It is early June 2022; I have just arrived from my daily 5k-ish Wog (that’s a walk/jog) that those of us with dodgy knees have to complete. Tendonitis in both knees means that a Wog is necessary to ensure that I don’t seize up entirely these days, price of getting older I guess, even though knee-wise, I am in a better place than I have been in years so I will take it. I am thankful for the work done on them in terms of gym/diet and on reflection, thankful is how I am feeling nearly all the time these days.
3.23 pm, June 15th, 2012 all the way through to 3.23 pm, June 15th, 2022.
It is going to be 10 years since I first launched Avalanche into the world & onto the internet and I have put everything I have of myself into those 10 years. I have mentioned previously that Avalanche has come to define who I am as a person, it is the most defining thing about Aidan O’ Carroll, it has allowed me to grow into the best potential version of myself, something I & many others never thought likely for many years.
Whether it has been through hard work or dumb luck, I owe it everything.
It has grown into something that I would never have even dreamed of 10 years ago.
I am not going to prattle on for too long as I tend to procrastinate whenever I sit down to write one of these articles, even as I type this, I stopped to buy a Defibrillator for a local community group that develops employment, education, and development skills for adults with intellectual disabilities after an Instagram DM. Anything to avoid, to be honest.
Writing is the only time I procrastinate & I detest procrastinating more than I do the number of trophies Liverpool/Dublin win.
99% of the time, I can use my brain like computer tabs & work on 20 things simultaneously but whenever I open Word lately, my brain just says no. I downright refuse to churn out boring articles such as “Why You need a Website in 2022” etc because for better or worse, I typically tell a lot of personal stories through these articles.
The best businesses have a real story & real people behind them, and this blog is how I tell our story, besides social media stories which only scratch the surface of things a lot of the time, so I have a responsibility to get a little more real here.
This Sunday morning procrastination has a tangible benefit for once, it has allowed me to realise that outside the personal benefits Avalanche has given me & my family, we have also managed to donate over €500,000 in funds/technology to local groups/clubs & schools all over Kerry in the last 10 years. This work is
what I am most proud of and something we plan to continue in years to come.
Back to the matter at hand though.
I just want to say thank you to everyone who has placed their confidence in us, everyone who has worked for Avalanche and even those who have just asked how things were going in the last 10 years. This faith has seen us move from small local businesses (our first pay cheque was €250 for 6 months work) in 2012 to billion-dollar clients all over the world in 2022.
These relationships are what we value above all else in our work. How we work with every single one of our clients is at the cornerstone of our ethos & long-term vision.
It has been the greatest privilege of my life.
It has allowed us to push the boundaries of code, and design and stake our place as the highest-rated agency in the world.
I feel like we have only scratched the surface of what Avalanche are capable of, it is incredibly exciting to think about where we will be in 2030, after another 10 years, the warmup is done.
Now, it is time to cement our legacy & I approach every year with bigger goals to grow, be better and push the limits of what is possible, invest and diversify.
So with all the ups and downs of Avalanche, know that if people think your dreams are crazy, if they laugh at what you think you can do. Good. Stay that way. Because what most people fail to understand is that calling a dream crazy is not an insult, it’s a compliment.
Thank you for allowing me to make my crazy dream come through.
Sic Parvis Magna.
Love, Aidan.