What Inspired We Summit Mountains?

I remember a depressing day when I was 23 years old. I was working a job that did not have anywhere to climb to. I was not very mature at the time, but I knew that coasting would not lead to a fulfilling life. I knew I needed to do something challenging.

I started researching programming languages, as being a "coder" seemed like a cool profession. I began to research different coding languages to start learning. I quickly found the internet was extremely divided with no clear answers on what language and career path to begin. All entry level positions required years of experience in languages that I did not have.

I very clearly remember saying to myself "If someone would give me a direction to run in, I would run my ass off."

I began to just take any chance I could to program. I began building websites, making AHK scripts to automate work at my various jobs, and building quote PDF document generation tools. I enjoyed it, but it was not a career. I was fortunate to have a good friend who gave me that direction to run in I needed. He told me to start applying my skills within the Salesforce platform.

I began learning Salesforce administration, and soon found an entry level position in a Salesforce consulting firm in the Financial Tech industry. My first week working there I remember writing down my 5 year plan towards start my own firm.

When covid hit, the world's need for cloud computing exploded. Salesforce's cloud platform was in the right place at the right time. Everyone began to work from home. My wife and I sold our things, and moved into a van to travel the country. I felt inexplicably drawn to mountain ranges. I was working 50-60 hours a week to keep on top of work projects, and climbing new mountains ranges on the weekends.

Before working on Salesforce implementation projects, my concept of the time frame surrounding a work project was a few weeks. Working on a full scale implementation for a larger company can take years. The amount of problems to solve was overwhelming.

Climbing a mountain feels overwhelming when imagining the scope. Walking miles and miles, climbing thousands of feet of elevation, traversing gnarly terrain, and dealing with new obstacles every few feet seems like an insurmountable challenge to hold in your mind. But the truth is that each step is just one small solution to move you further ahead. If you just start climbing, and taking step after step, you will reach the top.

I grew to learn that implementing multi-year software projects was just like climbing those mountains. You just start climbing, and don't stop taking small steps forward. You will surprise yourself on what you can accomplish. Looking back at a well implemented software stack, and the growth it provides a company is just as fulfilling as reaching the top of a mountain.

Climbing a mountain alone can be done, but nothing beats the power of teamwork. When multiple people climb together in a well synchronized unit, their teamwork provides exponential synergy. They can carry more, spot eachother, and individual strengths can overcome eachother's weaknesses.

I am immensely grateful for the knowledge and evironment that implementation firm provided for me to grow. I got to work with amazing and talented developers with different skillsets. We could rely on eachother to figure out solutions to difficult problems and keep them compatible with the big picture. That culture spreads like wildfire. Teams were eager to help eachother learn new things. We were excited to show new tools to clients. Clients began to get intrested in the tools, and they began to grow as well.

When I started We Summit Mountains, I wanted it to be built foundationally on the belief in the power of that synchronized team work. All of us learning, growing, and specializing in sync allows us to tackle bigger and bigger software projects. That growth jumps from our teams to our clients as well. We all get better together, and climb higher because of eachother.

Which is why I named the company We Summit Mountains.