Wow! Where does the time go? I’m pretty sure most of it passes while your head is down doing the work! As I lift my head up today for a brief moment on our five-year anniversary, I want to acknowledge all the people who helped Ursus reach the five-year mark, poised to embark on what I believe are our best days yet to come. Five years ago, Cheryle Peikert, employee number one, and I sat at a small deli in Silicon Valley and mapped out our plan. “The plan” looks very different now than it did then. As with most business ventures, the course zigged and zagged and rarely ran a straight line, but over the last five years a few things have remained constant.
- Quality. And the commitment to The Ursus Way which serves as our both our rallying cry and the foundation of the company’s culture.
- Innovation. Not everything we’ve tried has worked, but plenty has including the recent launch of our Certify U! Cloud Apprenticeship program this month and our Hiring University! Podcast that this week dropped Episode 10! Three years ago, we made a decision to ditch our physical office space and manage our team virtually. Many said I was crazy. Some clients thought less of us. Now, in the midst of the pandemic, it feels we may have been ahead of the curve.
- Growth. Our technical and creative staffing and services business have doubled in size each year. Despite Covid-19, we will be close to doing so again in 2020!
To our amazing clients, partners and especially our contractor base, THANK YOU for putting your trust in Ursus! To the entire Ursus Team I appreciate and continue to admire your effort, your professionalism, your passion, commitment and loyalty to Ursus. To all my family and friends who have supported me along the way and encouraged me to keep grinding it out; there is absolutely no way I would have made it this far without each of you. To my former partner Don “DJ” James, who I parted ways with amicably halfway through to this point, thank you for your mentorship, continued support and friendship. To Mike Panico and Doug Cain who not only invested early but reinvested in Ursus through choppy waters, I can never thank you guys enough.
While there have been plenty of bumps, bruises, long and stressful days along the way, there have been many more moments where I have felt immense pride representing our brand and gratitude knowing I am associated with what I believe to be a world class team. There is much more work to do and I’m as energized and bullish as I have been at any point in our five-year history. Let’s go!
