Six Wonderful Years!
Welcome to the Curity Blog
It’s almost my birthday, which means it’s also almost Curity’s special day because, by some strange co-inky-dink, we have the same birthday. This year, Curity will be 6; I’ll just be older 😾 With age comes wisdom and experience though, and I wanted to share some of that with you in hopes that it will help you on your journey (and be fun to read).
Curity was imagined long ago when Jacob and I were on a long drive together. (Ironic that this metaphorical journey would start on a literal journey 😂) At first, we dismissed the idea, but it grew on us as the size of the concept also grew. It would never have turned into reality though if it weren’t for a few important factors:
A core of closely-knit friends
Brave new friends that joined us
Our customers
Building a business is hard. It's like being on a mental rollercoaster every day. You have to enjoy the highs because the lows are very low. The best way to get through them is to have great people with you that can encourage you and help you carry on. My wife is the Chief Encouragement Officer (CEO) of Curity, and always pushes me to continue. Jacob, Simon, and Stefan were also a source of constant inspiration. They never gave up, and always pushed on. Curity would be nothing without these people.
Early on, we got a few excellent professionals with us -- really top 1%-ers. Mark, Renato, Daniel, Johan, and Nikos joined early and are still with us. (We had a few others who left; each departure was one of those lows that still gets me down if I dwell on it.) It is so invigorating and inspiring to have someone join you in realizing your vision. The fact that these outstanding people joined us is what has formed Curity’s culture. It’s also what has undoubtedly attracted some of the newer Curities that are too many to list but all just as top-notch. At Curity, our culture is one of excellence and devotion to our craft. We guard it relentlessly and make sure that every new recruit is brave and persistent enough to walk the keel. So far, they all are! This has made Curity into the absolute best place I have ever worked, and I love to do my job every day because of them all.
Another key reason that we’re able to celebrate Curity’s sixth birthday is because of our early customers. All of our early adopters are still customers. The fact that they believed in us enough to use our product even before it had a UI is so inspiring to me. I really appreciate them, and will be forever grateful. These customers that we landed in the first years made the company’s financials very stable. This gave us time and options.
We used this time to ensure that the product always remained the focus. We were able to build it at a good rate, ensuring that it did not have too much technical debt. It has also allowed us to be choosy about outside investment. As a result, the investors that we eventually brought on are ones that share our vision and approach; they are ones that are able to wait for a return, and are not pushing us out of eagerness for an upside.
When people, customers, and investors put so much faith, time and money into your vision, it grows from being “mine” to “ours”; it expands from an individual dream to the life work of many. Because of this great team, outstanding customer base, and continued success, I am very hopeful that we will carry on playing our part in making the Internet a safer place. It’s a labor of love, and we enjoy doing what we can to keep people safe online. We feel a moral duty to use our skills in this way, and will continue to do so for as long as possible.
By acknowledging Curity’s birthday, we are really celebrating its people, customers, and vision. We look forward to celebrating again next year, and hope that you will be with us again at that time. Till then, enjoy the new blog 😉
