Oh, where to begin on this final post celebrating 20 years of Ideas United?
I’ve been posting a lot (which doesn’t come naturally), but behind every single one of those posts is a whole lot of people. I’ve used most of our posts to thank our partners, as they’re the reason we’re still here and still growing.
But the “we” I kept referencing is our amazing team — an extraordinary group of creators and innovators who work incredibly hard on behalf of our partners and make me so proud each and every day. There’s not enough room to thank all of them, but I can’t post without thanking our leadership team (Abe Mohammadione, Julie Braunstein, Caitlin Dillon, Gabriela Rayas, CPA, David Kmoch, Yahaira Hernandez, and Anna Helms) and our Board (including Julie Ann Crommett, Jinal Shah, Laura Mason along with Nishita Cummings and Rob Shilton over the years), plus Michael Seminer for his 15+ years of driving our new partnerships and Emma Velcoff who’s helped with so many of these posts and more.
“We” is also so many friends and family (not to mention pets) of our whole team– who’ve put up with our long hours, our travel, our constant checking of emails, our up's and down's, and our constant passion.
Of course over all the years, many of our colleagues have moved onto other opportunities, and we’re incredibly grateful for all they contributed, and love following along their new adventures. That includes Vijay Makar and Ajay Pillarisetti who were there from the beginning, and Brandon Chong who bravely made the first jump onto our team – all of whom poured their hearts into iU.
And then there’s Dan Costa. If anyone’s looking for a co-founder, I’d recommend finding someone who complements your strengths and weaknesses, who cares as much as you do, who puts up with your annoying traits, who vigorously debates with you, and who in the end comes together to create something magical. That co-founder recipe has worked pretty well so far for me (though I suppose the day is still young).
So I’ll spare you all the other hundreds of posts I could be sharing to thank so many more, and instead, say I’m grateful to everyone who’s played a part in the Ideas United journey so far, and I can’t wait for more adventures together. The world is a complicated place right now, but it gives me hope to be surrounded by so many who are putting in the work to try to make things at least a little better.
