Lightning In a bottle

When you catch it, you know it. Enjoy it while it lasts.

There was a knock on the door followed by joyous sounds of people greeting each other. Hugs were exchanged. The voices were achingly familiar and then I saw their faces and the memories began to blossom in my mind.

A few weeks ago several of my former colleagues came to visit, spearheaded by my best mate, Kelvin. He made the trip from Australia and then rallied people to come see me as well as to reconnect. They flew in from California, New York, Chicago, Indiana, Florida and more.

They would’ve come for any of us. It just happened to be that I was the sick one.

It was probably really hard for them. In fact I know it was.

But they made the trip. Of course they did.

That’s what we did for each other at Aprimo.

In my professional career I’ve been lucky enough to have my dream job (Sportswriter), and to have worked for two exceptional companies.

This is the story of the first one. It was arguably the most influential group of people I have ever worked with.

The stories flew fast and furious and the years melted away and it was like we were back in the early 2000s crisscrossing the country deploying marketing software.

“Lightning in a bottle,” my mentor Jennifer said. Indeed.

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You can’t get to the highs without going through the lows.

For the first time in my career I was laid off. It was 2004, and my 20-year consecutive job streak had come to an unceremonious end. I was able to grab a contracting gig, but I didn’t like the unpredictability of the work.

I loved the steady paycheck.

I found an ad for a training consultant for a software company I never heard of. It was in the marketing space. No experience there. However, I did have a dearth of software training experience. I sent in my resume.

Two days later the phone rang and I met Jennifer, who would turn out to be my mentor and a close friend. We had a good call and then she invited me up to Indianapolis for a roundtable interview.

They purchased a $1000 plane ticket and I flew up on Friday morning. A limo was waiting at the airport for me. I was super impressed, but I never heard of this company before so wasn’t sure when or if the bottom was going to fall out.

We arrived at a very nice office building near Carmel. There was a big group of applicants. We were all herded into the training room and introduced to about a dozen people who would be conducting our interviews.

I was led to someone’s office. There was a desk with two guest chairs. I put myself in the desk chair because I thought that would show I had initiative. Then the cavalcade of interviews started.

I believe there were eight, half hour interviews back-to-back with a lunch break in between. Nearly everyone I met was impressive. They all were imbued with that Midwest niceness. In that process I met four managers I would eventually work for. All instrumental in my professional and personal growth.

After the interviews, they shoved us back into our cars and back to the airport. I bumped into one of the managers, Stu, at the airport. He was from Atlanta as well and we were on the same flight. He told me in his Southern drawl to keep my phone on.

A few days later, I accepted an offer letter from Aprimo.

It was back to Indianapolis for a three-week boot camp. We flew in Monday and back out Friday. Jennifer was delivering the class. We had a very inauspicious beginning. I will write about that one day.

My fellow new hires were a mixed bag. Most of them were younger, all of them were sharp. After the boot camp we had a certification exam and then we were sent out into the field.

My first client was a big bank in downtown Atlanta. I was basically free help to assist in raising their adoption of the application. It was the financial module, which was not one of my strengths. But I dove in and learn the product inside out.

After a few months it was time to hit the road to Colorado Springs. I was working at a ministry, which was a unique experience. We had to wear dress shirts with ties and many times meetings would start with a prayer. I was working with Rod, who became another close friend. We lived at the local sports bar and played poker every Wednesday night.

During that project they sent us a new person to shadow the project. His name was Kelvin and he was from Australia.

He was only there for a couple of weeks, but we all got along fabulously.

Kelvin, me, Rod

The work was intense. We were on large projects lasting multiple months. We would embed with the client to design and deliver our solutions. There were tough meetings with stakeholders. There were product limitations. There were custom projects. Sometimes there were all nighters. The travel could get monotonous.

I spent nearly a year in Columbus, Ohio at a retail conglomerate. Techno music was pumped through the lobby speakers when you walked in and it felt like you were on the catwalk. And then they were giant murals of Gisele Bundchen with her derriere sticking out. In some of the meeting rooms bras and panties adorned the walls. The place had a great cafeteria.

The DC area was my next stop. I worked with a media company that likes to stick a big shark on their building one week per year. I discovered pho thanks to one of my teammates. The Hilton there had a wonderful Italian restaurant, Sergio's, run by this authentico Italian her cranked out homemade delightful dishes. The hotel also had the best lobster bisque I've ever had.

