It is astounding how quickly children grow up. Defined by paths taken and paths ignored, impacted by chance; they’re rarely what you imagined. It’s the same with companies.
Happy Anniversary!
This year sees us celebrating ARM’s 20th birthday. I still remember the early days, when I made my first placement, won the first big client and when we signed our first office lease.
There were good times, but I also remember all the hard knocks we took and the mistakes we made: the tyranny of VC investment, the punishing but ultimately rewarding MBO, the first person fired, the wrong MD hired, the recessions. Regardless, I feel immensely proud of what we have achieved.
We’ve been doing some growing…
I myself have grown up massively during the years as well. I still feel like the 24 year old who joined the company with so much belief, hope and ambition. Certainly I know much more what I stand for and how I want to conduct business. How I want this company to be now, what this company stands for and what I want it to be in 5 years’ time.
It is quite remarkable that ARM has morphed from a single brand, single location business into Serocor, a £100m plus revenue business, with the operating brands of ARM, Optamor, ORSON & ARM Inc. We are now internationally operational and have just shy of 200 highly talented colleagues.
All in a blink of an eye.
What’s next for ARM?
This year, I want to thank and celebrate with all of the people that helped us build this fantastic businesses, that have supported us and have shared in our pain and our pleasure. We have an exciting future ahead of us, but we must not forget our humble beginnings.
Read more about the ARM story.
