When we started the company a few years ago, we had no idea what we were in for. We had to:
- Come up with a product
- Build a consistent, repeatable process
- Hire the right people to help perform that process
- Train them how to do the process
- Scale it up bigger
- Build training classes for the public to learn the process
- Scale those classes up bigger too
- And along the way, solve all kinds of challenges around accounting, attorneys, sales, marketing, support, and human resources
It was seriously hard work, and we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished together. A few months ago, we recognized that we were having a bit of a champagne moment – we’d built a successful consulting practice and successful training classes.
Now, we’re at an interesting point in the company because it’s time to think about the next big things to build. We talked a lot about what we wanted to next, and what success looked like for each of us. We decided that the best way forward was for one of us to run the company from here on out. Any of us could have done it and been equally successful – we all love what we’re doing here and we have fun ideas on how to move forward – but I lost won the rock-paper-scissors match.
So the company is buying out Jeremiah and Kendra’s shares, and they’re going to take a really well-deserved break to figure out what they want to do next. I’m really excited to see what they end up doing, and of course I’m just as excited for my own work to come.
Join me in congratulating Jeremiah & Kendra.
Related – here’s our individual posts:
149 Comments. Leave new
Kendra I just took your indexing training video’s and you are a great teacher. You will be missed, Good luck in the future.
Aww, thanks James! It’s comments like that which really make a difference. That means a ton.
I just want to say thanks too as your video on heaps in SQL Server was really helpful for me as I was able to build a more informed argument to get a software supplier to alter their software for the good of all users across the UK!
Good luck in whatever you do next.
Robin
Wow! Congratulations and good luck with your future endeavours. All y’all. I know what it means to build a company, and Kendra and Jeremiah deserve a rest. I think Brent will sleep when he’s dead.
Randolph – hahaha, surprisingly, I get more sleep than anybody I know. I’m usually in bed by 8:30pm. (I wake up at 4-4:30 though.)
Jeremiah and Kendra thank you so much for all you have done. You both have certainly changed the trajectory of many DBA & developer careers. Best wishes on your next endeavors. A very heart felt “Thank You” is definitely in order.
Best of Luck Jeremiah and Kendra! Your knowledge, experience, candor, and of course, your humor, will be missed!
Thank you Jason! I’m confident Erik will say things to make you laugh at inappropriate times during Office Hours 🙂
Best of luck in your future endeavours! Hope you guys keep making awesome videos for us saps without training budgets.
I still have my green screen, so I don’t see why not! They may all be April 1 themed for a while, though. I’m picturing a blender based approach to query tuning featuring a Vitamix.
I’m glad to have had the chance to be in a classroom with all three of you. You were all great to be around and I hope to see all of you in the future.
Kevin – thanks man! Yeah, we have so much fun teaching together, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we hopped up onstage together at some point in the future.
Thanks for everything Jeremiah and Kendra! Your posts/videos have been really helpful to me.
Aww, thanks for saying that! That is awesome to read.
Wow! Hard to imagine starting with the old Ozar PLF days that I would see this day. I wish to congratulate Kendra and Jeremiah on their successes and wish them well in all their future endeavors. And to Brent, congratulations on the success of the company. Bet you never thought this would happen back in the Miami days! I cannot thank you guys enough for all your contributions to the SQL Server community. And I will always be grateful for the knowledge and guidance you shared. Also for all the laughs. (Dr. SQL, losing “wait” with Brent Simmons, the Protector of the floppy eared bunnies, DBA reactions, etc.) I’m sure there are great things in store for all of you!
Dave – thanks! Yeah, I neeeeever expected anything like this company to happen. It’s been incredibly fulfilling working alongside Jeremiah and Kendra, and then later folks like Doug, Erik, and Angie. I can’t believe I get to do this for a living.
You’ll be missed! Good luck 🙂
Thank you Joseph!
Congrats you two. I will miss your intellect, sense of humor and ability to explain complex SQL things to idiots like me.
So who’s turn will it be to watch Brent – someone has got to keep the corny jokes under control?? Kendra and Jeremiah – good luck and I look forward to seeing you back posting soon!
Darrell – HAHAHA
Wow. Good luck to both Jeremiah and Kendra!
Brent, my best wishes as you move forward.
John
Thanks sir!