Baltimore was next where we worked on with an education services client. Kelvin was the project manager, so of course we were up to no good the entire time. We fell in love with a small Italian restaurant, Cafe Gia, where we munched on bruschetta and chicken piccata.

One of my last engagements was in Los Angeles. Travel was brutal, but we stayed at a Ritz. And, we didn't have any limits on our expenses. So I ate there every chance I could. I had sushi at the main restaurant which ruined me forever. There was a TV in the bathroom and every night if you put your shoes outside the door they would polish them and return them the next morning.

It was these projects and in close quarters that the Aprimo culture in professional services was born. Everyone was good at their jobs because if you weren’t, you wouldn’t last.

And I hate to use this cliché but at the time it was true: we worked hard and we played hard.

At the time there were approximately 100 people in the services organization. Once a year our leadership generously packed us all up and shipped us to a resort for a week of teambuilding, fellowship and practice development. Yes there were actual presentations, but for the most part there was excuse for us to cut loose and bond.

My first one was near the home office in Indianapolis. It was energizing being around the entire team.

My next conference was at Callaway Gardens in Georgia. We had cabins throughout the property but would all wind up in one specific one that had all of the booze. We are in the Georgia woods so the teambuilding was outdoors based. We shot skeet, canoed, rode bikes and had an orienteering contest. There was a spot laptop check where the IT team discovered one of the consultants was working two jobs at the same time. He was sent home.

In Tampa, we were at a large tennis resort and we all had apartments. Kelvin and I roomed together as we would for the next few conferences. After a beer soaked evening, we headed down for breakfast but it was all light and healthy fare. No grease. Luckily I had driven, so I hustled over to Publix to grab some bacon and eggs and I cooked breakfast all week.

I believe at that one we had a contest to build a viable go-kart out of PVC pipe. It was hilarious watching them all disintegrate. We had a trust fall off of a 20-foot platform wearing a bungee cord. There was a ropes course that we had to collaborate on to get the entire team across. Being ultra-competitive, we were asking the instructors with the record times were.

I don't recall much about the Houston conference, but the Orlando conference at one of the Disney Resorts was memorable.

After so many years of drinking escapades, leadership asked us to put the kibosh on excessive partying. But guess what that exact leader did? 

He bought a VIP section at the bar and paid for bottle service for the consultants.

It was maybe a preemptive kind gesture because on the final day of the conference, nearly everyone was taken down with food poisoning. The culprit was some bad chicken we had at Animal Kingdom for our big night out.

We were sitting in a presentation before heading out and people started to stream out of the room looking greenish. I was in that crowd.

Many of us had to endure rumbling tummies on our flights home. There was a constant line to the bathroom. One team had to go back to Europe, I can't imagine how excruciating that was.

At my final conference in Minnesota, we convened at the bar on the final night and drank so much that the register could not fit everything on one receipt. Rod and I were drinking Coronas and singing along karaoke style to the tunes.

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So what made Aprimo so great?  First and foremost the people. Everyone got along. Everyone supported each other. Everyone worked for each other. It's certainly stems from Midwest values. Bill, our CEO, was the first one I ever was able to approach. In my past companies, we were just little people. But Bill took the time to get to know you. He was an excellent listener.

This is the kind of company Aprimo was.¹

In my third year I received a meeting invite while at a client site. It was from the head of services and Stu. Of course, I thought it was trouble. It was the exact opposite.

“Robert, you are underpaid. We're going to give you a raise.” And then they gave me a five figure salary bump. And then I was promoted the next cycle. It was life-changing money. It put us in the house we are in today.

When we had our first child, I realized that I could not travel like I used to. I had done my time. I was looking for other positions with local companies when my current manager, Ed, told me to hold tight.

Sure enough, Aprimo created a job for me. I was able to work from home with light travel.

It was the kind of place I wanted to stay forever. But then we were sold. I suppose that was the object all along - that or an IPO - so it wasn't a big surprise. Many of us cashed out options and were hopeful that the new company would integrate with us.

Short story shorter, it didn't work. We were two disparate cultures and I did not agree with the direction the company was going. So I made the tough decision to leave.

1. The company was re-sold and some of the old gang are back.