17 Years of Vendasta

Seventeen years ago, Brendan King, Jeff Tomlin, fellow co-founders, and I started Vendasta out of Brendan's garage and then moved into a small office in Innovation Place. Back then, it was just a handful of us, armed with laptops, phones, data plans for hacking, and chairs we had to assemble ourselves. From the very beginning, we defaulted to openness and collaboration.

Every Friday, we invited friends and family to the office for informal beers, sharing what we’d accomplished that week and bouncing around new ideas. Those Fridays weren’t just about celebrating wins, they became the foundation of our culture. It was in those moments that we met many of our best friends, welcomed new team members, and even connected with our first investors.

We wanted the office to feel like anything but grey walls and cubicles, so we brought in my old sailboat and hung sails right in the workspace. It wasn’t just decoration, it was a symbol. A nod to Tom Sukanen and his story of passion, crazy ideas, and determination to build something people said was impossible. That sailboat reminded us that big dreams often look impossible until they’re done.

At the beginning, in 2008, I wrote this:

"As we set sails for this incredibly exciting venture on a flagship called VendAsta, we face the difficult navigation task. Adoption of an orthodrome will require us to make complex calculations along the way, innovate in various frameworks, constantly adjust the course, and most importantly it will force us to always do the right thing. As an oath and a constant reminder to stay on the right path, I chose to name this space 'My Orthodrome.'"

Over the years, Vendasta has gone through many changes and challenges. In a truly agile way, we’ve always been ready to react, adapt, and push the boundaries of comfort. Each evolution, whether big or small, has brought us closer to where we are today.

From those humble beginnings, Vendasta has grown into something far beyond what we could have imagined. What started in Brendan’s garage has expanded to a 17-story building in downtown Saskatoon that bears our name, as well as offices in the U.S., Europe, and India.

Vendasta has been built piece by piece by every single person who has been part of our journey, whether they’re still here or have moved on to new adventures. Every idea, effort, and contribution, no matter how small, has helped shape what Vendasta is today.

This anniversary is about celebrating everyone who has played a role in this incredible journey. Thank you for your part in building something truly special.

Here’s to the spirit of innovation, big ideas, and building what others thought was impossible, and to an exciting future ahead! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za3iJdv5iS8

Afternoon kayak trip

One beautiful afternoon, Jonathan Hunt talked me into a Kayak trip on the South Saskatchewan River from Saskatoon to Wanuskewin Heritage Park. I loaded my trusty Klepper kayak and off we went.

Annual go-kart racing challenge

Last Thursday I challenged everyone to a race at the Velocity Raceway go-kart track. This race is now an annual tradition at VendAsta. I tried very hard but I was unable to catch up to Michael Bree who you can see in this video in the car number 10. The clear winner of this Challenge was again Dale Hopkins. This kid can swim and drive. The team prize was snatched by the DD team AKA The Nathans.

VendAsta has new digs in Saskatoon historical landmark

I'ts official. We have just signed a lease on the 5,000 sq.ft. , top floor, of the Saskatoon historical landmark: The Avenue Building. The space we have chosen could not possibly get any sweeter. The Avenue Building is located at the heart of downtown Saskatoon (corner of 3rd Ave. S and 21 Street E) and it has quite a history.

According to wikimapia.org:

Originally known as the MacMillan Department Store, the structure on the south-east corner of the intersection was built in 1912 by Saskatoon’s future mayor, Frank R. MacMillan. In 1927, the T. Eaton Company purchased the business, but not the building, as it was ready to open its own store directly across the street. MacMillan’s store was the single largest department store in the city at that time. After selling the business to Eaton’s, MacMillan extensively remodeled his building, inside and out, to convert it to office space, and renamed it the Avenue Building.

It featured expansive atriums with elaborate tilework, some of which exists today. It is now home to a variety of businesses and organizations. It even became a movie set, portraying a police station, in the movie "Murder Seen".

In above picture from 1931 (saskatoonlibrary.ca): The Avenue Building, built in 1913, is seen at the corner of 3rd Avenue South and 21st Street East (across from Army and Navy). Also visible in the image are Avenue Coat and Dress Shop, N.Bawlf Grain Co., Saskatoon Novelties, Bank of Montreal, and Fingard Bowladrome. Autos are seen angle parked on the street and a man is also seen in front leaning on a light post.

VendAsta TurnHere video

We are into 4 weeks of building new product called MashedIn. See how we are connected:

Most promising new company

I am proud to report that today VendAsta won the 'Most promising new company' award founded by Saskatchewan Interactive Media Association Inc. This is big deal for us as it marks the first major award in our one year existence. Since January of 2008 we have grown to 27 employees who who easily represent the top echelon of Saskatoon technical community. Thank you guys and girls, thank you Sask Interactive. We are very proud.

From Sask Interactive website:
Saskatchewan Interactive Media Association Inc. is the professional organization representing interactive media developers in Saskatchewan. As that professional voice, SaskInteractive represents members involved in the development of content-based interactive digital media, as well as consumers and stakeholders. The Association acts on behalf of its members to represent their views to Government, Industry, the News Media, and to the general public.

