This year is Ten4’s 20th birthday. The company started as two people going it alone less than a year out of university. Today, we’re a bigger team and we’ve grown in lots of other ways, too.
Back at the beginning, what Liz and Dave lacked in experience was made up for in talent, energy and enthusiasm. That drive is still central to our work. Now, after hundreds of successful projects (and the occasional misstep) we have some of the experience we were missing at the start. Has it made us better as a company? Sure. But we’re still excited to take leaps of faith. It’s necessary, in fact, to push beyond what our experience tells us is possible, to break new ground and deliver for our clients.
Fundamental to our constant evolution is building a team that can support it. We owe a debt of gratitude to many people. Thank you to our current lineup: Aran, Andy, Charlie, Amelia, Bridget, Adam, Oli, Andrew and Sam; and to Natalie and Mike of Natalie Green and Co. Thank you too, to folks that spent time with us but have now moved on. A boon to our team is the annual student placement. Four people who spent a year with us during their studies are now on the full-time payroll. To those who are now on your own exciting paths, we thank you, too.
Collaboration is central to our good fortune. So yet more gratitude is owed to the many people who have put their faith in us over the years. There are too many names to mention here but rest assured that we are eternally grateful for your belief that we were the right team for the job. Hopefully, we still are. We have learned so much from you all.
It’s satisfying to tick off twenty years in business. Really, though, it’s a simple milestone on a journey that feels like it’s just beginning. So where to now?
Like everyone else, in 2020 we had to relearn what it means to be ‘at work’. Some colleagues haven’t seen each other in person for over a year. But we’re thankful to be getting through this crisis relatively unscathed and we’re confident about the future. We have a stronger-than-ever team, poised to take on new, complex challenges. We’re also exploring how to be a more entrepreneurial company by developing products of our own to release into the wild. We’ll continue to work according to the values that have served us so well over the last two decades: to design for people, aim high, embrace collaboration, think critically, and maintain balance.
Whatever happens, we hope the years ahead will be as challenging and rewarding as the ones behind us. So let’s get back to work.
Dave Adcock, Owen Matthews and John Stewart
You, your colleagues all, are rare people, united in professionalism and creativity. This is a lot. But there’s more: everything happens, with you, in a dimension of grace and sincere smiles: this is rare.
Let’s build something spectacular Speak to Dave
