On October 15, we celebrated 25 years in business at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. BizStream started in 2001 as Schmidt Technologies Incorporated, with Mark Schmidt, our Founder, and Brian McKeiver, our Co-owner, working from two computers on a single folding table in another tech firm’s space. Today, we’re a digital agency with a team of 40 and a 20,000-square-foot building in Allendale. We were excited to mark the milestone surrounded by the people who helped make it possible.
Over 300 clients, partners, vendors, friends, family, current team members, and BizStream alumni filled the museum for an evening of good food, good conversation, and plenty of stories from the last two and a half decades.
Twenty-five years in business doesn’t happen because of one person or one team. It happens because of clients who trust us with their work, partners who stand beside us, vendors who show up when we need them, friends who shared their space, advice, and expertise along the way, and team members past and present who have given their time and talent to this company.
It meant a lot to see so many of those people under one roof. Clients, business partners, vendors, and friends from across the industry came out to celebrate with us, including Lynne Boudreau, Channel Sales Leader at Kentico. Kentico has been a big part of our story for a long time, and having them there felt fitting.
We were also thrilled to welcome back so many BizStream alumni, many of whom helped shape the company we are today. Catching up with everyone was one of the best parts of the night.
The museum gave everyone plenty to explore. Guests wandered through three floors of exhibits, took a ride on the museum’s 100-year-old carousel, and spent some time in the arcade. Guests also enjoyed an open bar, appetizers, and desserts, and everyone went home with a special edition 25th anniversary tumbler.
With so many familiar faces in one place, conversations kept going all night, and you could find people catching up in just about every corner of the museum.
To get people moving through the museum, we created a custom scavenger hunt that spanned all three floors. It gave guests a reason to explore exhibits they might have walked past and a chance to get to know a bit more about BizStream along the way.
We hid 12 oversized Lego blocks throughout the museum, each displaying a piece of BizStream history from the last 25 years, pulled from our company timeline. Guests who found all 12 could choose from BizStream swag. It quickly became one of the highlights of the night, and watching clients, alumni, and team members compare notes and hunt down the next block together was a lot of fun.
Mark Schmidt and Brian McKeiver took a few minutes to thank everyone who has helped them along the way. They shared stories from the early days and from the years since, and it was a good reminder that BizStream’s history is really a collection of relationships.
We couldn’t let the night pass without a few group photos. We gathered BizStream alumni, then current team members and alumni together, and finally our current team.
To our clients, partners, vendors, alumni, team members, friends, and families: thank you. You are the reason we’ve made it to 25 years, and you’re the reason we’re excited about what comes next.
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