Just over 16 months ago, I joined Indochino as one of the company’s first ten employees in Vancouver. After a year of running Impact and traveling the world, I was back in Vancouver and ready to start my first “real” job. Although I had worked for a number of startups and non-profit organizations before, this was my first full-time, permanent job, with a real salary and significant expectations.

Joining a high-growth startup was the right choice at the time, and it was still the right choice looking back a year and a half later. Back then, I didn’t feel like I was ready to pursue my own venture, but the skills and experiences that I have gained since make me very confident that now I am ready. I made a criteria for my employment with Indochino, and I’m proud that I stuck to it.

My favourite part of the experience has been seeing the inner workings of a truly disruptive startup that is the leader in its field and growing at an incredible pace. Over my time with Indochino, we’ve gone from 8 to 35 employees in Vancouver (and another 30 in Shanghai), as well as a similar pace of growth in terms of revenue and customers.  Nothing is more exciting than growth. The most valuable part of this experience has been falling in love and truly becoming an expert in what I call “performance online consumer marketing”. I feel like I now have a tangible skill that I can strive towards being world-class in, and I know that I can apply this passion and knowledge of marketing to any online brand.

There have been many personal and company highlights over my time with Indochino, but some of the ones that come to mind are: taking over and growing our social media channels, moving offices from one tiny room to a full-fledged office, traveling to Shanghai with the marketing team, launching the Steve Nash Collection, our Traveling Tailor pop-up stores in Vancouver, Calgary, and Ottawa, suiting up NHL players, crushing it last November on Black Friday, and going out many times with the team on Suit Up Fridays.

I’m very grateful for the experience that I’ve had with Indochino, and more importantly, I’m thankful to have worked with some amazing coworkers who I’m not going to embarrass by calling out personally. I will however mention that I am very appreciative of our CEO Kyle for giving me this opportunity in the first place, and I am indebted to my colleagues on the marketing team for teaching me everything that I know about marketing.  Lastly, working for a fashion company at 22 years old has given me a new perspective on clothing and appearance, so the other benefit of this job is that I will hopefully be dressing well for the rest of my life.

So, what’s next? June 1^st will be my final day at Indochino. The lease on my downtown condo is coming to an end, and I’m moving my stuff back to my parent’s house. On June 18^th, I’m departing on a long-awaited, seven-week vacation to Europe (Germany, Austria, Spain, and France). I’m still looking for travel companions for my trip, so if you’re going to be (or want to be) in Europe this summer, please get in touch! I’m back to Vancouver in early August, with the full intention of pursuing a still to be determined business venture. Should be a good one.