Happy Thursday!
Welcome to a rather personal and transformative edition of the Gazelle.ai Newsletter. I'm super excited to announce that come September I'll cross something huge off my bucket list - more on that later!
What that means for you is that this will be my last week with Gazelle.ai and subsequently my last newsletter. It's truly been an honor and privilege to have gotten to work with all of you, in countless training sessions, Intercom messages, check-in calls and, of course, this newsletter.
If we've been working together from a Customer Success perspective, you will continue to be in good hands, with our fine team of Customer Success Managers led by Janelle Mansfield. Janelle will be taking the pen on the newsletter for the next few weeks, and she will also be making sure that you're all well taken care of from a Customer Success perspective.
If ever you need support, feel free reach to out to her directly, ask us a question through our Intercom chat feature, or email the entire team directly.
Tackling My Bucket List, one adventure at a time
Before I set off on the next stage of my career, I'll actually be embarking on a personal journey, namely the Camino de Santiago, hiking from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. I've been looking forward to this for over a decade now and I'm terribly excited to begin!
Since I can't properly host a going-away party and invite all of you, I've decided to do the next best thing and pull together a list of Food, Drink, and Adventure companies for you all to pore over while I'm away. My gift to you.
One last time - let's dive in, shall we?
It's Adventure Time
I'm going to be covering over 800 kilometers on foot, so naturally, I'm going to need some solid gear to survive the trek. So let's get some! Outdoor gear manufacturers like Amer Sports (G-score: 5) and Dakine (G-score: 5) are especially well-positioned to expand. Even though they don't seem to be expanding at the moment, I'd also like to shout out the people who made the hiking shoes I'll be wearing, Wolverine Worldwide (G-score: 1) - I certainly hope that's not a bad sign!
Ready to go!
Of course, even getting to the pilgrimage path is going to be a challenge. With some areas opening up as vaccination rates continue to tick upwards, travel arrangement companies like Musement (G-score: 4) are going to be better and better positioned to come back strong post-COVID. On top of that, you know that I love a good AI company, so I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Sabre (G-score: 5), whose AI helps travel companies tailor their experiences to their users effectively!
While I'm traveling on a pretty tight budget and will be hiking and walking more than eating out, I'll obviously be in a part of the world with an incredible culinary history, from France to Portugal. I'm sure I won't say no to a glass of vinho verde from Unicer (G-score: 5) or any number of other Spanish and Portuguese food and drink manufacturers.
I hope any or all of these companies end up being useful to all of you! Stay tuned next week for more general data updates. Before I go, there's one last thing I want to call your attention to.
Doing Good with Gazelle.ai
Economic development is a field that can make an enormous impact on people and their communities. Candidly, that has been one of my major motivations behind both joining Gazelle.ai and working here for the past two and a half years.
Crucially, though, I think it's also important we do our best to encourage not just development but equitable and sustainable development. To that end, I'd like to highlight some lists on our platform which speak to that vision of using economic development to build an equitable, sustainable world.
UN Global Compact Companies - This list, sent in by a user (you know who you are - many thanks to you) encapsulates the kind of development I most enjoyed promoting here at Gazelle.ai. The companies on this list have all taken a UN-administered pledge to uphold ten principles of sustainable development, environmental consciousness, anti-corruption, and more.
SBA(8)a Certified Businesses - Administered through the US Government's Small Business Administration, the SBA8(a) grant program certifies and supports small minority- and women-owned businesses.
Certified B Corporations - This list is near and dear to my heart. Certified B corporations are legally required to take social, ecological, and community impacts of their decisions into account in their decision-making process.
It's been an absolute pleasure writing these newsletters for you all, talking with you, learning about your missions and your communities, helping you learn the ins and outs of Gazelle.ai, and just generally getting to connect with you on a weekly basis. You're in amazing hands with a passionate CS team. As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or ideas for the platform, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Once more, with feeling
All the best and Happy Gazelleing!
Stephen