However, If those first years were a whirlwind, the past 18-months have been more like a tornado: In 2017, we tripled in size and added about 200 new people. We’re now nearing 350 people, with 45 more open positions (if you’re interested, find the list here). Hires this past year have been mostly engineering talent and specialized skill sets for our Advanced R&D team, but every team is scaling: marketing, culture and talent, product, finance, IT, etc.

Scaling rapidly brings with it many risks and challenges: continuing to hire the right people, keeping the culture we desire, scaling communication, executing well as a large organization, and so on. It also means you eventually run out of space.

With that in mind, I’m happy to share that today we’re officially opening and expanding into our newest office and headquarters at the corner of Gaukel St. and Charles St. in Downtown Kitchener.

More than Just Convenience

At our current size and with our growth trajectory, we faced the decision to either stay downtown or move to a suburban office park. For us, the choice was straightforward; we want to continue to invest in Kitchener’s core as part of the downtown revitalization. Matt, Aaron and I love the benefits our current location gives the Thalmic team — the convenience, access to downtown restaurants, theatres, hotels, gyms and grocery stores — so we opted to continue growing right here. A large percentage of our team lives within walking or biking distance of the office, and the new LRT system outside of our front door makes transportation even better.