Thank you, thank you, thank you.

A Thanksgiving message to the Alpaca team

Dear Alpaca team,

Have you ever woken up on Thanksgiving Day and realized your work is your dream job?

That’s an extraordinary feeling. I’ve been thinking a lot about the community of people that surrounds our mission and work and how it’s grown this year. Without fail, every single person who touches this company does so with great care for educators and for our work. I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge a few who have become a big part of Alpaca this year.

I’m grateful for our educator team. You build and create such beautiful, fun, and helpful resources for our customers and educators everywhere, and you do it with such joy.

I’m grateful for our investors. I am beyond grateful that you believe in our team, our mission, and our company. Thanks for all of the encouraging notes, all of the good questions, and all of the offers to help us. We couldn’t be doing this without you.

I’m grateful for our Little Wins Leaders community. I have learned so much from school and districts leaders in every single podcast interview. Sharing even one hour with us has helped me build a new understanding of how to grow our company. Your little wins, culture moments, and practices you bring to your schools and district are inspiring. Thanks for helping us learn every day.

I’m grateful for our customers. Every school and district leader that trusts us to help them listen to, support, and celebrate their educators is at the top of my gratitude list. Our customers give us amazing feedback and ideas. You share the impact that Alpaca is making at your schools. And you are simply some of the most thoughtful and delightful humans I know.

I’m grateful for every member of the Alpaca team. It is not lost on me that you are investing your time, talent, and career growth with this little start-up. You roll with the punches when the unexpected shows up (and it always does!). You take extraordinary care of one another, personally and professionally. You are the world’s best hype squad. You’re hilarious. And beyond all of that, you are working your tails off, running through brick walls to see Alpaca succeed. I’m grateful for you every time I walk in the door of our office and see a workplace filled with hard work, creativity, laughter, and true friends.

Our little idea has shifted and grown. It has felt like the wheels are falling off at times, and it has felt like we’re on a rocket ship at others. (I prefer the rocket ship, thank you!) We are only just getting started, and our company has so much to learn, so much to do, and far to go.

But the community of educators, leaders, customers, investors, and team members that surrounds our company is how I know we’re going the right direction. I love it here, because of you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving me my dream job.

KB