager candidate to swing by our office to meet me.
I told Sean “come on man, just tell her to come here.”
Sean pushed back, and insisted we head back to the office.
We walked back to the office and walked in the office and around the corner.
Then – suddenly:
POP! POP! POP!
“SURPRISE!!!!!!” screamed the ENTIRE FullContact team.
I was scared out of my mind and I quickly retreated back around the corner. The look on my face must’ve been priceless. It was horror, shock, glee, and awe – all rolled into one.
I started laughing, realizing the last 24 hours at been one big fucking setup – and that the whole company had been in on it.
There were balloons. There were margaritas. There was flourless chocolate caked and my favorite ice cream – Half-Baked from Ben ‘N Jerry’s.
It was awesome and I was stunned.
But what came next was even better. Ben Deda told everyone to sit down and shut up, in his Loud Marine Office Voice.
We obeyed.
I joked “is this a CEO intervention?” and everyone laughed nervously.
Then, Michael Rose the uber-engineer started talking. He launched into a dialogue about how much he appreciated me, and everything I’ve done for him personally and professionally, and how much he’s admired my drive and what I do for FullContact on a daily basis. The team applauded Michael.
Skylar Lowery talked next.
Then Minh Pham chimed in.
Then Kãrlis.
Then Jaclyn.
Then Drew Lawrence.
Then Andrew Vozslavek.
Then Michael Maynes.
Then Alex Borden.
Then Kipp Chambers.
Then Brad McCarty.
Then Chris Elliott in a previously recorded video.
Then Matt Elliott in a video.
Then Matt Hubbard in a video.
I was left totally and completely stunned. I had trouble fighting back the tears and my emotion as each person spoke from the heart about their feelings towards me in their own personal, unique way.
I then felt compelled to address the team. I was overwhelmed with emotion.
I told them how much their words meant to me.
I told them how being CEO was a hard, lonely job – as my friend Jason Mendelson has told me more than once – “the toughest job on the planet” and their words meant a ton to me.
I told them that I hoped they would all be Startup CEOs one day.
I told them to stop trying to separate work and life – that it’s all just life – and encouraged to develop deep, emotional connections with their co-workers, their managers, their direct reports, even with their CEO.
And then we ate chocolate cake and had lots of margaritas.
On the ride home, I called my wife Sarah to tell her about the surprise party. She had been on it all along (that’s why they knew my favorite birthday cake and ice cream)
Then I thought about how profoundly the relationships I’ve developed in the past 5 years – all after the age of 30 - have affected me.
In the last five years:
I met my wife Sarah in grad school, romanced her in Italy, and now we have a newborn son, Greyson. Sarah has taught me an amazing amount about emotional inteligence.
Chris Marks became the first institutional investor in FullContact after I was turned down 126 times. He has taught me about community, treating people the right way, and the value of persistence.
I met David Cohen and he became our lead mentor in Techstars – and he’s taught me how to work diligently through difficult problems
I met Brad Feld and we’ve developed a deep personal friendship. I have learned an amazing amount – but most importantly that it’s important to develop deep emotional relationships with those you work with.
More importantly, I’ve met and become friends with Brad’s better half – Amy Batchelor. Amy has taught me about being honest with one’s feelings – no matter how difficult they are.
I met and began working with Jerry Colonna, who has taught me a ton – but most importantly – to face my own fears and demons.
I met and started working with T.A. McCann – who has taught me deep lessons about startups, teamwork and leadership.
I met and am now next door neighbors with Jim Franklin, who has taught me lessons about how to be a good father and a good CEO.
I met Brad’s partners at Foundry and learned a ton from Jason, Seth Levine and Ryan McIntyre.
I met and learned a ton from every single FullContact employee
I learned an immense amount from the Foundry Group Portfolio of CEOs and Execs.
I learned something from every single Techstars CEO I’ve ever met
I have met countless people in the Colorado startup community and gone on hikes with too many to count
I have met thousands of people who were deeply touched by our Paid Paid Vacation policy
I could go on and on and spend all day. But I won’t.
I’m just extraordinarly blessed to get to live where I live. And to get work with the people I work with. And to be part of FullContact’s mission.
Thank you FullContact team. You made this CEO’s 35th birthday something special. I love all of you.
How the FullContact Team Surprised, Shocked and Awed their CEO on his 35th Birthday