LightSource

“If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, wait until you hire an amateur.” I love this quote. And indeed, one of the worst-kept secrets of LightSource's success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world. Ross is truly one of these people. Welcome Ross Bagley to the LightSource team! Ross has 2+ decades of software engineering experience, from companies like ServiceNow and 12-yrs at Google. Ross is kind, thoughtful, extremely sharp, and exemplifies what an truly senior engineering mind looks like. So thrilled to have you on the team. And moreover, excited for our customers for the kind of product innovation and development acceleration you'll bring to LightSource!

Proud to announce LightSource was awarded the "High Performer (2024)" distinction by G2! According to the G2 definition, "Products in the High Performer quadrant in the Grid® Report have exceptionally 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘊𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 scores and rapidly 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 compared to the rest of the category" -- Some ad-hoc thoughts: While G2 doesn't have the same brand "prestige" of Gartner or Forrester, I am actually especially proud of this achievement for two reasons: - (1) it's based on ratings from actual users - (2) it's free I've had a few conversations with other market research groups. And the conversations always seem to go the same way: "We'd love to include you in our {market report, quadrant, content}, which is available to our premium software partners" -- aka give us money, and we'll rate you well. Sometimes the prices are as little as $10k, but often crest over the $100k+ range for being truly "recommended." For innovative, growth-stage companies -- we spend our funding on engineering (to drive the product) and customer success (to drive value for customers). 95+ cents of every dollar we spend falls into one of those two buckets. By contrast, legacy or mature software platforms often have large budgets to spend on sponsorship. So... by definition, when you read those kinds of reports you're 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 seeing legacy-tech, not new-tech. Just some (highly biased) food for thought! Does this align with your experiences? Curious, have you seen examples where market research groups truly align themself with ratings accuracy over sponsorship dollars?

"it takes 20 years to become an overnight success" ... so we have 17 years to go. Grateful to see LightSource named as one of: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 25 𝐇𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐬 Thanks to the venerable James Meads, true procurement juggernaut, for including us. And special thanks to tour-de-force Sarah Scudder for bringing the list to my attention! #hotornot #procurementtech #procuretech #supplychainai #procurementai

🎓 With the old saying “better late than never,” I am excited to share that a month ago, I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Northeastern University with a BS in Industrial Engineering & a minor in Business Administration, all while finishing 4 years of Division 1 athletics & working part-time in my 5th year of school. It’s been a journey full of up’s and down’s, & at times, questioning my path, but I’m so glad I stayed on it. I learned that a degree is way more than just the education we receive from it - it’s a journey filled with growth, new perspectives, & unforgettable experiences. Throughout these 5 years, I was able to gain 2+ years of invaluable work experience through my co-op’s at Bain Capital & LightSource. A big thank you to every connection made during this time & all the support when juggling athletics, engineering, a career, & simply trying to be a college kid :) I am grateful to be returning to LightSource full-time & moving (back) to Chicago. Excited to see what post-grad life holds!

"Want some BBQ sauce on those ribs?" Hilarious seeing LightSauce yesterday at Ani Sharma's house! Last year for July 4th, LightSource produced (sourced) our own custom BBQ sauces and gave them away to early customers, employees, and investors. We can't ignore a good pun, and "LightSauce" is just too spicy to ignore. Anyway - it was a year old, and still tasted great. Happy Independence Day! #D̶i̶g̶i̶t̶a̶l̶ --> Flavor Tranformation