By Augusta Daley, Community Manager
Before I joined Modo, I had no idea how lucky I was to engage with this team. Rarely does it happen that I meet people I am over-the-top impressed with. At Modo, every person on the team is not only outstanding in their own right, but holds the same beliefs as I do, and strives to live those out every day. The beliefs are: Accept Challenges, Account for Freedom, Lead through Collaboration, Act on Ideas, Embrace Transparency, and Value People Highest.
One of the beliefs Modo holds especially dear is to Account for Freedom. Freedom allows our team the ability to work from anywhere, but it also means that most of the time our interactions are relegated to video calls over the internet. Because distance makes the heart grow fonder, we can’t stand to be apart for long. Out of this desire to be able to engage with our Modo family in the flesh and Lead through Collaboration, “Modo Week” was born. During Modo Week, the entire team gets together in-person to work face-to-face. The relationships strengthened and decisions made during this week are invaluable. This Modo Week, we all got a special treat with the first ever meeting in the mountains.
As one of the newer Modonauts, I was most excited to partake in discussions about what Modo was, is, and wants to be. Though Modo had humble beginnings, the vision and the company itself has expanded significantly, especially in the last few months. During Modo Week we talked about the ways the team is going to reduce friction in the payments industry by honing our roles and responsibilities as a team, defining our cultural beliefs more precisely, and casting our vision for the future.
Throughout the week, I learned a lot about the challenges my teammates were facing, which helped me understand better ways I could serve them and, by proxy, the company as a whole. It was amazing to see the ways in which being all in one place and choosing to Embrace Transparency together helped to propel ideas forward, give better context to what people need to be successful, and unite us even more firmly in our mission: to reduce friction in payments in order to do the most good for the most people.
The team discussed at length how to continue to make payments great again (and how to make sure innovation isn’t sitting on the sidelines). There are sure to be exciting things to come from this group, and we can’t wait to share our ideas with the world.
Modo would not be Modo without sacrifices from the families of each and every Modonaut. They are the reason Modo can do what it does best - and none of our work would be possible without the love and support of every family on the Modo team. One of the biggest reasons I joined Modo is because of how highly the company values the families of its team. Yes, kicking SaaS in the fintech world is important work, but nothing is more precious than family. Modo understands that, which is why all of the families of the Modonauts were invited on this very special Winter Wonderland edition of Modo Week. For some of us, it was the first time our families got to meet and share life with the Modonauts we work with every day (and what better way to meet than the beautiful mountains of Breckenridge?). We didn’t just meet, though. We ate (our weight), we drank, we skied, we dog sled, we snowmobile-d, and we were merry. We were very, very merry.
At the conclusion of the week, we began a new tradition at Modo to celebrate extraordinary Modonauts who exemplify the cultural beliefs of the team in outstanding ways (and they really do deserve all of those exclamatory adjectives). The entire team voted for the person they thought most accurately personified our six cultural beliefs, and the winners were:
I am so grateful for each and every person that makes Modo possible. Because at the end of the day, it’s the people that make the place. As Modo grows and makes more payments magic happen, it was refreshing to come out of this last Modo Week with the entire team being even more committed to what makes Modo great: accepting challenges, accounting for freedom, leading through collaboration, acting on ideas, embracing transparency, and valuing people the highest. And whether we are in Breckenridge, or our Dallas headquarters, or somewhere else in the world, Modonauts can always depend on one thing: when we live out our beliefs, we can expect great things.
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