“When it Rains…”

Hudson Cloud began in 2012. I was there when they started, as an informal advisor. I got to see the whole thing unfold from two guys into a more formal operating company around 2014, with the addition of Touro University in 2016. They had their hands full at the time, but they built one hell of a product. As the company went through the normal struggles, I'd advise them as needed, but there came a point where I suggested a Monday call to give them advice before the week began.

That's what led to my taking the role as CEO in May 2025. I joined the company just as we made some significant changes to how we marketed our product and shared where we were going. It was like lighting a match on dry kindling. I can't get into too much detail about our future, and the real point of this post is all the "what ifs?" under consideration.

I've run hundreds of scenarios, as I do with any company I run. The variables are intense, yet they all point in the right direction. There are no "must have" scenarios, but a few that have a big impact on us. Our biggest challenge will be logistics and what we do with people scattered around. Even that is something I can't write about just yet. There was a time when you could build a company through a traditional org chart. I've done it many times, but with the addition of AI and the constant emergence of new tools, we don't need as many people initially. That leads to growth, which means more people, so the two sort of balance out. We're just more cost effective and capital efficient as we grow so we don’t need outside money.

I've watched our hypothetical exit valuation absolutely explode. We're in a good place, as intellectually challenging as it is. We just can't say a whole lot, other than that I wanted to share that I'm on the wildest ride in the last two decades. It could all calm down shortly, but it's not looking like it any time soon. I don't want it to calm down, and I've built large healthy companies before. This one will just be a bit crazier because of where we have customers.

I think the Gensler model will work well for us, and that's what we'll likely go with. In other words, customers define office placement. But then... more scenarios. At least we're healthy under all scenarios! That's a nice thing to live with right now. Stay tuned for big announcements as we're given permission.

The crazy part is that I get to do all this work from the place I love most.