By Rob Castaneda, CEO, ServiceRocket

August 3rd, 2021. Today, ServiceRocket turns 20.

By all estimations, our company is a success. From a team of four, huddled around a table, we’ve grown to over 250 Rocketeers across five continents. Along the way, we’ve helped countless companies scale their ideas and grow their ecosystems. Most significantly, we’ve created a culture of empathy, understanding and opportunity that benefits our customers, partners and each other.

How exactly did that come about?

The story starts in a flat-bottomed boat
My grandparents immigrated from Malta to Australia in a nominally seaworthy vessel. Once safely landed, my grandfather did whatever was needed to keep his family going, from construction on railways to carpentry.

That fearless, can-do conviction, passed down through generations, became a fundamental truth I hold dear:

Nothing we do, no matter what job, is menial. When done with the right spirit, no effort is wasted.

As we mark our twentieth anniversary at ServiceRocket, I see a similar conviction. Looking back, it’s informed how we work and who we are, every step of the way.

We grew a simple idea
‍Twenty years ago, I launched CustomWare Asia Pacific in Sydney with a simple goal: help Silicon Valley tech companies deliver training, high-end consulting and support to their customers in Asia Pacific.

I had just returned to Sydney after working in the heart of the dot-com boom in San Francisco. It must have been what Florence felt like in the early Renaissance; the Valley was awash with innovation and creativity, driven by a desire to help organizations try new technologies. There were no tech startups or ‘disruptors’ as we know them today.

Our vision: to be the most reliable partner to our customers.

That idea still defines who we are today. We set out to deliver training and support for enterprise companies like webMethods, BEA Systems, Sun Microsystems and IBM. We grew, training course by training course, project by project. When things didn’t work, we kept at it. And then fate intervened.

Two Aussies meet...
‍Back then, enterprise software was the main game; we also worked in Open Source. A mutual contact introduced me to another local software company in Sydney: Atlassian. Two Aussie companies. Atlassian wanted to change the way enterprise software was sold and delivered, while ServiceRocket set its sights on building education, support and professional services in a practical way.

We quickly built a partner program, a suite of educational offerings and plug-ins.

Today, more than four thousand Atlassian product instances rely on ServiceRocket technology or services to enhance productivity and value.

Our Atlassian experience enabled us to develop a company that excels at helping software companies build ecosystems. That work continues with Atlassian and companies such as Salesforce, Digital.ai, Workplace by Facebook, Thought Industries and many others.

A culture that always has your back
‍Our amazing journey couldn’t have happened without our Rocketeers. Some have sustained us over many years (we call them Rocketeer Legends.) Others boomeranged back, having left and returned to contribute again. Entrepreneurial-minded Rocketeers have created their own companies or built new practices within ServiceRocket; still others have joined inspirational organizations in and out of the tech industry that are helping to make the world a better place.

Rocketeers are like family; even after they move on, they’re remembered, valued and remain part of our story.

They make me proud. Going forward, we will continue to focus on empowering our Rocketeers, reducing anxiety at work and having their backs. That same commitment will remain for our customers and partners.

Arms open wide, we embrace our future
‍We’re focused on building a dynamic model of collaboration with scalable solutions that support  exponential growth for customers and partners; our processes will focus on sharing knowledge.

As we accelerate our learning, our Rocketeer family will flourish. Because when a Rocketeer is given the opportunity to learn and grow, they become a foundation for their families and communities. Their quality of life motivates me every day.

Together, we’ll move forward with inclusion, passion, and most of all, with can-do conviction.

#We’veGotYourBack for the next twenty years (or more).

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