I never set out to create a company.
In 2011, someone I was working with asked me to build a simple app that could download orders from their shopping cart, organize them, and send them for fulfillment. As a hungry freelancer at the time, this was just another client development project I was juggling.
The tool was a success—too successful for me to manage back then, in fact. I invited some of my other customers to try it and noticed that everyone needed it to accomplish different things. I was so excited by this challenge that I spent hundreds of days working into the early hours of the morning iterating on a tool that would truly allow any customer to manage their orders however they needed.
In January of 2014, Order Desk was released to the world. Ten years later, the tool that started out so simply now processes millions of orders for thousands of customers every month.
I never envisioned that I would need to hire anyone for this “little side project,” let alone that I would be able to grow this company to twenty people from quite literally all around the world. I’ve learned so much from these people, both technically and culturally, and I can confidently say that Order Desk would not be where it is today had it not been for the wise, caring, and fun people that contribute daily to its success. I’ve had the pleasure of working with a number of these people for over five years, and one will even be beginning their 8th year here soon.
Three years ago, we took the time to explore what makes someone successful at Order Desk. Through this process we listed out five core values which have shaped the foundation of who we are as a company: curiosity, humility, empathy, generosity, and having fun. These values distinguish us in our industry and continue to help us chip away at our goal to create a world where success is within reach for everyone.
Another distinctive pillar for Order Desk has been that customer support is not viewed as a necessary evil, but rather a cornerstone of our company. Over the years, our focus on providing a memorable support experience has allowed us to build meaningful connections with our customers and stay in tune with what they need.
I’ve witnessed thousands of businesses using our tools to grow over the years: aspiring artists expanding their print on demand offerings, neighborhood fulfillment companies receiving orders from their customers, global political leaders connecting with their constituents, international musicians sharing their music, and huge celebrity brands spreading their message. I hope that Order Desk has played an integral part in the success of each of these businesses, especially because our customers have inspired me with their questions, suggestions, and feedback.
The work we’ve done here has introduced me to the best of the best in their respective industries. Order Desk has partnered with some of the biggest names in ecommerce including Amazon and Shopify. We’ve also been at the forefront of massive ecommerce pivots with TikTok and Squarespace, and seen some of our customers scale to become household names. Millions of consumers relied on Order Desk when the retail world shut down in 2020, and I’ll forever be proud that we could play a part in keeping the world moving forward while everything else came screeching to a halt.
Thank you for ten exciting, fulfilling, and sometimes even a little nerve-wracking years. It’s been such a pleasure to meet, learn from, and work with all of you on this journey, and there’s still so much work to be done. We have a lot of exciting things we’ve been working on behind the scenes at Order Desk, and I can’t wait to share more about what’s next for us and how we’ll continue to help make ecommerce accessible to everyone.
If you have any stories or good memories about working with Order Desk from the early years through today, I’d love to hear them. You’re welcome to reply to this email, or you can share them with me publicly on LinkedIn or whatever we’re calling Twitter these days.
Again, please accept my sincere thanks for ten amazing years.
David Hollander
Founder and CEO, Order Desk
