Last year, Enable created a Global Mobility Program that encourages all our Enablees to travel between our four offices (Stratford Upon Avon, Toronto, San Francisco and Sydney) to unlock global collaboration with all our teams in other parts of the world. We implemented this program to give each country, each office, and each team the chance to share their unique and valuable knowledge and insights with each other, in-person. So far, upwards of 40 Enablees have taken up this benefit with many even spending as long as 6-weeks in one location. Some even loved their experience so much, they’ve packed their bags and relocated!

Here is Luke’s personal experience of visiting Stratford Upon Avon as part of Enable’s Global Mobility Program.

The adventure of a lifetime? It might be too soon to say, but there is one thing I am quite certain of. It’s not every day you get the opportunity to travel across the Atlantic Ocean to visit the founding place of a truly disruptive SaaS company. A company that I have been a part of and have watched grow for the past 18 months as a Solutions Consultant.  

Since I was young, I have always wanted to make the short trip across the pond to visit the United Kingdom. Thinking back, it probably had something to do with the fact that the likes of the Rolling Stones and the Arctic Monkeys were a constant presence around my house. Maybe it was the fact that for the last ten years I’ve been waking up early on Saturday mornings to watch my favourite English Premier League teams play. Whatever the reason, I was eager to make the trip. Thankfully, Enable’s Global Mobility Program gave me the opportunity to do exactly that.  

Before I knew it, I found myself whisked away from the hustle and bustle of the fashion district neighborhood in Toronto and on a plane to the picturesque town of Stratford-upon-Avon. Now if this town of 30,000 in the West Midlands region of England sounds oddly familiar, there are likely two very good reasons for that. The first being it is the birthplace of the SaaS company, Enable, the leading rebate management solution for driving B2B growth. The second reason being Stratford-upon-Avon is also the birthplace of a famous playwright by the name of William Shakespeare, who has undoubtably changed the way we tell stories forevermore.  

Once I arrived and was given a tour of the various buildings that make up the UK office by Lesley, a workplace coordinator, I was able to meet with two of my colleagues from the UK. It had been six months since I had last seen Anthony in Napa Valley for a President’s Club trip, and this would be my first-time meeting Leon in person. After spending the better part of an hour catching up, it was time to collaborate on how to streamline the business value assessment process for our prospects.  

The rest of my working week was filled with product demonstrations and productive, in-person meetings with folks from the SC, engineering, enablement, and product management teams here at Enable. Being in Stratford-upon-Avon I had the opportunity to speak with Geoff, a Group Product Manager who has been an Enablee for the past eight years. The conversation gravitated around potential workflow and UI improvements that could be designed into the solution. This was one of the most informative meetings during my time at Enable, Geoff walked me through the design process and shared product build notes from years prior. This would be just one of the many learning experiences that would take place over the following few days.  

The next day when I arrived there seemed to be a new energy in the office. That’s when I remembered investors and other partners of Enable were set to arrive for a special announcement. Enable’s CEO Andrew Butt announced that significant progress had been made in securing our $94M Series C funding with new investors in the form of Insight Partners, with additional participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, SE Ventures, PSP Growth and HarbourVest Partners.  

This exciting announcement was received with both applause and cheers. This had been a massive milestone for the company since Series B funding had been announced the previous year. That night would be nicely capped off with a celebration at Cox’s Yard, a local favourite along the River Avon.  

After completing a few projects, such as the development of the new pharmaceutical demo channel and saying a few goodbyes, it was time to make my way back to Toronto. But before I left, I had a few days to explore the great and timeless city of London. Through a series of fortunate events, I was somehow able to secure last minute tickets to an English Premier League game between Brighton and West Ham United. A childhood dream had been realized! With this and all the other marvelous experiences that had taken place over the week, I knew I was ready to make the flight back.  

While riding a double decker bus over Chelsea Bridge I began jotting down the notes that would eventually become the blog post you’re reading now.

If you’d like to join a fast-growing SaaS company and experience many benefits like this, explore our open positions here: https://enable.com/careers