In 2017, when Cloudinary first made the Forbes Cloud 100 as a ‘Rising Star,’ it was an incredibly proud moment for the company. In 2018 we graduated from Rising Star status to be acknowledged as part of the incredible Cloud 100, the top 100 SaaS companies in the world. Today marks our third consecutive year on this prestigious list.
The timing, which aligns with our annual company Gathering, makes this year’s inclusion on the Forbes list even more ‘stellar’. It’s an incredibly important week for us as we come together as a global team to discuss the future of Cloudinary and start building the roadmap to get us there. While we can’t all meet in person this year as we had planned – and as we have done traditionally these last several years – we’re making the most of this virtual format. We are grateful to be living in an era when online experiences are possible; to have access to solutions and tools which help facilitate a live, virtual experience that can’t replace real life of course – but feel pretty darn good considering the alternative.
Mid-September is also a natural time for both reflection and planning ahead. Kids are finally going back to school in most countries. Those of us who disconnected a bit for August vacations are returning to work. And we’re in the home stretch of what’s proven to be a unique and challenging year – not only for SaaS industry leaders, but for so many people on the planet.
I am proud that we have, thanks to our loyal customers, partners and team, charted our own unique course. We’re one of a very small handful of top SaaS companies that has bootstrapped its way to this level of success. Once again, the stars aligned – timing and online industry trends have worked in our favor and played to our strengths. We’ve been allowed to blaze a trail that’s rarely been traveled.
I’ll save our 2020 highlights reel for another post. Today I just want to express my gratitude, as we wrap up another inspiring and successful Gathering. In a year filled with so much loss, pain, change and life-lessons, I feel fortunate to be part of such a supportive and creative global work-family. And in this moment, we’re stronger to be moving forward together.