Wow. Envoy B2B is 10 years old. That’s a decade of challenges, triumphs, and innovations. Thinking about the last 10 years, I have to start by looking at where we are right now and ask: "How did we get here?" Let's have a flashback...
Following Opportunity
Believing in yourself and having a passion for others.
Our passion is serving a brand’s wholesale needs while doing great work together with great people. We have certainly had good fortune, but we don’t believe in luck or an “it’ll work itself out” frame of mind.
We believe in continuous planning, confident execution, and always being open to thoughtful innovations in our product and our company. We believe in ourselves and each other. We believe in learning from the past and applying it to the present.
We believe in making the future through iteration. By listening to our user base and the smart people on our team, we follow our passions and drive that forward momentum.
Our First Value
The big table and how it shaped us.
In the beginning, the original 7 founders sat around one very large table. It was our collective work desk. As we grew and added employees, the work environment shifted, and the giant table was replaced. Recently, we’ve pivoted again to working remotely.
That big table never left our DNA.
For us, that table represents working closely together. It represents transparency in progress and well-being. It represents being able to run ideas through a collaborative process of creation. These are the values that drive us. We hold on to them regardless of where we are working. We might not all be sitting around that big table anymore, but we expect (and achieve) those same values. It is this simple concept that continues to drive us to innovate the ways we collaborate.
Success and Failure
Even small failures make for big success.
You’ve probably heard a lot of people talk about the importance of failing to succeed. I’d like to add a footnote to this idea that I’ve found to be of incredible value over the last 10 years.
Failure can be small.
The idea of failure is often attached to a large effort. It conjures images of epic missteps, the collapse of elaborate plans, and the disintegration of the best ideas.
But, at Envoy, we’ve learned that those small failures have just as much of an impact, if not more. That moment when someone thinks to ask “Why isn’t this working the way we thought?” has been critical to our success.
How has it helped? It makes the people on our team notice each other. We notice the effort being put in, and in the moment of “why?” a bond of respect is created. Innovation isn’t the result of a strategic mindset. It’s that moment when we all put our heads down and try to work out the why... together. We have fostered this culture and it gives us all the opportunity to do great work, together, everyday.
Actionable Vision
Needs based product development.
We will always fall short of expectations when we do not involve feedback from our users in development of our products and services. We strive to put egos aside and recognize that our personal “Eurekas!”, without forthcoming research and real-world involvement, almost always fall short of being actionable. We have learned to embrace the phrase, “show your work” in an attempt to create space for that excitement. This provides the opportunity to show how you’ve connected the dots that explain the opportunity for improvement so everyone can be excited and shout “Eureka!” too.
When that path between a problem and its solution makes sense to everyone, that’s when we get excited. Because we know we are building something that our clients genuinely, truly need.
Another Decade And Beyond
How we plan to remain excellent and party on.
We have no plans to slow down. But, as we look ahead to another decade of Envoy B2B, it’s important to keep our eyes on our goals and stay true to our long-standing values.
What drives us to keep going?
- We want to deliver stability for our clients. We want them to feel comfortable that they’re operating their wholesale channel on a platform that continues to innovate and adapts to their needs and the current market climate.
- Innovation in the market! We love to build that new feature that changes or improves how our clients work.
- Quality of life for everyone at Envoy B2B. Focusing on our team is an ongoing investment to assure their happiness and well-being.
Our commitment to continuing the party:
- We are committed to developing services that matter because they’re built with user feedback to solve their needs.
- We are committed to fielding a customer success team that partners with our clients for brand driven outcomes.
- We are committed to marketing that informs the industry, highlighting valuable insights for all of us.
- We are committed to a sales department that helps brands make the best decisions for their needs, not ours.
- We are committed to employees that are happy and well-treated.
I want to send out a big THANK YOU to all of our clients for your partnerships over the past 10 years. We couldn't have done it without you. And, Team Envoy B2B... well, it's party time. Excellent.
Sincerely,
Jon Faber (Your biggest fan.)
Founder and CEO