This must be a very emotive moment for you guys, best of luck to you all!
Congrats to two well deserving people. I have enjoyed our anonymous, log-distance relationship and will miss you both – especially J’s unique perspectives during “office hours”. I guess this means that all I have left is B.O. Thanks for all you both have done for me as SQL Server (de)mentors. I hope for you both the best going forward in your professional and personal lives. Thanks a million.
cv
wow… can’t believe it, I wish you all the best.
This will be nothing but good for everyone. It’s not like those two are necessarily going away. They’re likely to be creating awesome content somewhere else while other new names create awesome content at Ozar.
It’s a great time to consume content!
I wish you all the best! You all are a great team. I hope that the next projects will be similar, will have the same joy, pleasure.
Thank you for the well wishes. You’re totally right– it’s been a joy and pleasure to work with everyone here at BOU! So lucky to have been a part of this.
Good luck to Jeremiah, Kendra and Brent. I can say with confidence, you guys have built one of the most followed websites and blog post in the MS SQL World.
Super knowledge, tools, super courses (have taken a couple about Storage, HA etc.).
Looking forward to more ..
Anand – I read that as “MS SQL Word” and it was a lot funnier. 😀 Thanks!
“MSSQL Word”. Oh dear. Shades of SQL Clippy. “It looks like you’re trying to DROP a TABLE. Can I help with that?”
Best of luck to all of you. You’re all awesome at what you do, so I know you will be successful together or separately.
Thank you, Robert. And right back at you 🙂
Congrats to all! Good luck with any new ventures… From the outside looking in it seemed you had the perfect dynamic! Pure pleasure to watch the vids – webcasts and read the blogs… Just one thing..Isn’t Kendra responsible for the Caricatures..? Good luck to all
Paul – thanks! Kendra illustrated her videos, but we’ve got a professional artist who does our profile drawings.
Good luck to everyone! We look forward to all of y’all’s future adventures!
Thanks, Rudy!
Wow, I am excited for Brent, I have followed and used his advise for years. But I am sadden I will be loosing the Jeremiah and Kendra as ‘mentors’. I have learned so much from them. I wish you the best of luck, and know you will succeed at whatever you two decide to do. (wedding bells and babies?)
Kendra, I will miss your cartoons that helped explain often difficult concepts. Jeremiah, I will miss the new concepts you have brought to my world.
Brent, you will have to now put on your big boy ‘shorts’ and be the mentor we all know you can be.
Stay safe and see you all soon,
Bryon
Bryon – wait, I have to put on pants?!?!? Oh, man, this company thing blows.
^^ That’s how I feel every morning to start the workday…
Brent, there’s always Fridays:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51duC8aSOoL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
;^)
Good luck in your future endeavors, all, and keep those cards and email letters coming!
Phil H.
I truly enjoyed your classes with all three of you. You all work so well together and are able to piggy back off of each other with each of your unique knowledge and insight. I know this isn’t the end of your friendship but it is the end of an era! I will continue to see all of you at conferences and training events as I truly enjoy each of your styles! Cheers and good luck!
Awww, thanks sir!
Awww, thanks! Don’t be a stranger at conferences.
Wow! I will really miss Kendra and Jeremiah! I have followed and used the advice for years and passed on your website to many! I wish you both the best of luck knowing both will be successful at whatever they decide to do. Good luck to you, too, Brent!
Congratulations Kendra and Jeremiah! Best of luck to you both on your new journeys and whatever comes your way, continue being awesome!
I must admit that I’m very sad to hear that you guys are leaving, J & K. I’m new to the community here and have really appreciated tapping your vast wells of knowledge! (I hope to be able to continue to do so, eventually.) With that being said, I wish you both the very best and wanted to give a fair warning: don’t be surprised to find people like me chasing your shadows in the future! 🙂
This is worst than when I heard David Lee Roth left Van Halen or probably Sammy Hagar joining the band was worst news??? (Riz get ready for hate mail)….
I had the pleasure of meeting Brent in Seattle with Paul, Kimberly, and I know this guy is a rocket surgeon, (better than brain surgeon or rocket scientist) but then Kendra and Jeremiah repeatedly proved that there are other SQL gods in this universe as well. Needless to say, like many others I am very sad to see them go, I hope both continue to blog/mentor in some capacity cause they do have very dedicated following as well.
