Our first ever OffSite. Are we a real company now?

The other day, a friend asked me if I ever pinch myself?

And in all honesty, I don’t.

I get a lot of joy and love from building VEED. Every day I get up and jump out of bed excited for a new day of building. I feel incredibly grateful to be building this product with our fantastic team at VEED.

But I never really took a step back and reflected on the past few years. Maybe that is because our business grows in small increments daily, or our remote company builds software in the cloud that sometimes can feel intangible.But for the first time ever, on the 12th of October, I really did pinch myself.

Our entire team gathered in Ericeira, Portugal and met for the very first time. It felt like an important chapter and a huge milestone in our journey and meeting everyone who made VEED what is today made me a little emotional. Before I start, I need to say thank you to Rebecca (Becks). Who single-handedly organized this incredible event. Without her, this would not have been as special as it was. Let's get into it and run through what we got up to!

Beach Rounders and swimming!
Everyone started arriving around midday. The first activity was playing beach rounders and a little bit of swimming too for the crazy ones. It turns out that only people from the UK know the game rounders. It's a simple game but a lot of fun, hit the ball and run!

Food, Fire and Funk.
After games on the beach, we headed to the lawn for an amazing BBQ. Then a phenomenal brass band started with all the classics. Drinks were flowing, and Alec got VEED shaved into the back of his head. We had Max the street magician working the tricks and then two fire performers appeared. It was a pretty wild night and a great way to break the ice!

Surfing, sups, bikes and pastel de nata.
The next day kicked off with activity at 10am. Before we arrived everyone could choose what they wanted to do. I think everyone had a good time, but don't know for sure as I chilled in the hotel spa ?

All hands and video comp
After the activity, we all gathered to do our first company all hands IRL! It was really cool to be able to talk to the whole team in person. I was excited but also a little nervous too as it was something I have never done before. After that, we split into teams and kicked off a video competition. A great way for smaller teams to get to know each other and also use the product that we have built.

Beach Club
Following that, we headed down to the Indigo beach club. A super nice beach front restaurant where we handed out prizes for the best video, munched down paella and danced the night away. It was a real blast! And those who dared, headed to the mini mixer in town for some late night dancing.

Oh and photo booth too!

All in all, it was an incredible few days! We are so lucky to be working with such amazing and talented people. I loved hanging out with the team and wished it could have been a day longer. I was so grateful that everyone made the effort to travel for a work event and spend time with the rest of the team.

Now, back to the first question I asked at the top, "Are we a real company now?" Naaa, "real companies" are boring. We are a group of people that make great software.