Dear Fellow Stackers,

(This letter was originally attached to an article about love in the workplace)

It really sucks to write this. It will sound grandiose… but, nothing short of a life-changing scenario would have resulted in this letter. No need to dig into that now, let’s take a trip down our, albeit short but, amazing memory lane.

It all starts with how we become a stacker… how amazing is it that when we are chosen to interview they lay out the full process right then and there. No bullshit, no waffling, no resume black hole. The first sign that at Formstack, we treat people like people.

So now for the road leading to the first day… Not going to lie, I thought it was just a one-time gimmick when I received my initial email that had a well-placed animated gif in it. Damn, how wrong was I? :-)

In my defense, most organizations it is all “for show”. It is all a shallow gimmick in most organizations. For most organizations, when you first walk in, you can ignore the posters, the ping pong tables, the basketball hoops, the nice sounding marketing on the “about us” page, and most everything the CEO says as it pertains to culture. In those organization, that image is what they want outsiders to think about them… however if any value or core belief is pitted against even the slightest of profit or illusion of control, and watch most… and lesser organization’s “living the culture” facade crumble…

Not Formstack… Formstack is Not most organizations. At Formstack the image we portray to the outside, PALES in comparison to what we truly are.

Being a Stacker is being at the top of your game, because those around you are at the top of their game.
Being a Stacker is living the values… not just memorizing them.
Being a Stacker is having fun and getting to work…
Being a Stacker is sharing before we are ready and being given the time to focus on great work…
Being a Stacker is having organization and servant leadership without feeling the usual crushing weight of hierarchy…

From the most recently hired individual contributor to Byers, Miranda, Ade, Taylor and Walsh… everyone cares, everyone gives, everyone loves.

I didn’t think I would be writing this for many years to come, and “trust and believe” I wouldn’t be leaving if it weren’t for an extraordinary circumstance… but, I honestly don’t think any amount of time would have been enough to satisfy my level of comfort and sense of belonging. I was home.

Stackers… you are my people… you are my tribe… and though I’m going to be on a separate journey, I want you to know how big of an impact this time with you had on me.

The time at Formstack was proof…

It proved to me that you can be real without sacrificing being great
It proved to me that professionalism doesn’t require sacrificing everyone’s true nature and watering down who they truly are
It proved that you can “crack edgy jokes like you would with your real friends” without sacrificing common sense and decency
It proved that you can scale fun without sacrificing productivity
It proved that you can scale remote without sacrificing connectedness
It proved that you can scale trust without sacrificing accountability
It proved that you can scale love without sacrificing results
It proved that the culture truly is the grand sum of the actions that are taken, the actions that are rewarded, the actions that are not tolerated
It proved that you can have great people, doing great work, on a great product, with a great vision, and a great executive team combined with great individual contributors

It is rare… but, Formstack is living proof that it is possible.

I will always be appreciative of the support Formstack and the Stackers. I will always cherish this time I was honored enough to spend with you.

I can honestly say that I will always love the tribe they call Formstack!

— AR3

P.S. I’m going to forget to mention some folks (I apologize in advance), but I have to do some shout outs real quick.

