Happy Birthday UpKeep!

What better way to celebrate our 6 years of UpKeep than with a virtual Game Night where our team participated in friendly competitions for some holiday raffle prizes! Every Wednesday, our team carves out time to get to know each other during our weekly ‘Wednesday Workshop’. This Wednesday Workshop, UpKeepers split into teams and battled out in Jeopardy, Taboo, and Coworker Feud during our virtual birthday party.

“Just yesterday we had a company birthday party in our regular Wednesday Workshop meeting, where we played games together and celebrated a company milestone of 6 years - it wasn't about making sure we were being as profitable as possible or that we were all reaching all of our goals. It was about connecting as people and becoming friends with the people we work with. I really appreciate the emphasis put on people over profit here at UpKeep!”

- Andrew Schaefer, EPIC Team

Looking Back on the Past 6 Years

To kick off our celebration, CEO Ryan Chan shared stories of UpKeep’s beginnings and reflected on how far the company has come over the past six years. From getting into Y Combinator in 2016, transitioning into remote work in 2020, and now coming back with in-person events and expanding our team- it’s been a journey to say the least! 

What’s a Birthday Without Gifts?

As part of our celebration, the UpKeep team wanted to send a token of gratitude and spread some holiday cheer. We selected two customers- Victoria Place and the Appalachian Mountain Club- and sent personalized gifts to support their work. UpKeep sent bouquets of flowers to Victoria Place, an enhanced retirement living home, and donated enough funds to the Appalachian Mountain Club to support 20 miles of public trail maintenance. 

“Thank you again so much to the UpKeep team. The flowers brought a lot of holiday cheer to our residents and staff here at Victoria Place!” 

“Thank you for your contribution to the Appalachian Mountain Club’s trails fund. Your gift is directly protecting the trails you love. You are supporting vital work needed to combat the impacts of age, climate change, and overuse on the trails. From providing equipment to installing new structures, your contribution is hard at work alongside our trails crews and volunteers who help ensure the integrity of nearly 2,000 miles of trails across the Northeast."

Let’s Celebrate! 

We started the day off with a fun ‘UpKeep themed Trivia’ in our @public-life-at-upkeep channel- a Slack group that connects our team every morning with fun prompts to keep our remote workspace alive! Some of our questions included: 

• How many customers use and love UpKeep? 

• UpKeep’s first ever paid customer was…? 

• Who at UpKeep has “UpKeep” on their license plates? 

We then headed into our celebration where games awaited and friendly competition broke out. Team members got to choose if they wanted to head into the Jeopardy, Taboo, or Feud breakout rooms and competed for points across their teams. After many wins and laughs, we closed out our birthday party with a special holiday gift raffle for our team. Congratulations to our winners!

Cheers to Many Years Ahead! 

With many changes and new adventures each year, we’re fortunate to have an internal culture that is passionate about making a positive impact in the world of maintenance. 6 years, 690 “Life at UpKeep” prompts, and 300+ days of putting the “We in the Wednesday”- we cheers to many more years ahead. Happy Birthday UpKeep!

Interested in Joining Us On This Journey?

Check out our Careers Page for more information about open roles, our culture, and more!