As dawn breaks at the start of a second decade in Delightful’s history, Ashley and I have decided it is time to pass the helm of our business to new owners.
Starting from humble beginnings working out of Seattle coffee shops back in 2012, we have since built a 35-person organization with global reach. We help some of the world’s biggest technology brands and their leaders be more discoverable, shareable, and memorable.
After 10 years of adventures (tripling in size since March 2020), we started to think deeply about what was next for us and our business.
We have a successful formula helping our clients with integrated marketing, executive communications, and content creation, and the constant asks for more capacity meant we should think about scaling purposefully and sustainably.
As a people-first business driven by our Delightful principles, we also wanted to ensure our amazing team has plenty of room for learning and growth, as well as the stability provided by a larger business infrastructure.
Recognizing our own limitations, we started to seek advice on how to take our business to the next level and through pure serendipity were introduced to Drew and Nicolette Sharp, Co-Founders of Prime 8 Consulting.
Prime 8 is a Bellevue-based consulting firm that has 150 consultants working in various business roles across clients like Microsoft, Amazon, T-Mobile, and others. Over the past few years, our team has worked with many of their employees, partnering on successful projects for our mutual customers.
When we came together to discuss a potential union, it was evident their management team had the experience, drive, and passion to help integrate our services into Prime 8’s portfolio and provide our employees with a continuous passage of career opportunities.
After careful consideration, Ashley and I decided to sell Delightful and believe this is the best way forward for the company, our clients, and our employees.
Drew and Nicolette are keeping the Delightful brand, and Ashley and I are staying on for the foreseeable future to help with the integration. There is much work to do both on the client side and in assimilating our operational infrastructures to create the powerhouse we believe is possible.
There are a thousand stories we could share about our voyage to this time and place, but one conversation Ashley and I had stands out at this moment.
It was about the summer of 2017, and we’d just signed a big contract to help Microsoft with the IoT in Action global event series for which we won an award. We made a pact that our work with Delightful had to be more than just for the paycheck. We wanted to grow something with people at its core who would be part of a legacy we could all be proud of.
As we look across our team, many of whom have been with us for several years, we are so proud of the work they have done for the company, their clients, and themselves, and we are confident that as Drew and Nicolette take Delightful’s helm and chart a new course, they will continue to learn and grow.
There are so many people we need to thank for help and advice along the way and we will reach out over the coming weeks in appreciation.
For right now, though, it’s business as usual. We have live workstreams and trailblazing projects to maintain and grow, all while helping our clients and their leaders be even more discoverable, shareable, and memorable.
Onwards……
Mel Carson – Founder & CEO – Delightful Communications
Ashley Seffernick – Director of Operations – Delightful Communications