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| Our Provo duplex Spring 2016 |
When I was pregnant with Landon, Jordan was finishing school and working for a little startup in Provo. After the school year ended for me and I had some extra free time for a couple months, I'd sometimes walk (or scooter? though maybe that was just Jordan?) with him up to work, just up the hill from our little duplex. I have this sweet tender memory of walking back down that Grandview hill with my hands on my growing belly feeling those amazing kicks and stretches, so new and wonderful!
They worked in the basement of the company founder's home, around the corner from my high school friends' homes, "Just walk through that side gate and down those stairs in the back...try not to block the neighbor's driveway if you're parking..." with a closet full of snacks and folding tables squeezed in for the handful of employees.
Those walks are still a pretty sweet memory for me, but the actual job turned out to be not so great. And in the Fall when they gave Jordan an (also not-so-great) offer to stay on, we chose another option.
Today, in the news I read about that little basement-office company being acquired for $8 billion!
Jordan has had a really wonderful and interesting career so far and I always love to see what's happening with the companies he's worked for or nearly worked for in the past, so it was fun to see that news.
I also had a mix of other feelings - like, how it can be hard to celebrate their success when we had kind of a harder experience with them... though somehow just saying that out loud helped me realize those aren't really the feelings I want to hold on to (though I still feel them for now, but hopefully not forever!) And of course, we had a moment's discussion of "what if?!"
But mostly, as I was thinking about all this and remembering those days, even bigger than those other feelings is how grateful I feel for all of the really wonderful work and life opportunities that have come to us in the other paths we chose!
In that same time of our lives as our family was just beginning, Jordan worked with another startup in Provo (Collabratus). It ended up closing down about a year and half after Jordan joined, but we sure have some happy memories of his time working there (like the great big windows of his office, the funny story of someone hoping to pay off their invoice with a truck, and that courtyard full of daffodils where I brought toddler Landon down for lunch break picnics...). And we still have happy feelings of his very kind boss Harold (like the little company BBQ he held at his home, or when Jordan went to interview with Microsoft, and Harold sent a gift with him on his way - a box of chocolates picked out by his wife and a homemade t-shirt with this message - "I'm a Collabratus Man!" :)
And besides those happy memories, the end of that job also led to the beginning of his work for Animoto which then led to many more great opportunities at Bonobos, LostMyName/Wonderbly, and now TPT (with many more interesting connections made in between all those as he's worked with and interviewed at many other companies too!)
In other news, Jordan heard this last month from some friends in Victoria who he had considered working with in his latest job change. They were also recently acquired in a different sort of way that wouldn't have exactly been a perfect fit for us -- this is from their website in reference to their acquisition -- "We are thrilled about our ability to help JUUL Labs improve the lives of a billion adult smokers..." (you never know!) Also, a year or so after Jordan left Bonobos, they were acquired by WalMart -- which made us think maybe we should have followed through with our stock options ;)
It's so fun and funny to see just a little bit where those paths we've deliberated about over the years might have taken us. And so nice to feel happy with the paths we've picked!