First, Cate, I’m certain I’ll never meet another like you… all of the loves… just all of them. Keep doing exactly what you are doing, because it is magnificent (I will uphold the pact we made, and under threat of life and limb, no one will ever call me Tres… ever!).
Miranda, Max, Justin and the rest of the HR squad… seriously, culture is the Formstack secret weapon, and it starts with you… you are often the unsung heroes, but what you do should be sung from the mountain tops. Also, Justin, I’m rooting for a 3-peat championship… at the time of writing this, it is too close to call!
Jess and the best damn support crew period… the level of knowledge and the seemingly endless energy you give to support the product, both internally and externally is beyond commendable.
Brian G… man, I really wanted to earn my 5-year sabbatical… even though I had to cut this short, I want you to know that your Formingo guidance is truly appreciated… you are the fucking man!
Patrick, Andy, Abby, and the rest of the inbound team… I listened to a ton of your calls, and I couldn’t do what you do (the level of care and consultative approach you take…. astonishing) for an hour… yet you do it day-in and day-out, and make it look easy… thank you guys for everything! Abby, don’t nunchuck anyone, and keep living the dream. ;-)
Ok, this is getting stupid long… time for the lightning round!
New markets y’all work great together, both in helping our customers and at the struggle table ;-). Clark, man, I was explaining your brand of comedy and just day to day interactions as buttery smooth… not sure how you will feel about that, but I love it!
Marketing and Data teams… we’d be lost without you guys… Charlie, Emily, Josh, Heather… sorry for the endless stream of questions, and thanks for always smiling while answering even though I’m sure you had to be annoyed after a while.
Clint that new hire video though… insanely good.
The Storage Wars crew… I have never seen so much collaborative technical prowess in one area before… you guys are intimidatingly good… keep being the dream team.
Pierce and Kuba, I haven’t witnessed a ton of good, thoughtful engineering leadership in my career… you guys have that special “it” in spades.
Gard, the magical shit you do on a struggle table is beyond compare!
Ade, I never mentioned this, but I’ve been a big fan of yours for a while now… you sir, are an inspiration and I wish I had the balls to tell you that earlier… I’ll admit, that I was a bit star-struck :-)

Ok, I’d spend another few pages trying to say all want to say… but I should try and wrap it up… time for the final few…

Byers… man, you are what a CEO should be. When the conversation is going too far down the revenue path you bring us back to customer value… when we aren’t living our values, you call us (and sometimes yourself) out on it and commit real effort to fixing it. I was more impressed with every interaction, and I can say for certain that if you hadn’t stayed past the original 6 month timeframe, Formstack would not be what it is today. Not sure what it would be (it had some incredibly strong roots), but I would bet it wouldn’t be the shining light of how to do culture in an incredibly successful people-first SaaS business that it is today.

Neos!!! My Neos. I’m actually at a loss for words, and as evident by this crazy long article, that is saying something. I absolutely loved working with each of you. Regardless of if it was hearing about bears, default weekends, our movie aficionado’s movie critiques, or seeing where in the world is Dani today… I truly looked forward to every interaction. I know we owned that neo title, but you guys produced like wily vets. I will sincerely miss you guys. Neo4Life!

Product… and to be clear, I’m talking about design and PM’s. Designers, you all are simply amazing… customer interviews, intricate detail design, illustrations, or journey mapping, this crew uses every technique in the book to deliver the best overall user experience possible. It is inspiring to see you effortlessly combine your head and your heart to deliver experiences that are clearly powered by love.
Dani… I can’t even begin to thank you enough for what I learned during our time together. I felt like you were constantly educating me in every Zoom chat we had… and we had a lot :-). From design philosophies and customer interview tactics, to interpersonal communication, I was constantly getting an education. It also felt great knowing Dani, you had my back regardless if we disagreed on a detail, we were one a hell of a team!
My man Tenney… we balanced each other beautifully didn’t we? Though it was a tiny bit odd to start on the same day in the same role, I couldn’t imagine a better partner in crime to take that journey with. Up market baby, up market!
Aaron and Kelly… none of this runs without the tremendous support and leadership you two give this team.
Finally, the OG Jackie! Thank you for allowing me to play a gladiator role in the Jackie version of OPA. The entire world better watch out, because you are an unstoppable force… just keep doing what you are doing.

Matt Taylor. Matt Taylor… what can I say about you? You, my friend, are incredibly special to me. You have the unique ability to both make me feel like I can conquer the world and it is safe enough to try anything because you have my back. Your energy, your essence, your soul is truly unique. Fuck product management, I am a better friend, husband, father… I am a better man because of having the honor of knowing you. I know this will seem a bit odd given we’ve only had a short time to interact, but as the old meme says: “I love you man!”. Thank you… truly thank you for everything… and I’m 100% serious about fighting to keep you in my life as a lifelong mentor and friend.