Companies tend to age similarly to people. Start-up companies are newborns and can’t survive without the help and support of others. As toddlers, a company can stand on two-feet, feed itself, and make lots of mistakes along the way. As a 15 year old company, gap intelligence is much like me when I was an incoming high school freshman – a face full of pimples and in the middle of an identity crisis.
2018 was the year we defined ourselves as a “Cultivation Culture” as drafted by the Schneider Culture Model. A cultivation culture is an organization that is driven by purpose and succeeds by growing people who then fulfill our vision. A company’s culture is not defined by happy hours and trust falls, but rather by holding dear its core values (which are proudly displayed here). We wrote a company manifesto that dictates how we behave as a company and as gappers including promises that “we are all change agents for our own growth” and “we make every aspect of the customer experience better through our GFD (Great Freakin' Data), expertise, and personal relationships.”
Central to our ability to define our identity as a company was to detail gap intelligence’s core purpose and answer the question: “Why did gap intelligence get started anyway?”
We’re in business to Do Great: for each other, our clients, and our community and we followed through on that in 2018.
Do Great for Each Other
We do great for each other by living our core values every day. We build trust through transparency and communicating like hell. We take ownership of our results, are willing to never give up and to always learn, we’re passionate about producing A+ work while not being jerks. gappers learned new things, whether that were extension courses on data analytics, Human Resources and Project Management certifications, and Ruby programming symposiums. Six gappers graduated our gapMBA program, a seven month long curriculum that teaches best practices in leadership and management.
gapUniversity, our own institution of higher learning, gave classes on effective chart creation, data science, advertisement collection, and tax code changes for 2017. We also shared our own passions by teaching classes on Japanese green tea ceremonies, how to bet on horse races, and how to pour the perfect cup of coffee. We had picnics and happy hours, we played volleyball and golf. We hosted our 8th annual gapCon, a conference hosted by gap intelligence, attended by gap intelligence, and is all about gap intelligence. We even finished off the year with a Prom.
Through our collective efforts to learn, grow, and be great to each other, gap intelligence was named one of San Diego’s Best Places to Work in 2018 – again.
Do Great for Our Clients
gap intelligence is a competitive intelligence firm that produces timely, accurate data and insights that help make big business decisions easier. We monitor 27 different product industries from smartphones to vacuum cleaners and the sheer amount Great Freakin' Data that we produce is staggering. Our team of data specialists published over 1,300 Price & Promotions reports that are filled with hundreds of millions of human verified and QCed data points. In 2018, our analysts kept our clients informed of their competition and marketplaces by writing over 3,400 market intelligence reports.
While we produce syndicated intelligence, gap intelligence is known for being a trusted extension of our clients’ research departments. We are heralded for our responsiveness and willingness to help clients answer questions, solve problems, and gain deeper insights. Through the year, the Research Group completed over 550 client inquiries ranging from investigating in-store planograms to building 100-slide deck presentations. That’s a lot of great.
Through the year we launched four new product categories including Voice Assistant Speakers, Cooktops and Wall Ovens, Wireless Routers, and Air Purifiers. Our development team refined our processes to properly collect and report flat advertisements and “product location” for retail placements, a merchandising tactic that is commonplace for home appliances. Our team of software developers have also worked tirelessly on an entire new service that you’ll see in 2019 – be on the Lookout.
Do Great for Our Community
gap intelligence operates as a values-led company, one that is committed to helping our local community and 2018 was our most impactful year yet.
In May, our Sith Anuual “Drives for Rides” golf tournament raised nearly $100,000 for the Emilio Nares Foundation, a San Diego non-profit that navigates families through their child’s journey with cancer.
We collected 240 pounds of food and over 1,000 meals for the San Diego Food Bank. We donated 28 pints of blood during our annual Blood Drive for the San Diego Blood Bank. We provided Mother’s Day spas for five moms with a child fighting cancer (and gave Father’s Day gift bags to the dads), and we donated many, many dozens of toys to help families in need this holiday season.
We did a lot of great this year. We got better at what we do, we helped our clients in countless ways, and have been a pillar of support to hundreds of San Diego families in need. gap intelligence is a special place and I hope that you experience the work of our talented, passionate team in 2019. We’ll continue to Do Great.
Happy Holidays to you and yours and we'll see you next year.
Do you have what it takes to be a gapper? Head over the careers section at gapintelligence.com to learn more about open positions. Find more info the bottom of our about page.
