As the president of a family owned and operated company, it’s not all business for me.

I like sharing product news and market updates. I also like sharing things of a more personal nature, and that’s what this post is. If you’d rather watch than read, the video below tells the story better than I can in print.

 

 

Some of you have met my dad in person. Some of you have been with us for decades as VantagePoint Family Members. And some of you are still considering whether to join us, which is exactly why this story matters.

 

We Don’t Call You Customers

As you may have just noticed, we call the people who use our software VantagePoint Family Members. That’s not a marketing line. It’s a reflection of how long we plan to be here and how seriously we take the commitment we make to the people who trust us.

Here’s where that mindset comes from.

 

It Started in a Checkout Line

On August 29th, my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

A weekday evening in late 1975, my dad (and Founder of Vantagepoint AI) stopped into the Stop & Shop in Brookline, Massachusetts to pick up groceries. He was 27. My mom, was 22 and standing in that same line. They walked out at the same time, he struck up a conversation in the parking lot, and he’ll tell you it was love at first sight. A few months of dating later they were engaged. They married the following summer.

Fifty years, three sons, and five grandchildren later, Stop & Shop heard the story. They put out a press release about it. They’re hosting a celebration at that same Brookline store, handing out cookies to shoppers who might just strike up a conversation of their own. And in my parents’ honor, they made a $5,000 donation to the Hope High School endowed scholarship fund at the Rhode Island Foundation. My dad went to Hope High as a teenager. That money now goes to students in the city where he grew up.

 

“Make Sure You Wear Something Special”

This past weekend we had a small family celebration here in Florida. No big production, just the people closest to them, all of it there to celebrate the love of two people: my mom and my dad.

In the weeks leading up to it, my mom kept reminding me to dress up. “Make sure you wear something special.” She said it more than once.

So I did.

I showed up in a suit, which was appropriate for the occasion. Then partway through the evening I slipped into another room, changed into a full Elvis costume, and walked back out to give my parents a toast in my best Elvis voice.

I opened the toast by looking right at my mom and saying, “You told me to dress up. Is this what you had in mind?”

She loved it. My dad was laughing. The whole room was cracking up. I was a little nervous going in, but I knew it would be something they’d remember, and the rest of what I said to them that night came straight from the heart.

 

The Same Principles Built This Company

Fifty years of a happy marriage doesn’t happen by accident. It takes long term commitment, integrity, respect, and two people willing to keep showing up for each other.

Those are the same words we use to describe how we run this company, and that is not a coincidence. My dad founded VantagePoint in 1979, three years after he married my mom, and he built it on exactly the same principles that built their marriage.

In 2029, VantagePoint turns 50. Same family. Same values. Same commitment to the people who trust us with their money and their time.

 

What You’re Joining

If you’re already part of the VantagePoint family, you know how we treat you, because we treat you like family. We care deeply about every one of you, all over the world, and we care about your continued success in the markets so that you can build the legacy you want to leave.

If you’re thinking about joining us, that’s what you’re joining.

Happy 50th anniversary, Mom and Dad.