I want to congratulate my colleagues at Duck Creek Technologies today for arriving at their IPO. I have been extra sentimental today and it has taken me a while to connect all the pieces. But in doing so, I feel I have some great things to share with my business friends and associates about what it means to give a company a piece of your life and how you’ll feel when it’s all said and done.

Eighteen years ago, I gave my career over to Duck Creek. It was founded by 8 people whom I had the chance to admire for much of my life. Fresh from college, I was privileged beyond measure to be one of the very first people they hired.

A few months into hiring I got pregnant with my first child. I even laughed a little because he looked just like a baby duck in his ultrasound pictures. I understand this did not make too many people happy with me at the time. I can’t say that I blame them. Pregnant women and start-ups are a pretty rare mix. However, that was water under the bridge soon enough. I pulled my weight just fine in this startup, and by the time my first son was born I led the project, helped design and build from scratch a full online broker quote to issuance system. Policy Admin came after maternity leave. Most people didn’t know it at the time, but I actually had a couple of those projects going on at the same time, while training a team of resources to do it for another carrier. I remember shipping breastmilk via UPS with ice packs to my child care provider. I remember on that first trip I took on my own, we had to change my rental to another company who would accept underage drivers. I wasn’t even old enough to rent a car.

I remember wanting to give up when one of those projects inevitably failed and I had to recover. My colleagues cheered me on. I honestly spent much of my career here never realizing a glass ceiling ever existed.

I went on from there to have 3 more babies and build more products. I got to develop the first content for the Content Exchange and the base products. I got to select, vet and integrate our first system integration partners and watch a couple of them be acquired. (Here’s to you Yodil and Outline Systems!) I got to travel internationally while 8 months pregnant and stay awake for 36 hours straight to prepare a Tier 1 Client demo and give my first industry webinar. And I got to watch the baby I helped build be aquired from my hospital room after the birth of my last child.

This weekend, the same weekend as this IPO, I’m sending my oldest child to college. I’ve never been more proud. It isn’t lost on me that the IPO brings up similar emotions as well. Watching the success brought back some amazing memories. Many Friends. Many Colleagues. Clearly, they all gave me the opportunity of a lifetime. The chance to work with some of the best and brightest in the industry. And the courage to keep moving forward.

Pick your team wisely. In the world of start-ups, it is never just a job. The memories will be forever attached to some of the most precious years of your life. Make them count.

Congratulations to everyone! #AlwaysADuck