My Name Is Chris Quigley — This Is Why I Joined Aha!

Is there anything more exhilarating than waking up in a new place? It always fills me with wonder about what the day will bring. So far I have been to 24 countries — but I am not simply checking items off a bucket list. Exploring new sights and meeting fascinating folks is invigorating. The promise of new adventure is what propels me to the next destination.

Curiosity drives me — to ask questions, connect with people, and say yes to opportunities.

I have always loved working with people. After university I joined an international hotel chain as a customer service representative. Later, I took time off to tour Southeast Asia, New Zealand, and Australia. I returned home to England and worked for the same hotel chain — again in customer support, followed by accounting and then recruiting. Each role allowed me to learn a new side of the business.

When I was ready to gain experience in a new industry, I joined a tech company as a solutions support analyst. We primarily worked with oil and gas companies. I learned all I could and within four years became the product owner and manager for the company's primary application — a cloud-based platform that measured well output and gave customers tools to analyze and report on the data. It was thrilling to be at the helm of an industry-leading product.

It takes courage and confidence to embrace new challenges, but this is the surest way I have found to learn and grow.

When the company was acquired by a large international corporation, priorities shifted and visibility into work across the organization suffered. I knew we needed a better way to track cross-functional work and visualize dependencies. So I started looking for roadmapping and product management software to help me in my role. When I came across Aha! in my search, I also saw the job listing for a Product Success specialist.

I knew I had to apply. I missed working in a nimble environment, and my experience in both customer support and product management seemed perfectly aligned with the role. Aha! felt like a place where I could really excel and make an impact. Plus I was eager to utilize my product expertise and deep empathy for customers to a new opportunity — helping people and companies achieve their goals.

At the time I was a bit worried about joining a remote company. I find great joy in building relationships and wondered if I would feel isolated. But it turns out I am actually more engaged with my distributed teammates than I ever was in-office. We connect often — both socially and over work.

I am surrounded by people who are brilliant, fun, and passionate about what they do. I also love interacting with customers who are genuinely excited about our products.

It is a pleasure to help people solve the problems I faced in previous product development roles. And I am encouraged to embrace my curiosity. The learning never ends at Aha! — every day brings new problems to solve and challenges to tackle.

That is why I joined Aha! — and why you should too.