I received a text message early this morning from a friend and I’m embarrassed to say it reminded me of something that had slipped my mind (which my lovely wife would blame on my recent concussion).

What were you doing in 1994?

The 90s still seem like “a few years ago” to me. But the math doesn’t lie. Pointwise, Inc. was formed on 10 November 1994 making today its 24th birthday.

In case anyone’s curious, Pointwise was conceived in the late spring and summer of 1994 over a burger and a beer at J. Gilligan’s in Arlington, Texas which was just a block away from where John Steinbrenner and I worked at the time.

But the story of Pointwise isn’t about me or John or Rick Matus who partnered with us a short year later.

The celebration is for Pointwise’s extended family: sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, in-laws, and cousins once removed, the people who have joined with us on this journey, employees and their families, customers, partners, and colleagues.

Seeing them grow and achieve, personally and professionally, is a birthday present that renews itself every day.

Hearing about our customers’ successes and on occasion reading the notes they send upon retirement about our collaboration is our reward.

Year one may belong to us but every year since belongs to them. It’s their camaraderie and hard work that has been our gift.

And yes, along the way they’ve delivered some pretty damn good mesh generation software for CFD if I do say so myself.

Thank you to everyone.