Today is the last day of my first week at Appcues. Although I’ve been working with Jonathan, Jackson and Nak for a while now thinking about how to approach support here, that doesn’t take away the shininess of these past few days.
I’ve had a lot of first weeks in my life, doing everything from cheffing up sushi to teaching yoga, but I don’t think any of them have been as fulfilling as this one. Perhaps it is that I have already been thinking these issues through tangentially for a while now, but I feel a great sense of satisfaction at being able to devote my attention wholly to them. Maybe it's because I learned how to curl. Who knows?
With that in mind, I wanted to share a few of my thoughts from this week.
Open Company.
A lot of companies preach transparency as a value. I’ve seen the variation of “no bullshit” too many times to count. It feels like many companies take the same values and just regurgitate them in a way that fits their tone and brand.
I do not think that is the case with Appcues. I, admittedly, was not familiar with the brand’s explicitly stated values until a few days into working here officially. But, to say that I wasn’t familiar with them explicitly does not mean I didn’t know them. The values are lived and breathed here, and permeate every interaction that I’ve had. To the point, even, that when Jonathan said what they were, I nodded. I didn’t need a presentation on it, I’d already felt it and knew them to be true.
God, what a refreshing feeling! Not only to not need to be reminded of them every day (because they are just innately there), but also to feel so completely aligned with them.
Kind, empathetic people.
It’s no surprise that people that I know from all walks of life are here. There are at least four people, including one of the founders Jonathan, that I have known for at least 5 years and was overjoyed to be working with again. The people that work here are some of the most categorically kind and empathetic ones that I’ve met. Everyone cares so much. Which is nice, coming from the part of a company that usually cares the most (support). For example, I ran into some troubles with the product while trying to work on a mandatory first-week project, and instead of rolling their eyes and brushing it off as unimportant, a group of the engineers sat and tried to work with me through it. I felt heard and supported and valued.
Not only that, but they are trying so hard to make things work for me. I will be their first remote employee, and they are going gung ho despite never doing it before. They’ve investigated the best video chat technologies and are so receptive to my feedback on how to do things better despite me being just one employee out of the many that currently work here. I am grateful for them and feel valued, appreciated and a part of something really awesome.
Tricky problems.
I am coming in at the relative beginning of things. We have two support employees and haven’t gotten deep into figuring out any processes. The struggles and problems we are running into are fresh and hard. It has been a while since I’ve been in a company solving these kinds of problems in such a scrappy way and I feel invigorated. I think it took me working in a larger, later stage start-up after already putting the processes in place to realize that I want to have a home in these beginning stages. Everyday I have something new and big to put my energy and brain towards. As someone who runs high on anxiety and energy, it feels good to leave work tuckered out and fulfilled.
I am overjoyed to be here. The onboarding experience was surprisingly good for such a small team—I feel like I am leaving my first week with a more solid understanding of the product, infrastructure and background than I’ve had at other companies. I feel prepared to start sinking my teeth into the queue next week with the other new employees for our company-mandated support week (everyone does one or two).
I am excited and amped up by my team and the other teams we work with. This has been in the works for a really long time, and I am just so happy that it’s finally come through and I can call Appcues home.