Damn. 20 years, just like that.

When I reflect on our journey, from that very first day filled with a mix of excitement, nervousness, and self-doubt, it truly feels like yesterday. 

I remember vividly the decision to step away from a comfortable job, venturing into the unknown world of agency life with no prior experience. At 27 years old, recently married, a new home, and enough savings for six months, the risk seemed daunting. We set a simple rule: if we couldn’t make it after six months we would go back to working "real" jobs. We laughed about surviving on ramen noodles if needed. 

Well, six months went by, we picked up some nice projects, and we were able to draw a modest income to keep the lights on. Initially, our goal was survival, avoiding the dreaded return to "real" jobs.

This concept of "keeping the lights on" stretched for years. Having no agency experience certainly stunted our growth, but it also allowed us to build the agency we wanted to work at. An agency where nothing came before our people and our clients—including our own personal profits. An agency built on trust, where nothing mattered more than doing good work. An agency where the love, respect, and admiration for your teammates was infectious, and where pleasure came from the utmost gratitude of our clients. An agency that felt less like a job and more like a mission.

Reflecting on this two decades-long journey, we've had some amazing wins that propelled us forward, along with some devastating losses. As I reminisce on our shared victories and defeats, I'm proud of our growth. And, while we're not driven by accolades and awards, we've been recognized for both our work and our culture—and we've won enough of them to know that we can compete with just about anyone.

As I sit here today, reflecting on this 20-year milestone, I'm proud that GO has evolved into the kind of company your mom would want you to keep. But I'm even more excited and passionate about what lies ahead. 

Our systems and processes, crucial for building efficiencies in business, are taking a major step forward and have never been better. We've never been surrounded by more experts or talent on our team, each dominating their respective areas. From our creative team to our ability to deploy highly effective, measurable media campaigns and produce high-level, nationally recognized video content, to developing enterprise-level websites and complex web-based software applications—we are better poised in all aspects of our business than ever before, which makes me believe that this is actually the start of something truly special.

To be honest, I've never been accused of being a good businessman, and I’m okay with that. I simply wanted to be a good person in business.

Inevitably you strive to be both, but being a good person should come first, because if you are a good person who works extremely hard at exceeding expectations while doing the right thing, everything else takes care of itself. The 27-year-old version of me would be proud of GO today—not for the size of our team or number of incredible clients we serve, but for the way we all feel about each other and the work that we do. After all, it’s the people who make us GO.

It’s the people, each and every person who interacts with GO, that will help write the next chapter of our story. And, if the next 20 years are anything like the previous 20, I will be tremendously grateful for the passion and grit our team and partners bring to the table, sharing in the mission to do good work. Trusting each other… pushing forward… continuously raising the bar… and building something more extraordinary in the years ahead.

Because deep down, we all feel like we’re just getting started.

Onward,
Chad