It was just three years ago this month that our team sold our first car using a new platform we were creating, and boom: Shift was born. But things were a lot different back in 2014. We were working out of my apartment living room and parking cars on the street (or in the Costco parking lot), and doing the sales ourselves, all because we had this crazy idea about transforming the used car industry. Needless to say, it was a wild first couple of months.
Since that time, we have become the largest used-car seller in the Bay Area, built an incredible team, expanded to new markets, brought on board great investors, and have thousands of happy customers. It’s an awesome time for Shift and we are all incredibly bullish about where we are headed.
During all this time, Minnie Ingersoll, our co-founder and COO, has been instrumental in building our business. And she’s done this with an incredible work ethic, dedication, and determination that is unlike any other. At the same time, Minnie has grown her family, and is soon going to have a third child.
It is bittersweet for me to share that after 3+ years as our COO, Minnie has decided to not come back to Shift full-time after maternity leave, and instead join Code for America (CFA) as their new COO (check out this great Axios article about her move here!) And while I’m jealous that the folks at Code will get to work with Minnie every day, I’m thankful that she has agreed to stay on as an advisor. As one of our founders, Minnie will always be a huge and important part of Shift.
Anyone who has met Minnie knows that she has an incredible heart, and it is that big heart that has inspired her to make this professional change. She is also an open book (I can always count on her to give me honest and constructive feedback, even if I don’t want to hear it!) And it is with that same honesty and integrity that she has written about why she decided to join Code in this awesome LinkedIn post. I encourage you to read it.
It is not an exaggeration to say that there would be no Shift without Minnie. From the very beginning, she dove headfirst with us as we built this company and worked tirelessly to make car buying and selling better for consumers. And while it would be impossible for me to list all of her amazing contributions (there are too many to count!), I would like to highlight a few. Whether it’s creating a fun work culture, raising awareness about important issues in the tech community, or just being an awesome colleague and even better friend, I will always be thankful that I had Minnie by my side during Shift’s early years.
Minnie has made me better in so many ways: as a CEO, as a leader, and – most importantly – as a person. I am so grateful to her for her friendship. Minnie, from the bottom of my heart I want to say thank you for the role you played in making the dream of this company reality. We could not have done it without you.
If one of these people is you, we’ve reached out to you via email, so please shoot us a reply soon.
