As a fully remote company, moments of in-person connection are deeply cherished. December 4-6, 2024, the Monoline team came together for our first-ever annual offsite in the stunning Napa Valley, and what an unforgettable experience it was! Over the course of a few days, we reflected on the successes of 2024, embraced opportunities for growth, and set ambitious goals for 2025. This gathering was a chance to strengthen our bonds, reaffirm our mission, and recharge our collective energy as we continue to innovate and serve.

Why Napa?

When deciding where to host our first-ever annual offsite, Napa Valley stood out as the perfect place to enjoy picturesque beauty while serving as a reflection of our philosophy as a company. Our four co-founders are guiding our company to "grow grapes, not corn," and Napa symbolizes this vision perfectly.

Corn and grapes offer two very different approaches to growth, much like the choices companies face. Corn requires vast acreage to produce sufficient harvests, many farms stretching over more than 750 acres. With each stalk producing only a few ears annually, its roots are shallow, and the soil it grows in is depleted after harvest, necessitating constant crop rotation to restore its nutrients. This cycle of extraction and renewal contrasts sharply with the enduring nature of grapevines.

Grapes thrive in smaller spaces—just fifty acres can yield a marketable crop. Each vine has deep roots, producing thousands of grapes annually while enriching the soil and surrounding ecosystem. Remarkably, grapevines improve with age, reaching peak production after decades, embodying the kind of long-term growth and sustainability we strive for as a company.

At Monoline, we aim to grow like grapevines: small but mighty, deeply rooted, and abundantly fruitful. We focus on nurturing lasting relationships, producing exceptional results, and building a strong foundation that sustains and enriches everyone we serve.

Hosting our offsite in Napa Valley allowed us to immerse ourselves in an environment that mirrors our values, serving as a reminder of the lasting impact we hope to create through intentional, thoughtful growth.

Reflecting on 2024 and Looking Ahead to 2025

We kicked off the week by reviewing our accomplishments from the past year and exploring opportunities for the year ahead. With 130,000 lines of code written in 2024, our engineering team’s agility and responsiveness to customer feedback have been pivotal in delivering products that grow and improve in real time. Our Technical Team Lead, Sergio Miranda, shared the philosophy and structure that define our engineering culture. Sergio has cultivated an environment where each engineer takes immense pride in their work. Through a careful process of peer reviews focusing on constructive, actionable, and respectful feedback, our team has built innovative solutions that make life easier for the personal umbrella account executives we serve. This approach keeps us agile, enabling us to swiftly incorporate customer feedback and deliver real-time improvements to our platform.

Recommitting to Our Core Values

At Monoline, our core values guide everything we do:

Putting people first
Being a positive presence in the world
Staying always curious
Bringing a batteries-included energy

This offsite was an opportunity to recommit to these principles as we look toward the future. One of the most inspiring moments of the week was visiting Napa’s beautiful vineyards, where we learned about the meticulous and loving care that goes into every bottle of wine. The process reinforced our belief in growing like grapevines: putting down deep roots, growing strong together, and bearing fruit that consistently improves the lives of the account executives and personal lines leaders we serve.

Celebrating Rachel Crump’s Incredible Year

The crowning moment of our offsite was honoring Rachel Crump, our Agency Transfer Manager, with the first-ever Living the Values recognition. Rachel has exemplified everything Monoline stands for this year:

She always puts people first.
Her positivity lights up every room she enters.
Her endless curiosity leads to new solutions and innovations.
She brings boundless energy to every challenge.

In 2024, Rachel built a new department, hired and onboarded two new team members, connected in-person with over 700 of the agents we serve, and launched our SimpleSwitch program, all while battling AND BEATING cancer! Her resilience, determination, and dedication are truly awe-inspiring, and we were thrilled to celebrate her incredible contributions. Staying true to our core value of being a positive presence in the world, Monoline will make a donation in Rachel’s name to the charity of her choice. More on that coming up in a future blog post!

Grateful, Inspired, and Ready for 2025

As our week in Napa came to a close, we left feeling grateful for the time spent together, inspired by the path ahead, and recharged to make 2025 our best year yet. With deep roots and strong bonds, we’re ready to continue growing and bearing fruit that makes a meaningful difference for our partners and their clients. Here’s to innovation, collaboration, and an exciting year ahead! #MonolineOffsite2024