Today was the last day of brainstorming with the Utah 13, the thirteen Broadwick team members that came out to Utah.

We have been staying at the wife's parents' house of our CTO, overlooking beautiful Deer Valley in Park City, Utah.

Over the past three days, the 13 of us have come together to brainstorm about the product vision, managing growth, creating growth, and the unique opportunity we have to build a truly Great company in the coming years.

We arrrived on Thursday and got down to business fairly quickly.

We started by playing some improv games to get the creative juices flowing and create a supportive mood. We played Crazy 8s, Throwing Knives, Fuzzy Duck, Whoosh Bong Bang, and Red Ball, Green Ball, Blue Ball, Expert Panel, and Five Word Guess.

We began by discussing where we've come from as company (2 employees to 39 in just three years), the opportunity that we have going forward, and the unique moment that we are at in the company's history. We also talked about the future of the product and team, and how our markets are evolving.

Later on Thursday, we all went to dinner at a place called Wingers. We then came back and did some sledding on the backyard hill in the 5 degree weather.

On Friday, we began the day with some unstructured brainstorming. We discussed wireless electricity, cures for cancer, the $100 laptop, the convergence of media, and many other topics.

We then began discussing how to manage growth in 2007 and the lessons we could draw from our experiences in 2006.

Finally, we discussed the methods by which we can create growth in 2007, looking at many different promising channels. We ended the brainstorming by discussing the company and individual BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) for the next 1 and 3 years.

After the brainstorming ended at 6pm on Friday, we decided to go tubing on a nearby slope. It was my first time tubing and a great experience. We came back to a tremendous dinner of spaghetti and meatballs with salad and garlic bread prepared by our VP of Business Development David Roth and Director of Support Amber Neill. Afterwards, we ended the night with a good poker game.

Saturday was a free day for us. Most of the group went skiing, but I stayed back to watch the UNC vs. Kentucky game and make some good progress on my 50 page paper on Broadwick marketing due for an independent study class I'm taking at UNC. The USC/UCLA game was great, as was the Florida/Arkansas game later that night that got the Gators into the National Championship game.

Saturday ended with a good time in the hot tub with our designer Alan Underwood and account manager Rob Call--in between sessions of jumping out of the hot tub and sledding in the snow then running back in.

Today, Sunday, was the final day of brainstorming. We began by summarizing the brainstorming activities of Thursday and Friday, then proceeded to discuss the company and product vision for the next year and beyond, possible slogans, top level product goals, and our view of the experience together over the long weekend.

This afternoon, we took the 9 members of the team that are leaving to the airport and dropped them off. We then drove back to Park City and got ready for the next part of our day.

At 5:30, we drove over the the Chateaux at Silver Lake for The VIP Welcome Reception of the Email Insider Summit. We had some very helpful conversations with a few executives from other ESPs, delverability service providers, and a large customer.

Three of us will be staying for the conference until Wednesday, and I'll be blogging it.

Afterwards, the three of us went to dinner at the Blind Dog in Park City then came home to read and relax (and watch Sportscenter while blogging).

It's truly been a tremendous weekend. A certain level of magic can occur when you get 13 really smart, really passionate, and highly dedicated people together in one room for focused discussion, thought, and interaction. That magic happened this weekend, and it will help lay a further layer of strong foundaiton for the company for quite some time to come.