It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack or a white cat in a snowstorm. It’s scarcer than hen’s teeth or a diamond in the rough.

The journey to find a job or career that you love is hard. It’s a constant struggle to find the balance between stress, hard work, massive success, and enjoyment.

I believe I’ve found it and I want to tell you why.

But first some background. I spent two years at OpenView Venture Partners in Boston where I had the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of how to build and scale software companies. What I found was that they were  built on the backs of great leaders, excellent products, and superior culture. OpenView hit the jackpot when they invested in Lessonly, because we have all three.

It’s been five months since I joined Lessonly and now that we are actively hiring for multiple positions, I want to recount why I joined Lessonly and why I unequivocally love what I do.

Hopefully, all the weary wanderers searching for the perfect job will find a tip or two that will help along the journey.

The People

You aren’t going to find a better group of people at any software company in the Midwest, or the country for that matter. There may be a cool software company in Australia (because Australians are awesome) that will rival our crew—but I highly doubt it.

I enjoy coming to work every single day because the team is focused and excited. Each and every employee enjoys working here and making a difference. We are on a mission to help people DO BETTER WORK and will not be stopped. There is a camaraderie that is hard to find and match.

The Market

We have a unique opportunity on our hands to make a huge impact on the way people work. There are very few software companies that can make such a bold statement. It’s wide open.

Let’s look at workplace development. Slack is driving communication efficiency or deficiency depending on how you look at it. Workplace by Facebook allows for better collaboration between teams. Reflektive and Lattice are building solutions for streamlined manager feedback. The increased focus on helping teams “do better work” is only increasing. Lessonly is providing platform where all employees go to learn, practice and perform.

Collaboration and communication drive efficiency. Knowledge sharing drives growth.

The Leadership

From 2012 to 2015, I was lucky enough to work for one of the greatest software leaders in the country. Scott Dorsey, then CEO and co-founder of ExactTarget, built a company that changed the landscape of digital marketing and the city of Indianapolis. I found that Max Yoder, Lessonly’s co-founder and CEO, had the same type of qualities that I had come to (and still do) admire in Scott Dorsey.

  1. He goes out of his way to know every employee.
  2. He critiques in love and feedback is helpful, not critical.
  3. He is obsessed with building a culture that supports the personal and professional lives of its employees.
  4. He is excited about and focused on every little aspect of the company.
  5. He is obsessed with the company… in general.
  6. He puts the company and employees first.
  7. He understands the importance of equal investment (of his time and money) between product, marketing, sales, finance, talent, and CX.

I also was lucky enough to join a leadership team full of people that I respect and admire. We work well together. We challenge each other. We will win together.

The Mission, Vision, and Values

Most companies have mission, vision and value statements. There are few that try to follow them on a daily basis.

Our Mission — We help people do better work so they can live better lives.

Our Vision — We create learning software that employees demand.

Our Values —

  • We put learners first.
  • We challenge ourselves.
  • We do what is right.
  • We share before we are ready.
  • We have difficult conversations.
  • We critique in love.
  • We make time for life.

The Game

Winning isn’t everything. However, it is definitely 75% of why I love what I do. The team at Lessonly is fully committed to winning. The people here are aggressive, hardworking and (while we have fun) challenged on a daily basis to get better. How do we win? We are continuously evolving as professionals and as a company. We are committed to beating the competition, creating an amazing product, and loving what we do. We are empowered perform at the highest level.

That’s really it. I believe that in order to truly love what you do, you have to find that place where:

  1. The leadership team challenges each other and critiques in love.
  2. The people enjoy coming to work and working hard.
  3. The CEO is humble, hard-working, and culture-obsessed.
  4. The mission, vision and values are lived out every single day.
  5. You are empowered as an employee and human being.

Want to join the team? We are hiring. Let’s get to loving what we do and winning along the way.

About the Author

Kyle Lacy is vice president of marketing at Lessonly, a fast-growing training software company. As a former director of global content marketing and research at Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Kyle led a team responsible for the strategy, production and activation of primary research, demand generation content and thought leadership in seven countries. He is the author of three books and he’s been named one of Indianapolis Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40.”