About a month ago we had the extreme pleasure of getting our remote-first team together for an in-person retreat in Gatlinburg, TN to strategize and plan the vision for our company in 2020 and beyond.
Fast forward to today and we’re in the midst of a global pandemic, the likes of which none of us have ever experienced before. At Pagely we are focusing on supporting our fellow humans, being a source of light in a time that feels dark, and looking towards the future that we started planning for in Gatlinburg.
For us, the daily life the nation is adjusting to right now isn’t hugely different from how we’ve been operating since we launched a decade ago. We’ve always been remote first, though the kids at home and the social distancing is something we’re still getting used to.
Internally we have been discussing things like our disaster protocol, buddy systems to keep each other safe, and what this means for our team. But, ultimately we recognize the need for positivity right now, so that’s what we’re serving you here.
That being said, we would like to take this time to share some insights about our team, our strategy moving forward, and what the future holds for Pagely. We hope that this can serve as a small distraction, even if for just a few minutes.
Our Employees at Pagely are an Extension of Your Team
The people on our team are the heart of Pagely.
We’ve always known this, but we haven’t always put our faces, stories, and names in the forefront. Since we have long boasted our employees as an extension of your team, and the best-in-the-industry, it’s time you got to know us a little bit more.
We are real people with families, pets, passions outside of work, and life stories just like you. So, here we are. Expect to hear more from us all in 2020 and beyond.
Planning for Pagely in 2020 & Beyond
Our team works remotely, spread out across nations, continents, the globe as a whole. Because of that, it’s extra special when we get the opportunity to get together in person. We met up earlier this month to hunker down in a big log cabin that sleeps 104 at the foot of the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. In a word, it was: epic.
Activities included home-cooked meals from our COO Sally and CTO Joshua Eichorn, karaoke, a pirate performance, Chipotle, and a ton of all hands strategy planning.
Our company is broken down by departments, so during our strategy planning, we had the chance to hear from each department head about the current state of affairs and where things could be headed.
While this isn’t a full overview of our product roadmap and strategies for each department, we’re sharing the high-level takeaways from the retreat.
Also, a special shoutout to the handful of amazing Pagely team members that weren’t able to join at the retreat this time around.
What We Value at Pagely
Perhaps one of the biggest things to come out of our retreat was a clearly defined outline of what we value as people, and as a team, at Pagely. We’re now lovingly referring to it during team calls as The 7 C’s. You’ll see why as you read on. The long and short of it is that everything we do at Pagely is in line with these seven values, from our sales process to our security protocols and everything in between.
Caring
We believe passionately in living the golden rule and actively promoting the holistic well being and success of our customers, our company, and ourselves. Doing what’s right always comes first.
Consistency
We are consistent across our actions, communication, service delivery, and user experience.
Creative
We cultivate and freely share ideas to improve our product, profitability, process, and performance. We understand that constraints are a means of discovering creative solutions.
Communication
Trust is built on clear and timely communication at all times between each other and our customers. We talk about the good stuff as well as hard stuff to uncover and implement the best solutions and path forward.
Competency
We maintain and build on our depth and breadth of expertise, always seeking knowledge and refining our skills to bring them to bear for the good of our company and our customers. We aim to employ highly intelligent people who share the same values to drive the best products and services.
“Control without competency is chaos”
Confident
We are confident in the solutions and value that we deliver to our customers and in our abilities as a team to discover and solve challenges before us.
Conscientious
We are aware of the cascading effects of our actions within our platform, how our tone may be perceived in communication, and how our individual efforts contribute or may detract from our mission.
Support
Under the supreme +1 leadership of Kris Lagraff, one of our longest-standing team members, our support team just keeps getting better and better.
Looking ahead, our team will:
- Keep expanding our head count
- Continue crushing that 12 minute average response time to tickets
- Build on collaborating with the Product and Sales teams to ensure we’re building the best tools to fit our customers’ needs.
Fun fact: Kris is based in Colorado and had a stint as a professional snowboarder.
Engineering
Our CTO, Joshua Eichorn, has a comprehensive road map in place to take us all the way through the year. We’ll get into more details in another post, but in the meantime, the engineering team is working on onboarding a new product manager to help us manage projects most efficiently.
Fun fact: Josh is a father of two and his pool stays open year-round (because he lives in Arizona, lucky him!)
Security
We know at Pagely that due to the nature of security risks, we cannot plan out a roadmap as a set schedule, but instead must act dynamically, moving and reacting to new risks as they present themselves. Robert is planning for his team to focus on security not only for our customers, but also internally for our company to keep customer data as secure as possible.
Fun fact: Robert knows a lot about beer, and eclectic music.
Devops
This guy right here, Arman, is a behind-the-scenes mastermind. His leadership in our devops department helps to keep the whole company running. In 2020 devops and hosting operations will be hiring new team members, scheduling more game days and hackathons, and helping to control our spending so we can keep prices as efficient as possible for our customers.
Fun fact: Arman lives in L.A. and has cool tattoos.
Marketing
Our marketing department welcomes a new director with big plans for our brand, growth, and community relations. We’re currently undergoing a massive project to present Pagely in a more refined, intentional, and beautiful way. Stay tuned for design and branding rollouts over the course of 2020 and beyond.
Fun fact: Dave just joined our team and his nickname is Digital Dave, Digi for short.
Sales
Our sales department is different. Matt and his team exist not only to sell our product but to make sure our new and existing customers are getting the most they possibly can out of our offering. Pagely being an extension of your team starts with these guys and gals. From day one, we’re focused on aligning your needs with the most value and advising you on how to best meet your business goals.
Fun fact: Matt is as close as our team gets to an Influencer. He’s famous for hosting the WordPress podcast The Matt Report.
Now, more than ever, we want to express ourselves as people who are standing with you, side by side, during this uncertain time. We won’t promise to fix the state of the coronavirus with our cure-all product. Instead, we will promise to be realistic with what we can offer, patient with each other, and fully supportive of the human race as a whole. We’re in this together.
Stay healthy and keep looking towards the light!
