Welcome to Mile 20.
Team Letter | September 25, 2025
September 25, 2025
This weekend, I (along with Alpaca’s own fast and fantastic Kimberly Bailey) ran the Berlin marathon, one of 7 “marathon majors” around the world, alongside 55,000 other runners.
And since I had about 4 hours on my feet in a foreign city with nothing to do but run, I figured I’d think about Alpaca for awhile.
A common piece of advice for those silly enough to run a marathon is to break the race up into “three tens.” The distance of a marathon is 26.2 miles, and the Three Tens rule breaks up the race into the first ten miles, the middle ten miles, and then the last 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles.
That last segment is technically shorter in distance, but mentally and physically the most difficult stretch. By the time you hit that last 6.2, your legs are toast, your entire body is tired, you never want to see another cup of gatorade, and finishing strong requires a good plan and a lot of mental toughness.
For many runners, miles 20-26 is where people “hit the wall,” losing their mental fortitude alongside whatever physical challenges have settled into our feet, legs, guts, or emotions. (Honestly, why does anyone choose this sport?)
The key to 10-10-10 is to use each stage for a specific purpose. I think about it like this:
First 10: Figure it out.
In the first 10 miles, my job is to generally figure out what I’m doing. What’s happening with the weather? What’s this race course all about? How am I feeling today? How much sleep did I get last night? Most of us make several mistakes along this first phase, going out a little too fast or missing a key water stop, so this part is about making adjustments and little edits that make the race work better.
Second 10: Find momentum.
The second 10 is absolutely exhausting but really a lot of fun. This is where we find momentum. Everything is warmed up, there’s no turning back even if you wanted to, you’ve got a great sense of the vibe of the race, and if you’re lucky, the World’s Greatest Cheer Squad has found you a couple of times, boosting your confidence and sense of support. (Our squad is called The Beeps and they show up huge!)
It’s time to get out there and build on the momentum, don’t get lazy, and push a little harder if you can. It’s a perfect time to practice great form, to rely on your running partner and your team, and to make sure to celebrate the little wins along the way, while keeping your eye on that finish line.
And then comes Mile 20. This is where the race actually begins.
Last 10: Don’t stop moving.
In your brain, you’ll say “sweet, we got this — 6 miles? No sweat!” But the legs have different ideas. Your legs, it turns out, are absolutely over it. 6.2 miles might as well be 62 miles.
It doesn’t feel like winning, like ever. It often doesn’t happen on the timeline you want exactly, or in the way you want exactly. So the most important thing you can do at this phase is to simply put one foot after the next and keep going. And then do it again. Break it down into 1 mile increments or 5 minute increments or just count to 10, but do not stop moving forward.
And then, seemingly out of the blue, that finish line reliably shows up, every time, ready to make you feel proud and unstoppable and grateful all at the same time. And ready to take on the next big goal.
If you’re part of the Alpaca team, you know where this is team letter is going.
Because every single one of us at work knows that we have our eyes on a big growth milestone right now and that we are ALMOST there. Welcome to Mile 20.
We picked up a LOT of momentum in the last few months, and it took us some big figuring out to get to that stage! In that “First 10” stage, we adjusted our product, how we sell it, who we sell it to, and how we position ourselves in the marketplace. Lots of adjustments, lots of little edits. This was the “figuring out” phase of this particular milestone.
This spring and summer, we got to experience the fast-paced, fun “middle 10,” seeing momentum build in our product, seeing adoption grow, and hearing from our customers that they love what what we’re building. Truly, our customers are Alpaca’s world’s greatest cheer squad.
There is nothing more fun on this goal than feeling like we’re winning — fast, smart, and together as a team. And now —it’s Mile 20.
It’s time for the last 10. Sometimes, I look at that number and it feels enormous. In reality, it’s 9% of the total goal we have left to win, and sometimes it feels like 90%. But this is where the real race happens.
This is where we push ourselves past what is fun and easy, and find a little extra that we didn’t know was there. In running, this means activating new muscles to step up when our legs get tired — straightening your back for better posture or moving your arms for better propulsion forward.
At work, this is where we get smarter — finding a new way to solve a problem, win a new customer, or get the goal done, even if it means throwing out something that’s not working anymore. It’s time to strengthen other parts of our company, work smarter, and above all — keep putting one foot in front of the next.
And in case a day or two feels discouraging, don’t forget — it’s supposed to feel challenging right now! Just make a plan for what YOU can do to help reach this finish line (note: every single person can help!) and then put one foot in front of another, and do the work, every single day.
When we win it, we’ll win it as a team, and we’ll be stronger and smarter than when we started it. And that’s a good thing, because at the finish line of this particular goal, there’s another start line immediately ahead of it, and we’re going to need those smarter ways, those stronger muscles, that mental toughness to tackle the next one.
There’s no better team to achieve it than ours, and we’re going to do this together. I’ll see you out there today, Alpaca!
KB