Monday, July 23, 2007By: Des Cahill, CEO
Well the Fourth of July has come and gone, we are officially in the thick of the summer season - June really flew by this year. One of the highlights for me so far this summer was the honor of attending the 2007 Stevies - an award ceremony in New York City that is hosted annually by the American Business Awards to recognize leading U.S. companies. Habeas was nominated in the category of "Most Innovative Company Under 100 Employees." It was an honor to be recognized with this nomination and a thrill to attend the awards ceremony.
I didn't quite know what to expect of the awards ceremony - a cheesy affair or the equivalent of the Oscars? Well, no red carpet or paparazzi - but the Stevies were an amazing event. One of the larger ballrooms at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square was filled with hundreds of smartly dressed leaders from the marketing, technology, and advertising industries who had been nominated for an award or were there to cheer on a nominee. The ballroom was filled with a vast number of "ten-tops" (tables for ten in restaurant parlance for those of you who never waited tables) with white tablecloths and flowery centerpieces. And at the front of the ballroom was a massive stage and podium where winners would pick up their awards from the host. And all of this was being broadcast over the Internet. Hi mom!
Well, honestly this was all a little more than I had expected. If Habeas won, I had 25 seconds to say all the right things before the orchestra (well, the tape recorded orchestra anyway) kicked in the music to politely get me off the stage. Do I thank my mother? The "Academy"? No, first and foremost Habeas employees. Each of them? The board? The execs? Yes, yes, and yes. How to fit it all in? I realized I had better get my act together and think of a few words to say.
I sat at my designated table and introduced myself to my dining companions. A gentleman on my right from the insurance industry, to his right someone in public relations and on my left a woman in the email industry. Email? And she was from San Francisco. San Francisco? So my good fortune was to sit next to Janine Popick, CEO of VerticalResponse, someone who I had very much wanted to meet. We had to travel 3000 miles from home to run into each other! VerticalResponse, an email service provider, was nominated in several award categories. Janine was a veteran of the Stevies, so she helped keep things loose and fun as the ceremony began and the winners were being announced in the categories.
As the clock ticked forward and I watched the line of winners accepting their awards under the glare of the lights on the podium, I started to wonder if I'd be up there myself. And if so, what would I actually say? And how would I traverse the football field size ballroom in time to get up to the podium before they moved on to next award?
A glance at the program revealed that there were just over 20 companies nominated in the category of "Most Innovative Company Under 100 Employees". And I recognized most all of the nominees, many of whom were terrifically innovative and exciting companies. So maybe I wouldn't be tripping over a ballroom of chairs in a full sprint to the podium to grab my award after all. Perhaps I wouldn't get drowned out by the music as I tried to thank my entire ancestral lineage. The competition was pretty darn fierce. I knew that Habeas has been taking the difficult path of true innovation from day one of my four years here - carving out a new market area for delivery and reputation services. We are a company of true evangelists and innovators! I knew we deserved to win the award. However, I didn't know if THEY knew.
Janine poked me in the middle of my thinking and reminded me that my award category was up next. I still hadn't come up with my speech. And anything remotely clever that I had come up with had already been used by prior nominees in their speeches. Well, doesn't matter, I thought, the judges probably won't make the right choice - it's over 20 to 1 odds.
I was wrong - the award presenter ran through the nominees and the winner is "Habeas!" Huh? It was all pretty surreal. I jumped to my feet to high fives and hugs from my table and began the sprint to the podium. Applause around the room. An announcer telling the crowd about Habeas. The presenter was the CMO of SilverJet, a fractional jetshare company that was a sponsor. He looked like Pierce Brosnsan, and had an entourage of four flight attendants who hovered around him. He welcomed me to the podium and posed with me for the congratulatory photo.
My speech? I think it came out OK. I thanked Habeas employees, the board, and then gave a short soliloquy about the importance and wonders of email and how we were proud to help make it safe and usable. I even avoided the dreaded "you've gone too long and get off the stage" music. And oh yes, during all of this I was presented with a Stevie - a very large, very heavy metallic trophy. Taking this home to share with everyone else at Habeas was something I was very, very happy about.
It was a blur. I got back to my seat to more photos, high fives and hugs. Then, the very next award winner was..."Janine Popickof VerticalResponse." Awesome. Another winner from our table. Another winner from the world of email.
In a startup, it's all too easy to forget to take a moment to step back and look at what the company has accomplished. How it has grown and what it has achieved. I am indebted to the American Business Awards for providing their acknowledgement of the level of innovation and amount of progress that Habeas has achieved over the past four years. Thanks again to the team at Habeas. I am proud to be your CEO.
