In what has now become an annual tradition, FASTG8 packed up their sleds with beer and provisions and traipsed into the backcountry for a 3-day company retreat to focus on strategy planning, team building, and of course, playing outside.
The FASTG8 team, now at 7, rallied for an early start from the Ashcroft trailhead, located about 10 miles south of Aspen in the heart of the Elk Mountains. We began the four mile skin into the Lindley Hut with our ski pulks overflowing with cured meats and Colorado craft beers (the trip organizers got a little excited in the grocery store). Fortunately, we had beautiful sunny skies and the miles passed quickly.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Michael and Emily doubling up on the pulk.
We made it!
The hut was still warm from the previous guests and we got to work unpacking and getting settled in. After a quick lunch, we jumped right into our first work session. On the agenda for the next couple days was a deep dive on the performance from the previous year and a roadmap for opportunities in 2018. We also took some time to review our mission statement and core competencies. With the hectic pace of work in the office, it can be easy to overlook some of the big picture items that ultimately drive the company forward. The hut trip proved to be the perfect venue to build consensus around some of these company values. We determined that our company motto is to: "Work smarter and play harder" and that our mission is: to live our company values by being strategic partners who bring innovation and passion to the work and that we execute on the behalf of our clients.
Still energized from the skin into the hut, we plowed through our agenda and finished up just as the alpenglow reached the peaks that loom large in front of hut. We settled in for a relaxing night and enjoyed some fresh lamb bratwurst, courtesy of Tyler's home flock.
The next morning we woke up early in search of fresh snow. We skinned up the road past the hut and meandered our way through the high altitude vegetation. While we found plenty of beautiful vistas, there was very little in the way of skiable snow. We each made exactly one ski turn on the way back to the hut but at least the weather was still beautiful.
James and Fletcher love skiing!
James' drone was equal parts cool and creepy
Once back at the hut, we hunkered down to work through the strategy for 2018. With some new products in the tech development pipeline, we formalized our rollout plan to ensure that we could smoothly integrate these new offerings into our existing campaigns. Expect to see new developments in OTT/Connected TV and in the expansion of our cross-device graph capabilities. The device graph will give us the ability to target, track and attribute down to a user level across devices and household. The world of ad tech is quickly evolving and we pride ourselves in staying on the leading edge.
Happy Hour came quickly and Chez Logan whipped up a delicious meal. With a blazing fire, the hut was warm and cozy. We faded to sleep dreaming of the glorious ski turn (singular) that we had made that day.
The next morning we packed up and got ready to hit the trail back to civilization. Rejuvenated from our time in the great outdoors and excited for what lies ahead in 2018 for FASTG8 and our partners, we cruised down the old mining road and back to the trucks.
Another memorable FASTG8 hut trip comes to an end.