OMG, we’re a year old!

Posted on October 1, 2010

It’s hard to believe it was one year ago today that Todd, Shayne and I set out on this journey together. A year already? How is that even possible?

I’ve been asked several times how 9seeds started. So for those who have wondered but never asked, here’s a quick history of how 9seeds came to be.

Back in 2008 I had heard about a series of events going on around the country called WordCamp. I sent a message on twitter asking if anybody was planning one for Las Vegas. The responses I got back all said pretty much the same thing, “no, but you should organize one.” Having never organized an event of this size before, I did what any (in)sane person would do, I dove in head first!

In early January of 2009, WordCamp took place in Las Vegas. It came together far better than it should have given my lack of experience. A lot of that had to do with the amazing lineup of speakers that weekend. One of which was Shayne Sanderson. Though we had never met in person and had only chatted online a few times to that point, we became good friends right away.

During that time, Todd and I were working for a marketing company here in Las Vegas. The owners had sold a large portion to an investment company and though we had both been there for several years our interest in staying there was quickly fading.

Over the next several months, Shayne and I spoke at a handful of WordCamp events. This lead to both of us receiving several requests for side projects. Shayne and I were working nights and weekends as we both found no end to the amount of people looking for help. We started collaborating on more and more projects. When we needed extra help, we would hit up Todd.

We weren’t happy with our day jobs and there were a slew of people looking to pay us for help. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize where this was going. Within a few months, we decided to start a company together.

While October 1st is our “official” anniversary, last year at this time we all still had full time jobs. But that got old pretty quickly. By the end of January, we had all quit our jobs and have been building 9seeds ever since.

We are amazingly lucky to have made so many friends in the WordPress community. It has been an amazing first year and we can’t thank you enough for your friendship and support.

From the bottom of our hearts, thanks!

– John