I had been a technology sales leader for years before founding True in 2004. The inspiration both for the name True as well as the company itself was simple—Being True…True to your word…True to your team…True to your clients. Keeps everything easy that way.
There is also a fun story to how my wife Jen and I arrived at the name True. I was a minority-interest partner in another technology company and wasn’t happy with how my former partners were treating our teams or our clients. It seemed that if I wanted to do it right, I was going to have to start a company in which the name itself would serve as its ethical guidepost –it would therefore serve as a constant reminder of the standard for how we conduct ourselves every day, in every relationship, and in every project.
So, like many other company founders had before, I searched the internet for various available company names. As I started the search, my wife, Jen told me she was going for a run and would think about names too. Right before Jen came back from her run, I found the ideal name that perfectly matched our ethical center AND wasn’t already taken; it seemed like a miracle. Seconds later, Jen walked into the house and said that she had the perfect name for the company.
After a quick back and forth that was literally like a bad sit-com “I’ve got a perfect name.” “No, I’ve got a perfect name.” “No, I have THE perfect name.” No exaggeration; it happened that way. We decided to both blurt out the name at the same time.
In unison, we both said one simple but perfect syllable, “True.”
And now, almost 20 years later, we still challenge ourselves everyday to live up to that standard. We provide incredible capabilities around Advisory, Change Management, and Tech Enablement each day across the country as well as in global markets. And we take tremendous pride in the work that we do, the successes of our clients, and ultimately in the team that we’ve collectively become.
I was lucky enough to shed all of the “work” of a growing company when Jen took over as Managing Partner in 2014, letting me focus on what I really enjoy—Strategy and Development.
Jen, Marcus, Mark, and I have all been together since the beginning. We have great leaders and a great team who cares about the same ideals that we founded this business on about two decades ago. Among many, that is our greatest accomplishment.
