Goodbye, HubSpot

Recommended listening.

Hi. 

If you're viewing this page, it means that you received this link from me (or someone else, I guess) as part of my departure from HubSpot. If that's news to you... my bad. I did my best to tell everyone. But after 7 years, 7 months and 19 days, my journey as a HubSpotter has officially ended.

I spent some time trying to think about how I wanted to say goodbye. I'm prone to writing 5000-word emotionally charged essays, and just generally being a bit extra, and that didn't feel like the play here... but I did get nostalgic and eventually thought, hey, it might be more fun to go through the archives and see what I can dig up.

I spent a good deal of time trolling through all my Slack channels (like #team-meyseeks, #amer-helpspotcrew, #bst-jedis, secret / private channels I won't name) and old Wiki pages to find memories to share. I had to go through a LOT of nonsense memes and gifs, like these gems:

As well as a ton of super silly photoshops like these classics:

There's a lot of fun stuff in these channels (like that time someone on the team wrote an incredible play about their experiences in tech, and made fun of me a whole bunch in the best ways possible) so feel free to go and dig through the memory chambers yourself at some point. All the outings and team events and hangouts and random moments, all the things that I think helped shape me into the human I am today... This final page -- to me -- feels like a solid curation of photos to share of all the wonderful and weird times we've had together.

So without further ado... my HubSpot Journey with you all. (I attempted to put it in chronological order, but don't hold me to that.)

And before anyone asks: if the videos don't work, you have a browser extension messing with it. Try an Incognito window.

That was fun, right? If you have a good picture I didn't include, send it my way! I'll update the page; my email is listed below. (I don't have to be in the photo, but this is my farewell, you know?)

(If you're wondering: yes, I did cry a bit putting this together. What can I say, everything makes me cry.)

Anyway. I know I promised no essays, and I'm going to do my best to hold myself to that. But, if you'll indulge me ... two final parting thoughts:

1. HubSpot changed my life. I mean it. I've told this story before, but when I started here I was not in a good place career-wise, money-wise, etc. I came to HubSpot because of a friend that works here, calling them while driving home from being laid off from a job I didn't give a heck about; I applied to a role called "Entry Level HubSpotter" knowing that the salary would be a challenge but the opportunity to redefine myself and my future was there -- and the rest is (now) history. HubSpot heeded ABBA's advice and took a chance on me, and for that I'm grateful. So even though I'm departing, know that I do so very thankful that HubSpot helped me get my shit together -- and no matter where you are in your career as you read this, I hope that you had a similar experience (and / or that I played somewhat of a part in this being a positive experience for you).

2. Y'all would sometimes ask me, "Matt, what's the secret? How do you do what you do?" So finally, after all these years, I will tell you all the secret: just put people first. That's it. That's all it ever was; it's not some special thing I read in a book or heard on a podcast. I would just listen to what y'all needed, and then we'd work together to match your needs, wants, hopes, dreams, aspirations, talents, etc to what needed to get done. To me, that's all being a good manager ever was: helping you be your best selves. It's not always easy and it does take work, but ... if I can leave you with one thing, it'd be to just encourage you to listen to others. Doesn't matter if it's your friends, your peers, your direct reports, your userbase, your customers; just listen, and imagine a world where that person is empowered to be the best version of themselves... then work together to make that dream a reality.

Anyways. That's it from me. For now.

I hope I was a good manager, peer and friend to you all, and was able to help you in some small way. And, hey, once you're on Team Meylikhov for a little bit, you're on it forever -- so if you ever need me to talk through a problem, brainstorm a solution, or if there's something I can help you with my email is mmeylikhov@gmail.com, and you can add me on LinkedIn here. (I'd share other social media, but I abandoned all that other stuff.) 

Feel free to share this with whomever you want. Maybe they'll have fun memories to dig up too; and like I said, if you've got a fun picture you want to add here, shoot it over and I'll put it up. I hope this page brings you all some small joy.

Sincerely,

Matthew Meylikhov

My first day at HubSpot Orientation, April 20th, 2015

What a nerd