Twenty years.
That feels like a long time to be doing anything, let alone running a business in technology.
If you had told me back in the early days, sitting in that warehouse in Honeydew, with more ambition than structure, that J2 would still be here two decades later… I probably would have believed you.
But I wouldn’t have understood what it would take.
Because building a business isn’t a straight line. There are a series of small wins, hard lessons, unexpected turns, a sprinkle of luck and many moments where you question whether you’ve completely lost the plot.
Here we are, two decades later, two adult children and a head full of memories (because I didn’t take too many photos).
From Honeydew to the world
J2 started small. Very small. Me, and Jason joined a month later. A load of energy, naivety, confidence and not much else. No grand plan. No global strategy deck. There was just a belief that we could do things better, look after customers properly and build something that we could be proud of.
Personally, the journey has been the most challenging and rewarding experience. Far more challenging than I could ever have imagined.
We grew, then declined. We had to learn some very hard lessons and built resilience in the process. There were several mistakes and the drive was always to learn and then improve to deliver valuable outcomes for our customers, and our families.
Today, the J2 team are supporting organisations on five continents around the world. We have created a sustainable and practical service-based stack to help businesses in a digital risk landscape that did not even exist when we started 20 years ago.
The World Changed. We Had to as Well.
When we started, cyber security wasn’t even a boardroom conversation. Our first customers bought from us not because we could help them gain visibility on their insider risk, but to stop people going to Facebook (bonkers).
Today cyber and human risk are front and centre. The threats are more complex, the attackers are more dynamic and the stakes are higher. The pace of attacks are relentless.
Through each evolution, recession and advancement J2 has evolved; not by chasing trends, but by focusing on what matters:
- Looking after our customers.
- Solving real problems.
- Showing up when it counts.
The focus on serving our customers has not changed.
The Bit That Actually Matters
Milestones are the perfect excuse to reflect, but the reality is that businesses do not last 20 years because of strategy documents. They last because of people.
To our customers – thank you for trusting us, challenging us and growing with us.
To our partners – thank you for backing us and building alongside us.
And to the J2 team – past and present – thank you for the effort, the care and the standards you bring every day to Get Stuff Done.
You’re the reason we’re still here.
Still Building
Twenty years is not a finish line, if anything, in many respects we have only just got started.
The world isn’t slowing down, technology is moving quicker than ever and cyber risk is becoming more of a problem for more businesses.
That creates responsibility and opportunity. We are continuing to grow, expanding and evolving to support organisations globally with the kind of cyber resilience that simply didn’t exist when we started.
We are going to do it with the same drive that we always have. Great people, strong relationships and a motivation to Get Stuff Done to deliver real value to our customers and partners.
We will continue to do the right thing with monotonous regularity, every single day.
“When you do the right things, good things happen.”
One Last Thought
Looking back, it’s easy to focus on how far we’ve come. I have to reflect on the large number of people we have been fortunate to have had an impact on and those who have helped us along the way.
As we strive to be a business of purpose, it is the people that make it so meaningful.
To everyone who has been part of J2 over the past 20 years, in any way, thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
We wouldn’t be here without you. I hope you hang around to see what comes next.
John Mc Loughlin
Group CEO, J2
