With the world undergoing so much turmoil in recent weeks and with so much uncertainty ahead of us, I feel it’s critical for company leaders to be open, honest, and realistic about the tumultuous time we are in right now. It’s vital that we acknowledge the difficulties our companies are likely to encounter in the coming months, prepare for them, and weather the storm together as a team — employees, supporters, customers, all together.
To that end, last week, I shared my perspective and thoughts with our team — see below (with slight changes to protect confidential information). You’ll see in the note references to the fact that, over the last six months, Amitree has become a globally distributed, all-remote team, a fortuitous decision given the necessity of working from home given current circumstances. For companies now experimenting with remote work for the first time, we’d love to share our learnings about how to make it work well (as many company leaders generously did for me as we made the transition).
Please know that I am thinking of all of the Amitree family — our employees, customers, investors, and supporters around the world — and hoping that you are finding peace and support during this time.
Jonathan
Founder and CEO, Amitree
Hi everyone,
Although we’ve been talking regularly as a group about what’s going on in the world right now, I wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts and my perspective with you. While there is a lot of hysteria and overreaction happening out there, it is undeniable that we are witnessing the onset of a very big and difficult time for our world. One that will, without a doubt, have long term and meaningful implications for all us personally, for our societies, and for the global economy, including companies like Amitree. This has been much on my mind as I’m sure it has been for many of you, so let’s talk about it.
Let’s start with the personal side. I want you to know that at Amitree, you will find support for anything you have to deal with — from me, from each other, from our board, our investors, and our community of supporters. Our lives will most certainly be disrupted in the coming months. You may find yourself required to stay at home, cancel travel plans, become sick or have a sick relative, help friends and loved ones contend with new challenges, have to face disappointment, and deal with meaningful disruption to your lives. For me, it feels like an inevitability that my children’s school will close, that my travel plans for the spring will require rethinking, and that my family’s plans for this summer will be more complicated than expected. During this time, I just want you to know that I’m here for you and if there’s anything Amitree or I can do to ease the situation for you, I want to hear from you and help you. This is a difficult time — as we lean on one another, we’ll get through it.
Outside of our personal lives, in the near and probably medium term, the global economy will be extremely volatile and uncertain. Fear driven from this uncertainty, the limitations on our ability to travel, forced closures of workplaces, supply chain impacts, and general economic contraction all greatly shape how businesses — small and large — make decisions. At the very least, uncertainty limits appetite for risk and, along with it, the willingness to spend money. This will, inevitably, impact all businesses, and I am operating under the assumption that it will have impacts on Amitree as well.
For us as a company, the impacts may come from our existing and prospective customers tightening their belts or postponing spending money, leading to churn and reduced subscription rates. We may feel impacts from changes in the housing market — if home buying and selling slows down in the US, our real estate agent customers will make less money and be less busy, limiting their willingness or ability to pay for Folio. Partnership conversations such as those we have going on may stall as companies contend with impacts to their businesses. And we may find it hard to open new markets and expand at a time that people across all industries contend with uncertainty and disruption to their lives.
I realize that this note is not upbeat; I feel it’s important to be realistic, sober, honest, and transparent with you all about what is going on. However, at the same time, I am truly optimistic and confident that we will come through this period of volatility and be stronger. Furthermore, I want to assure you that Amitree is extremely well positioned to weather this storm. The actions we have taken as a company over the last six months to become a globally distributed, all-remote company have ensured that we are robust, can operate effectively in this new environment, and have ample runway to contend with the challenges that this period of time will present.
It’s significant that recent events are showing that we are clearly leaders and on the cutting edge of the future of work in how we have embraced the practices that are making us a successful remote company. We are fortunate in our timing to have invested so deeply just now in learning how to work effectively without needing to be physically colocated, build processes that allow us to span many timezones, and have already recruited you amazing people all over the world. As other companies now are forced to experiment with remote work, I encourage you to be leaders and show them the way, sharing what you know and are learning. We are, as a group, all passionate about this form of work, and we have an opportunity to help those around us make it successful and pervasive, for the benefit of all of society.
I am grateful to each of you for being here and for supporting me and one another as we go through this tumultuous time together. Your work is having a critical impact on Amitree’s success and I couldn’t be more proud of and excited about the team and company we are building together. Please call on me at any time for anything and know that you have support at Amitree.
Warmly,
Jonathan
