Hi! I’m Dan, one of the co-founders of Keen IO. If you’re reading this, you might already have seen our official press release announcing the closing of our Series B round of financing.
My co-workers and I have been building this company for four and a half years. Like most entrepreneurs, we’ve poured our fair share of sweat and tears into this company. And, as our press release says, we’ve accomplished some amazing things. Through a combination of hard work and dumb luck, we’ve got over 3,000 customers. Our developer community has passed 50,000 members. We have some of the best investors in the world. And we’ve just raised another 14.7 million dollars.
These are all true things. Which is wonderful, and grand, and lovely.
But.
We have plenty of opportunities to trumpet our successes. I’d rather not contribute yet another “we raised money so we’re the best company that’s ever existed” blog post to the Valley echo-chamber. And right now I’m asking myself: “What do I want you, my kind reader, to know about Keen IO?” It’s not an easy question for me to answer. There are lots of facts that I want you to know.
If you’re our customer, I want you to know how appreciative I am. We wouldn’t exist without you. Full stop. You’re the reason we wake up in the morning (and sometimes the middle of the night). If you’re happy with us, I hope we continue whatever it is that makes you happy. And if you’ve got some frustrations, I hope you let us prove to you that we can fix what you’re frustrated about.
If you’re a potential customer, I want you to know what problems we can solve for you. I want you to make an educated buying decision in this increasingly noisy and complicated analytics landscape. I want you to solve the analytics or data problems you’re thinking about. And, in the best cases, I want you to use Keen and get promoted for doing so.
If you’re an existing investor, I want you to know how much you’ve taught us. We’ve come a long way since three best friends with a vague idea that building custom analytics solutions should be a lot easier. You’ve been an instrumental part of that. And, I hope that we’ve taught you a thing or two as well.
If you’re a potential investor, I want you to know that you’re not going to hear much from us for a while. Let’s talk in a bit. I’m looking forward to pausing VC conversations and focusing entirely on building our business. 😉
If you’re a curious reader, I want you to take something useful away from this. I hope I’ll make that happen for you!
Finally, if you’re one of my co-workers, I want you to know that you’re the special sauce. You’re the reason I love working at Keen. I want you to know how important you are to me, even if I don’t show it all the time. I want you to know I’m a big old introvert and me not hanging out at happy hours doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re amazing. I want you to know how grateful I am to work with you.
And that, I think, might be the key to all of this. For me, at least. Gratitude. It’s easy to lose sight of how grateful I should be that I can do the kind of work I do, with the people I do, and for the customers we have.
So let’s end on that note.
I’m grateful that we raised $14.7 million in our Series B from world-class investors.
I’m grateful that we will use that money to continue serving our amazing customers.
I’m grateful that we will continue to serve our customers by building innovative analytics products backed by really cool technology.
I’m grateful that we will continue to build a workplace that invites its members to bring their full selves to the office.
And now I’m grateful to gently close one chapter of Keen IO’s history and begin the next. I can’t wait to see what it brings.
