Your favorite 15 Aha! blog posts in 2022

4,650 pounds of mangos. That is how much fruit 25 Aha! teammates can sort through in one afternoon. We discovered this while helping out at a food rescue organization — we make a point of volunteering together wherever we meet for our company onsites (most recently in San Diego). As we picked and packed mangos for local families, I felt immense gratitude for the opportunity to give back to the community. It also got me thinking about the past year and what is ahead.

This year we wrote about many ways we can all be less wasteful at work — and build toward a more sustaining, meaningful future.

After a few uniquely challenging years, this year was a return to "normal" at some human-connection level. Many of us were able to see loved ones again and travel for work. Aha! was fortunate to surge past $100 Million in ARR. And we hired across all areas of the business.

But the year has also brought global turmoil and hardship for many. The tech industry in particular is reckoning with poor financial results and mass layoffs. Understandably this has led people to look inward — seeking to rediscover professional joy and purpose. Many readers of this blog have shown more interest in the principles of bootstrapping as a counterpoint to the panic, greed, and wastefulness that is associated with raising silly amounts of money (back when that was possible).

Our most popular blog posts this year reflect these themes — calling for better leadership, value-driven product building, and sustainable happiness. Here are the top 15 posts that captured readers' attention:

Responsible leadership

If you want to build something truly great, you have to be willing to be different. The following posts proposed a different path to growth and profitability:

1. What to Do When Layoffs Hit Your Tech Company

2. "We Grew Too Fast" Is Not a Valid Excuse For Layoffs

3. This Is Why You Should Not Accept Unlimited PTO

4. 6 Bootstrapped Lessons Learned on the Way to $100 Million

5. What Does It Actually Mean To Be Bootstrapped?

Product development

The concept of value-driven product development struck a chord with many readers. We wrote these posts to help you bring even more value to your customers and business:

6. 7 Essential Stages of Product Development

7. 5 Major Trends Shaping the Future of Product Development

8. The One Metric Every Product Team Should Track (Yet Few Do)

9. Who Should Really Own Product Development?

10. Product Management vs. Product Operations

Sustainable happiness

We have long championed the idea that everyone deserves to be happy at work. These posts brought more stories of how we achieve as a fully remote team:

11. Aha! Surpasses $100 Million in Annual Recurring Revenue

12. 6 Ways Our Remote Team Reconnected After 2.5 Years Apart

13. Stop Hiding Behind the Webcam — Get On Video

14. What Remote Work Means for 9 People at Aha!

15. How to Bootstrap Your Career

With 2023 just ahead, I am grateful that we can continue to have these important (and sometimes difficult) conversations — each pushes us to become better versions of ourselves.

Next year is special — it will be the 10-year anniversary of Aha! and a decade of me writing regularly on this blog. This is a humbling reminder of what a privilege it is to pursue work that is both fulfilling and rewarding. Thank you for being part of it. I look forward to more of our conversations over on LinkedIn in 2023.

Looking for a new way to work? Try Aha! and be happy.