Wish you all the best
Best of luck to all of you. You have all been a huge help to me in my career; more than you know and more than I can express. Huge huge huge huge thanks and an equally huge huge huge huge good luck. Kendra, make sure you pack your own bags, no offense Jeremiah but your last name is in the unpronounceable (like mine) so you’ll only hold her back 😛
LOL. I’m keeping my unpronounceable Peschka around. 🙂
It’s been great getting to know you, Ayman, and I look forward to seeing you again at a community even soon!
I’m hoping to get to the PASS Summit soon. I’ll be seeing Brent this week, so maybe you and Mr. Peschka should swing by DC a little more often. Especially when you want to see some snow, traffic, and snow + traffic. We’re good for that!
Wish you gents well, always look forward to reading your cool stuff
Wow! Big news! Congrats to all. I enjoyed many a Tuesday webcast from Kendra and Jeremiah. Thank you for your contributions. I wish you much success.
Thanks, Gary!
I will be an optimist and presume that the future will bring us 2 or 3 great SQL Server resources instead of just brentozar.com.
Thanks for great training videos and content and best wishes for your future endeavors.
Duncan
You know it! I’ll still be writing on my own blog, as will Kendra. Now we won’t have to play rock, paper, scissors when the blog schedule gets full!
Thank you, Duncan! We’ll do our best to make that come true.
sorry to hear about kendra indexing across the world will suffer
When I die, I want this to be my obituary. In large font, please. 🙂
Not comic sans?
It is sad to see Kendra and Jeremiah leaving Brent Ozar!! Good luck to you all and continue being awesome!!!
Don’t be sad! There’s so much awesomeness still be to had from Brent Ozar Unlimited, and Jeremiah and I will do our best to keep the legacy going on our own little paths. Thanks for the wishes, always happy for luck!
Good Luck Jeremiah and Kendra,
I’ve had some great conversations with both of you and wish you both the best!
You will be missed, although you will still be with us in video, I know the community will see you both around, yet before that take the Holidaze off and enjoy life!
P.S. Nick a coffee cup on the way out!!!
Thank you, Kevin! I promise that we won’t be strangers. And also that we have stolen the coffee cups.
Wow. Wow. I just hope the whole thing was mutual and there are no ill wills amongst you. All three of you are tremendously awesome people. Interested in hearing of the future plans.
HAHAHA, no, no ill will at all. We still get along great. (I can’t even imagine how hard the legal process would be if there was ill will – even with us marching to the same drum, it still took weeks of legal work, hahaha.)
Well, there was the banana bunker “incident”. But really, that just brought you and Jeremiah closer together.
Gosh. This is like when the A-Team broke up. End of an era!
I love it when a plan to make Merrill cry comes together…
I’m not crying. It’s … um … dusty in here. Something in my eye.
Please tell me that I was Murdoch.
BA
Absolutely
It seems like only yesterday you were all starting out as Brent Ozar Pilaf.
Wow, That’s Wonderful and shocking news! I wish best for your new adventures Kendra and Jeremiah, I’m sure you will be still part of our big SQL Family and we will see you here and there. And I wish best for Brent with single handed continuing your life epic quest 🙂
Huge news. Looking forward to seeing what all three of you get up to! All the best.
Well that’s just great. I have this Christmas card from you guys and a third of the people on it are gone now. It doesn’t look nearly as festive on my desk with giant red Xs on it. Just tell me the dog is still there.
I sincerely wish the best of luck to each of you and thank you for what I’ve learned from you so far and what I’ll undoubtedly learn from each of you in the future.
Wait right a second here, which of us did you X out?
Well I was going to X out you and Jeremiah but I went with 2 of the new guys instead. Welcome back to BOU!
Hey Kendra,
Just want to drop a note, saying thanks for the indexing videos as well. I was wondering for the longest time when I was hired to maintain an in-house ERP system, which ran so slow on decent server hardware. Reports were taking > 30 minutes to generate. After setting up a maintenance schedule that also notifies of hardware problems, reports now generate in about 45 seconds to two minutes. Vast improvement, I’d say.
Thanks again!
WAT?!?!? Oh, that is an incredible story. I’m so glad to have been a part of that. Very cool!
Haha! Yep!
