So if you live in Denver/Boulder and didn’t hear (where have you been all week!), Lijit did a big deal, got bought by Federated Media and they’re about to embark on another adventure to take over the world. 

I’ve been lucky enough to be a (happy) user of Lijit’s stuff for what seems like forever (I think Todd once mentioned I was in single figures of users who didn’t work at the company, but not sure - anyway, this was the earliest post I could fine). I installed it on my old site as soon as I found it, followed the company and it’s various team members on their blogs and watched my pretty view of the world map as people checked out the site from various locations around the world. I even sent in emails making suggestions once or twice about production functionality in the early days, and (as has continued from then until now) got an almost immediate and intelligent response. 

The following of blogs and the people at the company led to one of those online to real life experiences. Leslie happened to post about going to the track with the local BMW club, which combined with my recent purchase of such a BMW, made me more than a little curious. Biting the bullet, I dived head first into signing myself up for the next class. Fast forward to the day of the class, a certain Chris Wand decided to wear a Lijit t-shirt, I accosted asked him how to get one, and he wandered me over to “the gang” where I met Todd and Leslie for the first time. Details were exchanged, Tara sent me (the softest ever in the whole world) t-shirt in the mail the next week, as well as posting my pic on their blog (which of course I can’t find the link to now).  

Fast forward to today, and that initial meeting has turned into a big group of friends that keep me entertained with a never ending stream of banter, links, pictures, the occasional trip to various driving events in and out of state, and some late nights in Vegas over margs and dirty martinis. And lots of opportunities to drive fast cars fast of course. 

So congrats to Todd and the team (both past and present). You got what you deserved after all the hard work, and your success made me smile more than you’ll ever know.