As you’ve likely gathered from some of our previous posts, happiness is a top priority at Heartwood. We’re focused on creating great products, hiring talented employees and keeping a skip in our step as we go – because it’s contagious.
Well, one welcome side effect means a good joke isn’t entirely unexpected from time to time. And one day, I was certain Raj, my co-founder was doing just that:
“Apple called and we need to call them back,” he said one day in January of 2012.
I was SURE he was kidding. People call Apple, not the other way around – that was my thinking.
“Apple who?” I replied, playing along.
But he was serious.
We visited Cupertino and began a partnership with Apple where they introduced Heartwood to Fortune 500 companies. Why? So we could help demonstrate the power of the iPad for training and field service (and – shameless plug: It truly is very compelling).
The contracts with some of these businesses soon followed. And I had to admit that even the most elaborate joke wouldn’t include all of that!
To say that our happy business has only become happier since then would be an understatement; and we focus on our founding principles to stay grounded.
I need to be fair to our hard work as well though. In hindsight, it really does make sense that Apple reached out to us. Over the past years, our team has been driven to establish Heartwood as a leader in the emerging field of visual and interactive training.
We have truly embraced the notion that training happens anywhere, anytime and on any device (read: iPads) – and that commitment paid off.
And, of course, we’ve been fortunate to have many wonderful customers, like Raytheon, Oshkosh, L-3 and the U.S Navy (to name a few) and our work with them definitely helped put Heartwood on Apple’s radar.
Flash forward to September 2013: Apple invited us to speak at an intimate gathering of 10-15 Fortune 500 companies for its Manufacturing Executive Forum. During this event, Apple was showcasing the benefits of the iPad, and each time Heartwood’s name was mentioned, I felt a swell of pride. I’m incredibly proud of our work, our employees, our partnership with Apple, and the client relationships we’ve been fortunate enough to acquire. Our journey has been incredible.
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