Never go it alone

The last twelve months of my professional life have been the most exhilirating, rewarding and challenging of my 11 year career. As I restlessly worked on Ringio, the most valuable lesson I learnt was: Never go it alone.

First I have two amazing partners: Ashish and Michael. Ashish brings a wealth of technical expertise, but more importantly, he is a no-nonsense commonsense decision maker and a tireless doer. Michael is a nuclear-powered dynamo, but more importantly, he knows what counts the most at each stage.

Without them, the business would probably be in bad shape. But they’re here, and that has meant the world to me.

Then there’s the team:

• Alberto Perez, without his leadership our engineering project would have never got off the ground or through the finish line
• Nico Nombela, his technical ideas underpinned the brilliant architecture of our service
• Alberto Vilches, whose mad skills and inventiveness made it possible to use so many leading edge technologies
• Mario Muñoz, who made it possible for us to have a great mobile application
• Quique Torres, who infected the team with his enthusiasm and passion
• Hwi Lee, who made one of the best interaction designs I’ve ever seen in a telephony product
• Jae Mun, who contributed a sharp visual design to all our interfaces
• Sukanya Thirthamattur, who tirelessly uncovered and whacked out bugs
• Gerry Preville, who accounted for every dollar and cent
• Joe Boyle, who made it possible to have proper legal documents
• Mike Sweeney, who put together a brilliant website
• Andy Abramson and the Comunicano team, who cheered for us and gave us a real persona with the media

Last but not least, all our investors, who trusted us with their hard-earned money with so little to show.

When I sit down and count all the people who have lent their ideas, their time, their passion and enthusiasm, their feedback… the lesson is clear. Business is a tough and lonely place, so never go it alone.

To all of you: thank you for making this dream a reality. Ringio Rocks!