Growth, change, and the Great Sandwich Debate
2016 was an astoundingly awesome year at Flywheel HQ. We almost tripled in size, solved a stack of support tickets, acquired our very first company, and spent an unnecessary amount of time discussing the definition of a sandwich. So, in honor of this particularly stellar year, we’ve created a neat lil’ report about a few of the fly things we did in 2016. Each section corresponds to one of our core company values, and we’ve whipped up a sweet new tee (that you can win!) to match.
We aim to be kind to anyone and everyone we interact with by treating everyone as we would want to be treated. That includes each other, our customers, and our customers’ customers!
72 “Fly Fives” awarded to employees that went above and beyond in work-related ways
support tickets solved
WordPress migrations completed for FREE by our team
the dollar value of all the prizes we gave out during our annual 29 Days of Design giveaway
marriage proposals from our clients to us via social media (which, sadly, we could not accept)
Flywheel is built on design, but we also recognize the importance of making data-informed decisions. We measure relentlessly, but we also make sure we don’t ignore experience. We try to strike that perfect, delicate balance between being design-focused and data-driven.
code commits to the Flywheel app
app deployments
downloads of Local by Flywheel, our fancy and totally free local development app for WordPress
feet, the collective height of all 75 members of the Flywheel team (and, fun fact, the collective height of about 24 male giraffes)
We’re a bunch of whole-hearted creative folks, and we’re not afraid to show our strange sides. We accept everyone’s individuality and believe it adds to the magical mix of what makes Flywheel a fun place to hang out.
dollars raised by the marketing team’s “Pun-ishment Jar,” where employees deposit their spare change whenever they make a terrible pun
pets collectively owned by Flywheelers, including a bearded dragon, two rabbits, a ferret and a betta fish
emails containing the word (?) “Toodle-pip!”, thanks to the signature send-off of our very British happiness engineer, Sarah S.
custom reacjis we’ve created in Slack (many of them thanks to this website)
actual dollars spent by our Director of Support, Derek, to bribe a DJ in Chicago to play Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose”
We embrace each and every community that we’re a part of, and we’re better for each of them. From the design community to the WordPress community to our local community in Omaha, we are actively invested in and give back to the communities we’re a part of.
articles written about design, WordPress, business, and pretty, pretty things on the Layout, our in-house publication
new social media platforms we’ve expanded to - Dribbble, Snapchat, and Pinterest
speakers from Flywheel at events worldwide, from Australia to Toronto
miles travelled for WordCamps, Circles Conference, and other events (including a sweet Craft cocktail hour or four)
countries where Flywheel customers are located
We believe that good design is good business, but we know design is more than just making things pretty. Design is the foundation of everything we do, from our product to our office. It will always be one of the most important aspects of Flywheel.
awards taken home from AIGA Nebraska’s SHOW
new t-shirt designs to stock the swag closet with (including the one we’re giving away!)
new logo (!), as a part of our brand refresh
photos taken in 2016
custom icons added to our design library (Here are some free ones!)
Working at Flywheel isn’t clocking in from 9 to 5. It’s working hard and challenging yourself to build something amazing for our customers — while eating and drinking along the way (one of the many perks of working here)!
months spent arguing whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich (Alton Brown says yes, Anthony Bourdain says no) with no consensus reached; you can vote here!
cans of La Croix consumed (top three flavors: Tangerine, Berry, and Passion Fruit)
emergency cupcakes purchased for our cupcake-themed open house, which wound up being a far bigger party than anticipated
sandwiches delivered to the Flywheel headquarters for SaaS (Sandwich as a Service) Wednesdays - nom nom nom
bottles of beer that are no longer on the wall
We’re constantly working to grow and improve and learn, whether that means embracing failure or encouraging experimentation. There will be bumps along the way, and we’re all in it together.
new Flywheelers (including remote hires from around the world!) in 2016, bringing us to 75 total
square feet in our stunning new office expansion, which was formerly a thrift shop
days, the estimated amount of time our new construction was supposed to take to complete
days, the actual amount of time our new construction took to complete
Slack messages that contain the word “oops” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This year wouldn’t have been remotely possible without you, so we’re giving away a bunch of these fly tees as tokens of our gratitude! Because our brand refresh was such a MAJOR part of 2016, we chose to highlight the value, “Design matters.” Enter to win a free tee below!
