Designing quality products takes an amazing team

That’s what I discovered while working with the team at User10. After Mike, Brad, and I determined that we were far superior at designing products and apps over marketing them, we rebranded our company, Why., and went all-in on the user experience (UX) design and development game. It was a smart move, because frankly, there were only a few teams that were so squarely focused on that market in Arizona at the time.

Soon after we rebranded, we also had the good fortune of adding Andrew and Josh to the team. They were instrumental to our future success. Perhaps one of the most enjoyable things we did as a team was go to Peter Piper Pizza every week for a solid year to play basketball game tournaments. Together, we saved up all our tickets for the most expensive item they had—a 25,000 ticket remote control car. Good times.

In addition to our childlike activities and the amazing products we had the opportunity to help ideate, design, and develop for other local entrepreneurs, we also worked together on building Storybyte, GiFmojo, and initially launching #yesphx. Ultimately, building products of our own is where I found the greatest satisfaction. That’s why, after over 3 years of working with this team, it was time for me to move onto whatever was next and have them run with things moving forward.

I didn’t know what my next step was yet, but I knew it was necessary. Plus, I knew they would do better without me from that point forward (they have!). I miss our extreme white boarding sessions, Peter Piper basketball tournaments, and daily friendship, but I’m super proud of the amazing company they’ve continued to build since my departure. Because they know—the experience matters.