the redo exp: onboarding

Sterling is a sharp dude.

He is very much a down to business type of guy, but I sense he can let loose and have fun from time to time.

Sarah gathered us into the conference room to hear from Sterling about Redo and what is expected. I joined the onboarding group that started this week. Today was their final day of week one.

Sterling began by reflecting on the past and his first month at Redo. He shared a picture of the team from a year before – a small office in Pleasant Grove of 12 people with big hopes for the future.

He quizzed us with questions about startups and typical growth and then shared how Redo is other-worldy in terms of revenue growth during the first two years.

He likened Redo’s growth to Divvy and the trajectory that Redo is on compared to Divvy.

Then, it was story time.

Sterling shared a picture of three Irish school boys in their school uniforms. He told a story about the boys walking to and from school each day and always trying to climb a big stone wall.

None of the boys could ever make it over.

It was too steep, too slippery, too high, too everything.

Until one day, one boy decided to throw his hat over the wall. The hat that topped his school uniform. Showing up to school without an article of your school uniform was asking for a beating in the late 1800’s, but the boy risked the punishment anyway.

It was that day, the day the hat was thrown over, that he became the first boy to scale the wall. He made it over and retrieved his hat.

The wall was no longer too steep, too slippery, too high, or too anything.

Sterling quickly flipped to a picture of John F Kennedy and his “We choose to go to the Moon,” speech.

We listened to JFK tell the American people that we choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard. And further, that America would land on the moon within the decade.

This speech was given in 1962 and NASA had been formed only four years prior. On that day, in that speech, JFK threw his hat over the wall.

Prior to that speech, space travel and landing on the moon was too hard, too dangerous, too unknown, too everything.

JFK didn’t know how it could be done, he only knew it could be done.

As promised, within the decade, in July of 1969, America landed on the moon.

Conquering space and the accomplishment of landing on the moon was no longer too steep, too hard, too unknown, or too anything!

It was conquered.

Then, in a surprising twist, Sterling shared that Irish school boy who conquered that wall was JFK’s great great grandfather.

Whether the lesson or story of “throwing your hat over the wall” was shared and taught explicitly from generation to generation, or lived and exemplified implicitly, JFK and his great great grandfather were linked in conquering the unconquerable and finding a way when there was no way.

Then, Sterling said, “that's why on Fridays we wear hats.” As a reminder to yourself and your team that we’ve thrown our hats over the wall.

There isn’t a way out. No matter how steep, how hard, how challenging, or how impossible the path is, we will conquer it.

He continued by sharing a video from a TV show called The Bear.

Forks are the trophies at Redo and are given out for exceptional work. Every day is the Super Bowl.

Finally, he wrapped up with some points about Redo being at war. It’s a battle to compete against dozens of companies, thousands of employees, billions in funding, and decades of years in business, but Redo is taking on the challenge of being a compound startup and building everything that all the other companies are only focused on a piece of.

He said, we are going to do $1B of revenue by 2030 and it’s up to the people in this room and office to get us there.

“Statistically you may never work for a company like Redo ever again.”

Woah. Let's roll.