Last week, more than 100 of us took over a corner of southern France for Starsite X.
Six months ago in Piedmont we were 70: a great problem to have, and a logistical nightmare for whoever gets everyone onto the same coach.
Why we keep doing this
Starsite happens twice a year. It's where we live our values: simplicity, speed and transparency, in one room for a week.
Every team shows the real picture: the wins, the misses and the things on fire. Then we argue over dinner and leave with one plan instead of twelve.
It's harder to run now: people from 20 different countries, visas, logistics and a spreadsheet to make it all happen. The value hasn't moved an inch.
The room matters more than ever
Agents now close the books, chase the receipts and write a lot of our code. They don't build trust over a long dinner or talk you down from a bad idea.
That makes in-person time the scarcest thing we have: get in a room, say the thing, build it together.
Outside voices
We brought in an outside perspective to wake us up to the opportunity ahead.
First up, Jonathan Teir and Riku Venno, partners at Greenstep, whose partnership we announced that week. They spoke about our shared opportunity, and responsibility, to rebuild the finance function from the ground up with our product and their innovative service model.
Then over to Cédric Van Heybeeck from Oper, already a Light legend for his Oscar-worthy customer story. He told us about his journey from AI novice to master, and how Light takes on his admin schlep so he can focus on company strategy.
A company-wide hackathon for 10x'd productivity
The hackathon is a Light tradition, and this time we ran one for the whole company. Engineers, sales, support, finance and marketing in mixed teams, with one brief: pick a part of the business and build an MVP for 10x'd productivity.
Some of those builds are already live with customers. Others will haunt the backlog.
Where the alignment happens
Then we switched off. Horseback riding, vineyard tours, poolside lounging with a glass of rosé, a team quiz more competitive than anyone will admit, and Mario Kart sessions that ran well past midnight.
That's where a team lines up. Put a North Star metric on a slide and everyone nods. Lose to someone from the other side of the business on Rainbow Road at 1am and you learn how they think.
Come with us next time
We came home energised, with big plans for 2027 and a clear picture of the team it takes to get there.
We're hiring across the company, for people who want to join this journey. If you want to do the best work of your career with people who'll also get on a horse with you, see our open roles at light.inc/careers.
See you at Starsite XI.
