Dec 062006

Lucky 7, or the 7 Year Itch?

Lucky 7, or the 7 Year Itch?

Today is the seventh anniversary of the founding of Return Path.  There are days when it feels like it’s been much longer, but most of the time, I feel like we’re still in the first quarter of the game here.  The business is completely different than what we started and what we ever thought it would be, but it’s healthy, growing, and we’re having more and more fun every day.

When I started the business, another more seasoned entrepreneur told me, "however long you think it’s going to take to build a great business — triple it."  I’m not sure how long I thought it was going to take for us to hit scale and really take off, but it certainly wasn’t this long.  It’s good to have enough stamina to stick with something that has promise, even if the early days are rough or uncertain.

I may be different from a lot of entrepreneurs, but I am not feeling the 7 Year Itch to move on, do something different, start something new.  The business is as exciting to me today as the day we started it, if not more so.  I feel like we just finished Lucky 7, and now we’re looking forward to Year 8.  As we’ve been chanting in the office today…Eight is Great!  Eight is Great!  (or as one of our European colleagues emailed me today:  fr: Huit, c’est super!  de: Acht ist wunderbar!  it: Forza otto!)

Congratulations to our team, and thanks to our team, customers, and investors for all their hard work and support these past 7 years.

Filed under: Entrepreneurship

3 Comments on “Lucky 7, or the 7 Year Itch?”

  • Kevin Menzie December 6th, 2006 5:21 pm

    Congratulations on #7, Matt! It’s been a pleasure working with you over the years and watching your successes. Here’s to many more!

  • Pat Matthews December 6th, 2006 6:57 pm

    Congratulations man.

    I’m the exact same way. We’ve been around for just about the same amount of time and I love coming to work more these days than ever.

  • Greg Cangialosi December 9th, 2006 7:40 pm

    Congrats Matt! Nice job hitting the big 7. I am sure its been a wild ride.

    We are coming up on our 6th year this March and I feel more energized about the business than ever! Its great to see other entrepreneurs are just as motivated and inspired about their work years into the game :-)

    Keep it rocking!

    - Greg

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