Last week on Friday, December 31st, an amazing year came to an end, both for me and STATWORX. 2021 was full of work, great successes, and victories but also bitter defeats and losses. Through the course of a year, so many things worth experiencing happen, either good or bad, always reminding me, why I love what I do. 2021 for sure was one of the most exciting, challenging, and rewarding years of my career so far. Like last year, I’ve decided to kickstart this year with a short review of 2021 and give an outlook on what’s on the menu for 2022. Spoiler alert: This year is already casting large shadows for us – due to the rise of statworx next.

2021 in a nutshell

Despite the ongoing pandemic, STATWORX had a very successful business year in 2021. After a rather unspectacular 2020, my team and I managed to significantly grow our companies revenue, size, and impact in 2021. Especially the super-busy 4th quarter hit differently this year and elevated our sales and profit figures considerably. Besides numbers, an Infinitum of great things were achieved by our teams: We’ve implemented new departments and functions, both, in front- and back-office. We are now using OKR as our official goal-setting framework. We’ve exited our first start-up investment to Databricks. We’ve invested in three more AI start-ups. We’ve joined multiple associations, such as the KI Bundesverband and AI Frankfurt. We’ve trained teenagers at school in AI. We’ve participated and contributed to great events such as Fifteen Seconds Festival in Graz, Startup Safari in Frankfurt, deploy(impact) or SDS201 in Switzerland. And so on, and so on. The list could go on forever. Below, you find some personal footage from this great year at STATWORX.

Last but not least, 2021 was also our 10th company anniversary! In January 2011 the first STATWORX website went live. I wrote a dedicated blog post about this. You can check it out here. As you can see, 2021 gave us some really great treats but at the same time also introduced new challenges to our growing company.

Success and challenge go hand in hand when it comes to growth

Growing a company is hard. Really hard. As we are heading towards the 100 employee mark, many things in the company are changing – and have to change. “Spreading news at lunch” becomes “official communication”. “Its always been like that” transforms into a documented process. Promotion criteria become standardized. Career paths are developed. Personal situations change. People leaving for new opportunities. Internal politics emerge. You know the deal. Don’t get me wrong, growth is a good thing and it’s something we’re proud of, but it does come with a price. Just like any other object, more mass means more gravity – and more things get attracted by it. Mostly positive things, but also challenges and problems. As the size of the company increases, it’s getting harder to keep the whole thing together. This reminded me of Greiner’s growth model from university:

Ultimately, as growth kicks in, the urge for a common goal, a common vision becomes inevitable to steer the company and all of its employees into the future. In the past, many team members at STATWORX were strongly motivated by seeing the company being successful and demanded on the market. However, the famous “why” was somehow unclear for a long time. People grew with the company. Successes and growth carried us the first miles of the way. But do they motivate on a linear scale? Clearly, no. Not every new customer creates the same amount of motivation and excitement as the first big deal.

The rise of statworx next

Driven by those questions, between Christmas 2020 and January 2021, I went on a journey to create a vision and a purpose for the future of STATWORX. Looking back, this was – hands down – one of the most important things, I have ever done for the company. After many days and nights of research and brainstorming, working my way through endless articles, videos and books, I finally arrived at my destination. In the first week of January 2021, statworx next was born. The answer to our why. A vision. A purpose.

In a furious speech in the last week of January, in front of every employee in the company, I’ve presented statworx next and what I envision STATWORX to become in the future. Following Cameron Herolds “Vivid Vision” approach, I’ve manifested everything, written down in a document, so that everybody clearly understands and pictures what I see in front of my inner eye. The “Vivid Vision” is a written expression of what the company should look and feel in the future. In the document, I am describing the state of STATWORX in the future, highlighting all major parts of the company: business units, services, products, people, culture and so on.

But statworx next is more. It has a deep inspirational core. It has a meaning. It also gives our company a purpose to pursue what we do the way we do it. It is a lighthouse for every employee, defining our path to growth as well as our role as a company embedded into our nowadays and future economy, society, and environment.

After presenting statworx next, the whole company immediately started to move. Dedicated vision OKRs were developed, cascading down to our company goals, business departments, and back-office teams. People were hired to staff our new business departments that emerge out of statworx next. Internal initiatives were formed at the intersection of statworx next and our core business. People started to work on innovation projects. The energy was insane. Seeing this, truly clarified for me the importance of “starting with why” in a company. Lesson learned.

Throughout all of 2021, the whole company started working hard behind the scenes on statworx next, including a full relaunch of our brand. Now, finally, in 2022, end of January, we will officially present statworx next to our customers and the public. Therefore, I truly believe, that 2022 will be the best year for our company in history!

In 2021, we grew in size – and in impact. We are ready to go. In 2022, it is time for the next chapter. Time to challenge the now. Create the next. Shape the future. For the better. It is time for statworx next.