Our team on the first day after landing on the rough waters of Kalalau Beach.

At Awesome Inc we not only believe in being collaborative and supportive of our coworkers, we also believe in “doing life” with them. This falls under Core Value #3: be a Friend. We believe that a great undertaking isn’t done alone, and even if it could be, we aren’t interested in doing it that way. We exist to serve others. We work next to others in pursuit of this vision. We want to connect with others who care about what we care about.

For these reasons Awesome Inc makes it a point to set aside time to spend with each other in non “work” related activities. Some companies may call it team building - to us it’s simply spending time with our friends. In the past we have come together to participate in the Awesome Inc Olympics, spelunking trips, game nights, and of course March Madness viewings (sans couch burning).

Most recently 20 of us took part in an adventure of a lifetime on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Most of our “be a friend” time is spent on adventures rather than sitting back and relaxing and this trip was no different. While on the island, 12 of us decided to partake in the challenge of kayaking the secluded Na Pali Coast. This is an epic 17-mile, 2-day trip referred to as the “Mount Everest” of sea kayaking.

Awesome Inc co-founder, Nick Such, kayaking the waters of the Na Pali Coast.

On the first day we were led by two guides who taught us how to navigate the coastline. They were preparing us for the second day during which we would continue the trip maverick style, without guides. I have never witnessed the act of being a friend (CV #3) lived out more truly than on this kayak trip.

One of the largest hurdles we faced on this trip was the poor weather and subsequent rough surf, which was described by locals as an anomaly for this time of year. On the first day some members of our team suffered greatly from sea sickness as our tiny boats lifted and quickly dropped with each swell. As one member in particular was incapacitated from seasickness, I witnessed her partner take full responsibility for solo paddling the large kayak that was intended to be paddled by two people. He never once complained about this burden and while the rest of us took a break he continued paddling in order to get his seasick passenger to shore as quickly as possible.

At the end of day one the guides helped us manage the extremely difficult challenge of landing on a remote beach during large and strong surf conditions. After accomplishing this task they gave us some tips for our morning launch, wished us luck, and paddled back to sea. We spent that evening discussing with the few inhabitants of the beach the pros and cons of spending another night on shore if the surf was too strong in the morning.

The next morning we awoke to the brightness of the sun on the horizon. It was 5:30 am and we needed to move if we wanted to make it out before the ocean became too strong. Despite several locals approaching us and warning us not to launch because of the size of the surf, we decided to move forward. Not only did we successfully launch our six kayaks, we also helped launch two other kayaks consisting of four additional people who spent the night on the beach and were struggling to get back on the ocean. During this process I witnessed two of my coworkers push every single one of these kayaks through the surf, get knocked down by the immense waves, and swim back to shore. All the while the rest of us rode as passengers in the boats paddling as hard as we could. We would not have been able to pass through the crashing waves if it was not for the additional hands pushing our boat off shore.

The same situation repeated itself during our landing on the second day. This kayak adventure was just one example of how everyone on the trip showcased CV #3 throughout our time on the island. We also had to come together as one of us suffered a knee injury, another had a family emergency, and others needed some extra encouragement on a grueling hike.

At the completion of the 17-mile sea kayak - exhausted and happy!

Whether we are launching our kayaks through the raging surf of Kalalau Beach in Hawaii or tackling the problem of too few programmers in Lexington, my coworkers and I are facing these problems with each other, knowing that there is no one out there that will fight harder than the person standing next to us. We know this because of the strength of our relationships as a result of following CV #3 - be a friend.