Headway Turns 5

Headway has been in business for five years! Turning 5 is a surreal feeling and one that is accompanied by the feeling of living yesterday's dreams today. It feels like only yesterday we were dreamers armed with a purpose, a cause, and passion. Individuals with prior experiences who were willing to take a risk with a promise to one another that we would be persistent.

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Our 5-year journey has been quite the adventure and one that has led us down a winding trail of wins and opportunities to learn.

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In March 2015, we set sail from our first office in De Pere, WI, which at the time was simply a co-working space for a few independent contractors to work outside of their homes.

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Casting a vision

What do we want to be known for? Are we aligned on our vision? What are our core values? Who do we want to involve? What is the culture we want to create? How do we create great jobs for ourselves and for everyone that calls Headway home? How do we effectively communicate our value?

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We surrounded ourselves with these tough questions and many more. We didn't have all of the answers. However, we were founded on principles and with hearts that would guide us. We knew we wanted to take what we did know to lead alongside, to involve others, and to always have a teachable heart. It is through this lens that we committed to focusing on what made us unique and involving outside help where it made sense.

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This has been a key takeaway from our journey. Have a teachable heart. Admit that you don't have all of the answers. Bring in outside help that can accelerate your progression. Surround yourself with people who can help you leapfrog from where your knowledge is today to where it needs to be tomorrow in order to be successful.

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Creating an environment for impact

As Headway began to grow, we started the search for a new office space that would better suit our goals. Goals to grow the team, host our own events, and welcome clients into our own space. We found just that a few blocks down the road. In February of 2016, we began the buildout and moved into our second home.

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It was within these walls that the structure of Headway, as we know it today, was formed. This was where we began running the business through the EOS model, and where we cemented our values. It was here that our culture was born.

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Headway is people-focused. Not only does this cover our clients and their customers, but most importantly, this value covers our team. We are very intentional about creating an environment that people want to work in and creating an organization with a vision that people want to work for. We continuously ask ourselves, "Do I like working here?" and "Am I happy?". Our goal is to create a culture that builds people up, gives them a voice, and allows them to continually grow.

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Building software can be a grind at times. We know that, which is why we created a culture that brought us to our first-ever team week. Team weeks started as a dream where we could close the doors for the week, travel somewhere interesting, and focus on spending time working on ourselves and our relationships with one another.

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Team weeks have brought us to Seattle Washington, Lake Michigamme in Michigan, Lake Geneva Wisconsin, and Gatlinburg Tennessee. We've also had many right here at home. These opportunities allow us to further internal business initiatives, but ultimately they create an environment for our team to form lasting bonds in-person. Opportunities to know and understand one another, and bring that deeper sense of connectedness back to our daily work.

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Building up our community

We have always had the heart to share our knowledge, but we also want to use our platform to bring people together. To create environments where we can each learn from one another and the past experiences we each have. This has led us to both creating our own events, and also partnering with prominent organizations to do our part in furthering initiatives that have already been set.

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Seaworthy

Seaworth is a podcast about building successful software. We provide actionable advice around product validation, execution, and promotion.

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Even-Keeled

Even-Keeled is a podcast about the craft of creating software and effective development teams.

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Headway YouTube Channel

Our YouTube channel is a free resource for designers, developers, and product teams to grow in their craft through educational video content that our team creates.

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React JS Green Bay

ReactJS is a meetup for front-end developers that use React and JavaScript. Learn how to build products, learn about new tools, build better workflows, and discuss ideas with a growing community.

Wisconsin UX

Wisconsin UX is a meetup for entrepreneurs, designers, and developers that care about creating amazing experiences, solving problems, and fighting for their users.

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Digital Fertilizer

Digital Fertilizer is a non-profit organization that connects, engages, and empowers the high-tech community.

Startup Green Bay and Wisconsin

Startup Wisconsin is committed to advancing and developing Wisconsin's tech and startup ecosystems through unique programming, collaborative partnerships, and networking.

Bay Area Creative Club

Bay Area Creative Club is an event that brings creative agencies together for a friendly tournament. It's a great avenue to get to know agencies in the area through a fun and healthy competition. We've played kickball, ping-pong, and even curling! We're looking forward to seeing where this goes once we can all be together again in-person.

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Growth and expansion

In 2019, as our lease was coming to an end, it was time to find our next home. One that would continue what we started and allow us to do more and be more. We found that in the Railyard Innovation District in Green Bay, WI.

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Inc. 5000 in 2020

In 2020 we were named into the Inc. 5000 at #908. This accomplishment is a testament to our team and is wind within our sails to continue making waves. Over the last five years, we have been trusted by our clients to solve complex problems, and we've had the privilege to improve life for people both personally and professionally.

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Throughout our work, we've been able to establish expertise in verticals that impact everyone. Through healthcare, finance, supply chain, and social.

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To name a few; we've created solutions that help:

• Create more effective partnerships based on transparency and data
• Streamline the home-buying experience and add clarity and confidence
• Eliminate guesswork and make medical dosing accurate and more effective
• Train youth athletes striving toward athletic goals
• Tie local communities and schools together
• Track and improve outcomes for heart attack patients
• Build up individual resilience profiles based on insulin response

Thank you

All that is left to say is, thank you. Thank you to our clients, to our team, to our community, and to our families. I'm so grateful to have written this post on behalf of Andrew, Jon, and our team.

These last five years have truly been a dream come true. I’m often in awe of just how far we have come. We promise to be good stewards of what we've been trusted with and continue to innovate and add value through our position of influence.

I don't know what the ocean looks like ahead of us, but I know that our ship is resilient, and our compass is dialed in. We have the wind in our sails, and I'm so proud to be aboard this ship alongside our crew.

Cheers to the last five years. Go forth and Make Waves!

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