Lotus Rock Star :: Today is as good a day as any...Happy 10th Birthday SNAPPS

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When you get an idea to start a company, I suppose you could call that "The Start". Or, when you register for a tax ID number. Perhaps your first sale, or when you lock in that domain name. For some, it could be the day you quit your salaried job (Jan 8). So for SNAPPS, the range for what we call our anniversary is somewhere from September 1997 and January 1998.

The closest I could nail it down to on paper was this Monday, December 3, when snapps.com was registered. But other fun things with friends were happening Monday, so I decided to wait. After all, DNS propagation in 1997 probably took two days.

So I'm pleased and proud (mostly the latter) that SNAPPS (real name - Strategic Net Applications, Inc.) is 10 years old. Statistically, about 6% of small businesses see their 10th anniversary. To be certain, we've seen ups and downs (do NOT ask me about 2001 or late 2005 unless you have bought me 3- no, 4 - drinks), but have experienced success with a wonderful and loyal team and generally have had a happy period of growth and continued involvement with Lotus software. Our recent expansion into nontraditional consulting areas, events like Collaboration University, and new markets has also given us the freedom to contribute back to the Lotus community in more ways than usual - free templates, more and more code for Lotusphere, free help for IBM sales folks, and involvement in community projects.

At our annual holiday party in a couple weeks, we'll spend time with the 23 members of the SNAPPS family - that's five of us, our spouses, and 13 munchkins. We also hit some new targets this year, so it should be a great time of celebration and shared success.

Big thanks and congratulations to Viktor (8 years), Melissa (6 years) ,Troy (5 years) and Jerald (4.5 years) for helping to make SNAPPS what it is today!

Comments

1 - Congratulations, Rob! SNAPPS rocks and I wish you and the gang continued success in the world of all things Lotus!!!

Posted by Chris Blatnick At 01:43:34 PM On 12/05/2007 | - Website - |

2 - Congrats to you all! Keep up the great work!

Posted by Chris Whisonant At 01:56:23 PM On 12/05/2007 | - Website - |

3 - 'grats on the anniversary, and thanks for the contributions.

Posted by Travis Retzlaff At 02:23:53 PM On 12/05/2007 | - Website - |

4 - Impressive - very impressive. Happy 10th and many, many, many more.

Posted by Bruce Elgort At 05:40:41 PM On 12/05/2007 | - Website - |

5 - Congratulations! Here's to many more.

Posted by Vitor Pereira At 03:46:28 AM On 12/06/2007 | - Website - |

6 - Congratulations !!!! 10 IT years. Thats like 30 years in any other industry !! Once again congratulations to you and your entire team !

Posted by Paul Calhoun At 02:02:41 PM On 12/10/2007 | - Website - |

7 - Congratulations, Rob! Starting a company, growing it, and sometimes just keeping it alive is certainly challenging! Making the 10 year mark is quite a feat. Congratulations again!

Posted by Daniel Lieber At 03:53:52 PM On 12/10/2007 | - Website - |

8 - That's great Rob & Co., congratulations! Rob, I remember the first time I saw you at Lotusphere giving a BDD prez on strategic selling (2004 maybe?). Great session, and it's nice to see that content from it has served you well.

Posted by Kevin Pettitt At 10:32:17 AM On 12/11/2007 | - Website - |