One year in: retrospection, prospection

Is our first year already in the books? It seems like Brian and I were searching high and low for the perfect shade of Simon Everett purple just last week. When we turned the lights on back in January, we set reasonable expectations for what we could accomplish this year. Having helped launch new organizations before, we knew the early wins would be the hardest to secure. Building a business would take time, persistence, and a healthy dose of luck.

2014 turned out to be everything we planned for – and more. We’ve told you a bit about our portfolio throughout the year, but I’ll try to cram it all into one word: diversity. Project topics have ranged from municipal governance to emerging technologies to cyber strategy. Our clients are equally varied: they represent the public, private, and non-profit sectors, and they range in size from two employees to several thousand. We tallied nine discrete engagements, some of which have already concluded (while others are ongoing). We also secured a prime government contract, a milestone we didn’t expect to reach in our first year of operations.

If we started 2014 with cautious optimism, we are launching into 2015 with unbridled energy. In our search for analysts who run towards the hard problems, we have been steadily expanding our network of regional and functional specialists. We have strengthened long-standing partnerships and are forging new ones with both small and large businesses. We have joined key contract vehicles that will make it simpler for government agencies to access our services, and we are bidding on several large analytic services programs throughout the national security community.

The foundation is in place, and now we’re ready to build on it. Happy New Year to our families, friends, consultants, and colleagues, and many thanks for helping us to realize a successful year. See you in 2015.