Last week I spent a few days in Cambridge, UK for the Redgate Company Kickoff. I landed at 1130a Monday and flew away at 1215p Thursday. I wish I could say it was my shortest trip to the UK, but I think it’s the 4th or 5th shortest.
Almost the entire company converged in the UK for the event. We haven’t done this in the past, with separate kickoffs in different regions in the past. This time I saw friends and colleagues from Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, UK, the US, and likely somewhere else.
In fact we split this into two days. Day 1 (shown above) was Sales and Marketing with Day 2 being the Engineering, Product, and other groups. I was only there for Day 1. Day 2 was at the Redgate office with some meetings and our marketing group getting together. Plus a few breaks.
Monday was a whirlwind, though we managed to get two Simple Talks podcasts recorded. Look for them coming soon. Tuesday was a very early start for someone that had been up Sat/Sun in Denver at 530a, and now needed a 600am GMT wakeup. It was very dark as we headed to Bletchley Park. I think I look way more tired than Pat.
The kickoff was great. It felt more organized, and we are looking to focus more on things that help our customers find success as well as finding the customers that we can help rather than every customer out there. I like that we constantly talk about helping our customers as we look to grow the company.
I walked around, talking tech, business, life, and Redgate with colleagues a bit at our break and saw a bit of the museum, but honestly I couldn’t focus. I was too caught up in what we didn’t do well last year and where we’re going. I managed a couple shots in the museum (Bombe below), but gave up quickly and went to find other Redgaters to talk to.
I wasn’t sure if it was worth taking everyone to Bletchley, but as we talked about our plans and then things customers want, the theme made more sense. We certainly know security is important, and maybe becoming more important, to many customers. Interesting tie ins as a few of our upper management people had relatives or family friends who had worked there during WWII.
I was up to late on Tue and Wednesday. Tue with my warrior daughter who was spending two weeks touring universities in Europe. It was great to have her come through Cambridge and us catch up for a few hours.
Wednesday was talks from Marketing in our office. The whole group was there and I led an AMA with the Advocates on various topics. It was interesting and always informative as I only lightly know how marketing works.
Dinner was with our team and then a late night chatting over beers with various others. I finally made it up to my room only to get a message from my wife. I called her and she asked me why I was up so late. It was 2am!
A short chat and then a very short night as I have a 7am car to the airport. Fortunately I managed to sleep on the plane.
I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to bring the whole company together (its’s $$$), but afterwards I think it was. I’m glad we did and I’m looking forward to 2026.