Why your early team members matter

Open letter to our earliest team members

Dinh, Deanna, Kevin, and Billy,

A few weeks ago, while I was preparing for the all-hands culture discussion at our annual company offsite, I came across old pictures of you from our early days in 2015. Those pictures brought me an incredible amount of emotions, and I could not help but smile (and tear up a bit). 

The four of you have been constantly on my mind lately, especially as the headcount at the company continues to grow. Today, I think about how you feel about the growth of our team, your evolving role in the company, and more importantly, your personal connection to me. I wonder if you may feel some distance between us because you and I interact less frequently now than we used to. I also worry that you may feel like your voices are less important at the company now that the team has grown so much over the years.

Nevertheless, you are very special to me.

You joined Wonolo when we did not have anything. I was a first-time founder not knowing what I was doing. Our product was barely functioning with an unproven product-market fit. Our claustrophobic office space was in the middle of the Tenderloin. On top of that, we could not pay you much as we were counting pennies daily. In spite of these circumstances and uncertainties, you gave up other amazing career opportunities to risk joining AJ, Jeremy, and me to work even longer hours. It is still humbling for me to think about the chance you took on Wonolo.  

I still vividly remember the very first time when I met with each one of you. To be honest, I was so inexperienced in interviewing at that time that I did not know what I was looking for. However, one thing was so clear to me when I met you. Each of you had such a huge heart - an incredible amount of drive, work ethic, resilience, passion, courage, and conviction. Not just about what you wanted to do at Wonolo, but how you wanted to build your career and life. I was so impressed with your thoughtfulness, care for others, and sincerity towards the impact you wanted to have in life. Those qualities you brought to Wonolo became the foundation our company culture.   

Since you embarked on this journey with me, we went through so many ups and downs together over the years, didn't we?  

Do you remember the time when we were so excited about our first $10K month? I mean, our celebration was limited to sharing a few comical GIFs and emojis over Slack, but how invincible we felt because we had each other!

What about the time when several big customers refused to pay us outstanding invoices exactly during the time when we were running out of cash? That was a real "oh-$hit" moment. I still shiver just thinking about it.

How about when we miraculously raised our Series A financing after we had gotten rejected by so many investors? AJ printed out copies of our bank statement and threw them in the air. We popped cans of Coke Zero and laughed so hard.  

Here's a big one. What about the time when I had to make a difficult decision to layoff half of our team to save the company? I told you and the other remaining team members that I would understand if you decided to leave the company given our uncertain future. Afterwards, I was grieving in the corner of the office, scared and not knowing what to do. Then, each of you came to me separately, and told me that you were still committed to rebuilding the company with me again. I will never forget how much it meant to me.  

What about the time when we overcame difficult times, made a big come back, and got the Series B term sheet from Sequoia? You made me do a speech after closing the round, and I remember looking at each one of you. You looked really proud, and it made me so happy that you were still there with me to experience it together.  

What about all the countless nights, weekends when I called you, emailed you, and Slacked you, freaking out about every single thing that happened at the company? You would respond, "Yong, don't worry. We got this." And even to this day, you would still check in and see how I am doing.

I just cannot express fully how grateful I am for everything you have done over the years since you joined Wonolo. And, I just want you to know how much you mean to me even though I may not express it to you often enough. Past 3-plus years with you have been one of the most profound times in my career thanks to you. You have inspired me to always do the right thing and stay strong. I have learned so much from you. Please also share my deepest gratitude to your significant other for the sacrifices they made to support your career at Wonolo (and let them know how sorry I am to have constantly interrupted your precious personal time outside of the office).   

Even as we continue to grow as a company (and as we face more ups and downs along the way), I will always feel safe, cared for, and loved thanks to the four of you, Dinh, Deanna, Kevin and Billy.

I truly look forward to our next chapter together.

Love, Yong