Cosmopolitan interaction

Monday is the day I'm starting to work remotely from Hawaii. Our scrum meetings will especially be interesting as I will have to attend them at 5:15 am my time. I do look forward working remotely though. I think it will give me the opportunity to improve the process and interaction for all of our remote employees.

VA Wallpapers

Out of nowhere we have two great VendAsta wallpapers. First Chris jamed 'Naturally Talented' and then Krystian reviled his home project 'VendAstically Fresh'. Great work guys.






So we also have a third wallpaper which I've missed. No P in pasta is done by Dave Mo

Let's kick some grass!

Just in time for the indoor soccer season VendAsta sponsored local soccer team which is going to compete in Saskatoon District & Soccer Association's 6v6 boarded and 7v7 artificial turf leagues. You can follow
VendAsta Flatlanders record here:
6v6 league and 7v7 league.

We won’t brag, At least not yet.
But, we’re a team about as good as they get.
The VendAsta Flatlanders are playing soon.
And, we kick butt all the way to the moon.

Ole, ole, ole, ole. Ole, Ole. Ole, Ole.

IPhones and free time to play with them are now part of VendAsta's philosophy

IPhone SDK bug hit home very hard. Everyone, with no exception, started to dream up new applications we could build. Why not? After all we have a house full of super achievers so why not turn them loose? ... It is exactly what we are going to do. From now on every Friday afternoon is designated to a "go wild and work on whatever ideas you might have" time. And since it is very hard to work on the IPhone without the IPhone, we are going to buy an IPhone for everyone too (theirs to keep). We are also going to cover monthly data plan to remove any testing obstacles. Apple products are obviously most popular but similar to our laptop policy, the choice of the mobile device or a phone belongs to our devs.

Jumpers

After all those years I'm still being fascinated by the way humans are able to communicate over long distances. Our scrum meetings are perfect example of that. Dale is working out of London England, Ryan out of Regina Canada, Ches out of Vancouver Canada and the rest of the team is here in Saskatoon Canada. During our last sprint planning I witness something very interesting. When the time came for a coffee break, everyone left the room leaving Dale and Ryan on top of the table (literally). I could not help but record their coffee break conversation:

The secret is out.

We've got 3 million dollars in funding! Life is good for everyone here. We have lots of money in the bank (come and see samples) and are hiring like crazy.

If you think you would like to join VendAsta driving force, apply here.

Tradition

Tradition is a big part of a corporate culture. I agree with Kinger AKA Brendan King that culture can not be dictated and that it should form naturally. This is why we need to recognize and cherish traditions which bond people in so many ways. Tradition can be corky, fun or funny and initially without much meaning. However when a simple act is shared in a social setting, it becomes a very hard bond. We are young but we already have few traditions that sneaked up on us. For example every new employee gets to build (assemble) her/his own chair. Simple thing but ask anyone at VendAsta an you will find out how proud they are of their own chair. Another tradition is a very strict time for a Scrum meeting at 9:15 am. As strange as it may be, the start of a meeting is a tradition for us because this is the only strict time line that we have. Everything else is flexible and is left to team members to decide what works for them. Amazingly the pace at which we pump out quality and innovative software is incredible which quickly becomes a tradition on its own. I must say that a very enjoyable tradition is our bxxr fridge that opens every Friday at 3:00pm. This is also a great time for all sorts of demos of our achievements from the past week. Last but not least is a tradition which involves all of our family, friends and business partners. Every Friday at 4:00pm we have VendAsta Open House where everybody socialize and dream up ideas for the future. If you don't believe me when I say we pump out quality and innovative software, you don't need to take my word for it. Come and join us on Fridays for a cold beverage from our fridge and ask anyone what are we all about. We are pretty transparent here.

Some traditions come and go and others stay forever. What is important that our traditions are building blocks of our culture. They come form my very innovative colleagues so you can be sure there are many more to come.

...So I wouldn't crash.

Little Helper

Daddy is working...

...and I am grounded


Brainstorming at the breakout room


Server load testing


Flip board presentation



You are hired. Welcome to VendAsta

My Orthodrome

The role of a ship navigator is to calculate the shortest and a safest route from the starting point to the destination point of the journey. On most short travels, finding such path seems trivial. With the aid of a compass a desired bearing is set and sailed upon. The resulting path which always intersects meridians at the same angle is called the loxodrome. Within such framework, the loxodrome is incorrectly perceived by many to be the shortest path. Since loxodrome is set using proven euclidean geometry with the aid of common tools like compass or a map, it is difficult to realize that such path is not particularly the right way to go. When considering a long distance travel, a slight paradigm shift has to be made to allow for calculation using spherical geometry. The resulting more precise path is called the orthodrome (gr. ortho - correct or straight, drome - line or path) which by definition intersects every meridian at a different angle and it absolutely sets the shortest way. The interesting thing is that orthodrome as straight as it may be, requires constant bearing adjustment which gives a perception of a curve.

I guess what I am trying to say here is that the right way to go isn't always obvious but it certainly does exist. As we set sails for this incredibly exciting venture on a flagship called VendAsta, we face the difficult navigation task. Adoption of an orthodrome will require us to make complex calculations along the way, innovate in various frameworks, constantly adjust the course and most importantly it will force us to always do the right thing. As an oath and a constant reminder to stay on the right path I chose to name this space "My Orthodrome"