Goodbye VisualDNA, hello Plentific

Today is going to be my last day in VisualDNA.

Working here has been a fantastic adventure, from both the human and the professional points of view. I’ve had the privilege to work with such incredible people, the smartest I ever met in my entire life.

With many of them I have worked back to back to create new products, to imagine new ways to engage the users, to learn new techniques and technologies. With many of them I have discovered new places where to have a good lunch in Shoreditch, spent the weekend on the grass in a park around London, had a beer while chatting in a lounge or playing foosball. With many of them I’ve become friend and this makes me even luckier.

When I arrived here, less than 60 people worked for the company. Now there are more than 150 people, and by the end of the year they will be nearly 200.

This gives you and idea of how the company is growing, how is doing well.

Working here is like belonging to a big family, an happy family: while searching for an image to add in the title of this post, I looked back to all the photos taken during this months, and the leit motif of all the pictures was this:

You see? People are smiling. This for me is the essence of what this company is. This is a measure of how much I’ve been happy in the last 18 months.

But you know, sometimes in your life you need to take a new road, not necessarily to go on the wild side, but simply to move on and see the things from a new, different point of view. That’s why I’m leaving: not because I don’t like VisualDNA (actually, I love it) but because I need to find something new, to keep my passion nurtured, alive and burning as is now.

So farewell, VisualDNA. You have been my second family and I will miss you all.

Before ending, let me mention two special persons I want to thank.

The first one is Joao Martins: I loved working with him, learning from him, being lead by him. It’s that kind of person that really makes things happen, that can change the life of a person or the path of a company. Thank you, Joao: I will miss you really a lot.

The second one is Alex Willcock: he is the CEO of VisualDNA, the inner power of this company. For those who do not know him, this is him in a recent TED talk:

His passion for the beautiful things, his taste for the small details, his unpretentious attitude towards the persons (and life itself), his determination to pursue his ideals, these are really rare qualities to find in one single person. Thank you, Alex: I am so proud to have met you.

That’s it. See you around, in Shoreditch, at some beer-o-clock, or at the indian takeaway.

Cheers

Cristiano Rastelli

PS: where I’m gonna work, starting from the next Monday? At Plentific!

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Update: this is what happens when the love you give out comes back! Thank you, guys, it was the best present you could have done.

The goodbye message that all my colleagues have written for me. Simply moving to tears.