When I got home from my first-ever Nutrient retreat back in 2019, then-CEO Peter Steinberger(opens in a new tab) asked me if I’d write a blog post about my experience. I agreed, not knowing that it would become my responsibility for every retreat I attended thereafter. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy it, but every year when it comes time to write my recap, I’m reminded of how difficult it is to distill a whirlwind week of meetings, team building, intense work, and late-night adventures into a post that really captures it all.
Now, reflecting back on this year’s retreat, which took place in Prague in early October, I once again find myself sitting at the keyboard, stumped on where to begin, and how to capture it all.
For one, a lot has changed over the past five years. In 2019, we were solely PSPDFKit. This was before the investment from Insight Partners; before the acquisitions of Muhimbi, Aquaforest, ORPALIS, and Integrify; long before we hit triple digits in team members. It’s safe to say that the company of 2019 is hardly recognizable from where I sit today, and not just in name.
Which leads me to another aspect: One defining feature of this retreat is the fact that it took place in the middle of a rebrand. We officially launched as a new company in mid-October, with all of our lines of business unified under a single name and website, but our week together in Prague was a soft launch, and a way of introducing all 150+ of us to our new identity.
As anyone with experience working remotely can attest to, one of the most difficult parts of work is staying connected to your teammates, especially when they live in completely different timezones. Another challenge is the building and sustaining of morale. This is the main reason why the company invests so much into our annual retreats: because we get a huge boost — not just in morale, but also in productivity, creativity, and innovation — from being together in person.
That’s why it was so important to us to be together for the rebrand experience. We all stayed in a hotel in Old Town Prague, and the whole week, we lived and breathed the Nutrient experience. The entrance to the hotel had our new branding on the doors, we had banners and step-and-repeats throughout the lobby and conference areas, we all got swag that we proudly wore in and around town, and a handful of us even got our nails done in Nutrient themes and colors. There are countless moving parts that had to come together to make this work, but getting everyone psyched about our new name and new identity was an integral piece of the puzzle.
So how exactly did we spend our time? Well, as those of us working on the website itself can attest to, we spent a lot of time in a room we referred to as “the war room.” This was a small conference room equipped with monitors, keyboards, chargers, tables, chairs, snacks, and coffee, and it worked like a “hot desk” concept, where anyone who needed to work on something related to the website launch could come in, grab a spot, and get to work. This room was a constant hub of activity, though at times less in a fun way and more in a stressful way. But it was also an irreplaceable experience, for we got to work closely with our colleagues much more synchronously, and it made it a lot easier for us to teach one another, troubleshoot and solve problems together — and yes, get to know one another. Stress can bring out the best, as well as the worst, in everyone, but luckily the worst was not that bad. 😄
We also spent plenty of time in sessions, both as an entire company, and in our individual teams, or collaborating cross-team. Some of these sessions were ones that we have every year, such as the welcome speech on Monday morning; our annual State of the Union address; the AMA with our CEO; and the Town Hall, in which every department gives an overview of what it has accomplished the past quarter and what it plans to do next. Others were unique, like when members of our Product Marketing team led a session on an elevator pitch about our new company name and purpose, or when we took part in a GenAI brainstorming session and workshop.
Meanwhile, our team meetings weren’t all that different in content than our bi-weekly remote meetings, but it also gave us time to work together or tackle unique problems. And the cross-team meetings were great for special things like planning upcoming events, such as exhibiting at ESPC and hosting our Workflow User Conference.
And of course, we made sure to build plenty of fun into the work. We had a team building session, where teams had to brainstorm an advertisement for the new brand and work with an onsite camera team to film a commercial, all within the space of a couple hours. Later that day, we watched the 10 resulting videos and marveled at how creative, smart, and silly our colleagues are.
Our international snack competition returned for its second consecutive year, and the fourth trivia night also took place. And, of course, we had two team dinners: the welcome dinner at a gorgeous vineyard overlooking Prague(opens in a new tab), and the goodbye dinner on a boat cruising the Vltava River.
Read My second retreat: From a bootstrapped startup, to a company of 100+.
When we weren’t working, we were all still hanging out together, because Nutrient is a workplace full of people who genuinely like one another and want to spend time together. For some people, that meant renting a field and playing football (soccer for the Americans) for a few hours. For others, that meant going on a historic pub tour with fellow beer enthusiasts. Still others went on a wine tour, checked out a former nuclear bunker, visited the opera, or took a day trip to Český Krumlov. And of course, many of us explored Prague on foot, on scooters, and even by lamplight.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention our “home away from home” — that is to say, the place(s) you’d likely find us if we weren’t at the hotel. Every year we’re good at finding a local hangout where everyone spends their free time, and this year, we had a few. For the more laid-back crowd, we spent many evenings at the outdoor terrace at Beer Restaurant(opens in a new tab). For the partiers among us, your best bet would be to hit up one of the Irish bars in town — shoutout to The Dubliner(opens in a new tab) and O’Che’s(opens in a new tab) for providing us with countless hours of entertainment and karaoke (because what’s more authentic an experience than going to Prague and hanging out at an Irish bar 🙃).
Read Bonding in Budapest: A celebration of our collective journey.
Our week in Prague was more than just a retreat; it was a powerful reminder of who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re heading. It was about more than meetings, a rebrand, or even the joy of exploring a beautiful city together. It was about the people — the 150+ individuals who bring their best selves to Nutrient every single day.
In many ways, this retreat felt like a bridge between our past and our future. We honored the journey that brought us here, celebrated the milestones we’ve achieved, and took bold steps toward the company we’re becoming. From the sessions that fueled our creativity to the shared meals that deepened our bonds, we walked away with more than just memories. We left Prague with a renewed sense of purpose, excitement for what’s to come, and an unshakable belief in the power of our collective effort.
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