I helped to grow Evernote from my Sailboat[1]
Back in 2000, I’d made a choice to move from Florida to Boston. My future husband was a bit struck by this, as he was:
- In Florida
- Hawaiian
- Happy
Nonetheless, I moved, he followed, and we were married.
A short time later I hooked up with a young entrepreneur, Phil Libin in his second company, CoreStreet. (I was actually terrible at my job there for a bit, but Phil was probably the best boss I could have ever had, mentoring me to become better.)
I eventually left to do some other things but was thrown a roadblock when my (now) husband said:
“I’m leaving and I’m never coming back.”
Wait, what?!
7 years in Boston was too much for him, it seemed.
He got in a flight the next morning to California, bought a boat, and it was up to me to follow or not.
Spoiler alert: I did.
I had been sailing a few times before, but not anything more than a few hours at a time. Suddenly, I was living on one.
We decided, ok, we are living on a sailboat, so why not just go sail around a bit?
So we went down to Mexico.
Around this time, Phil was starting up Evernote. He asked if I’d join, and I eventually said yes – with the caveat that I could be wherever I wanted to be.
(He has a quirky sense of humor, and this opportunity afforded tons of “offshore support” puns[2] .)
He agreed to my terms, and so I spent the next three years working from my sailboat off the Pacific coast of Mexico, and then the following few years from my RV as I traveled around on land (interspersed with some time in hotels and office visits, of course.)
We started out with around 5000 customers, and I left on the day we hit 100M. I’d say it’s partly due to the fact that I was happily supporting them along the way.
I had such an amazing time doing it I’ve written a book about it! (Which when I have a few minutes, I’ll finish editing and get released… ;))
Footnotes
[2] The Most Premium Edition – Evernote Blog
Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-true-personal-story-that-people-have-a-hard-time-believing
Originally Posted On: 2016-01-19