Prior to me being there, the database was never on a backup/maintenance routine. Now, we have TX logs every half-hour, full db backups mid day and end of work day, and a smaller database size due to it having that full backup to reference on. The TX log prior was a whopping 80+GB. Now it’s a manageable 125MB. I wish I had screenshots prior to the implementations.
Wait! Who gets custody of Richie Rump?
He’s hiding in Brent’s closet right now.
Pfft. Like I ever left. Wait a second. Who are these people? WHERE DID BRENT GO? WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE MOVED?!??!?
🙂
HAHAHAHA!!!
Jeremiah and Kendra,
I hope you continue blogging or writing articles somewhere. It is all very useful. Your articles have helped me become a better DBA.
Thanks,
James Morrison
Thanks James! Both Jeremiah and I have blogs offsite, and we plan to keep writing and sharing with the community. Glad to know we’ve helped, that’s wonderful.
Meanwhile, from the company chatroom:
Doug: Brent, you got it all wrong.
Brent: Ah, that little farce you played with Reporting Services. You think that would fool an Ozar?
Doug: Brent, I’m innocent. I swear to Ed Codd.
Brent: Sit down.
Doug: Please don’t do this to me, Brent. Please don’t.
Brent: Ford is gone. So is Jes Borland. Peschka. Little. Today I settled all family business so don’t tell me that you’re innocent. Admit what you did.
I’m kidding I’m kidding! 😀 Congrats to all and good luck!
Plot twist: Doug is the puppet master.
Doug Lane is Keyser Soze!
THAT EXPLAINS THE HAND UP MY BUTT
Wow…as you can see folks, SQL Server isn’t the only thing you learn when you follow BOU! Good luck guys and thanks!
TMI!
Wow! Jeremiah and Kendra, congratulations and the best of luck to you both!
Post-Ozar will be interesting, I am sure, but a do-it-yourself sabbatical and some traveling would be fabulous. Why not? Take care of yourselves for a bit. You certainly deserve it!! I look forward to future blog posts from both of you. 🙂
Thank you! The next six months are going to be amazing.
Good luck to J&K on your journey! I really enjoyed learning from you both in all of the webinars over the last couple of years. It can be so difficult to find clear, concise and accurate information from folks with reliable first-hand experience, and you both teach really well to boot! SUPER bummed I couldn’t get out to any of your in-person classes!
Blessings on the journey ahead!
Well it might have been odd to have them buy you out and have the company name Brent Ozar LLC 🙂
good luck to all, especially the newly minted “CEO”!
We would have changed the name of the company to Charles Schwab, of course. 🙂
Thanks, Steve!
Hahaha, thanks sir!
I have enjoyed your weekly emails, newsletters, blog posts, training videos, and everything else I could get my hands on. Jeremiah and Kendra, you will be missed! You have been such familiar faces; this is going to take some getting used to. Best wishes in the future!
They will be missed. I always enjoy their webinars and Office Hours. So much knowledge, passion, and enthusiasm for their craft. Best of luck to you both in your future endeavors.
Kendra, if you get a chance you should come out to Wyoming (Kemmerer) and hunt for fossils. They aren’t dinos but very interesting anyway.
I love fossils! I’ve been to Wyoming once, it’s really beautiful there.
One of my best 2015 decision was jumping into the Chicago training this year and met all of you in person together! In addition of the technical material, the teamwork and the personality of each of you were all amazing and alot to learn from. Thanks for all the sharing and laughter all this year. Wish everyone of you the best.
Thanks Travis! You were fun to have in class, too.
Good luck to all of you! I feel obligated to mention that roughly two and a half years ago, I started on this whole DBA thing. Where did I start walking? With Brent Ozar webinars and blog posts, of course! Brent taught me how to benchmark and troubleshooty my SAN performance for my very first migration. Kendra taught me all about table partitioning and replication. And Jeremiah introduced me into the wide world of cloud (which I still maintain is just a fancy term for outsourcing your infrastructure, darnit). I am going to miss seeing all the incredible content you guys put out together, but I am sure you will all find happiness and success in everything you do – and that is a good thing! =)
I am so sorry about the replication and partitioning. My condolences 😉
Thanks, Jerrod!
Awww, thanks sir!
I took Kendra’s index tuning class and Jeremiah’s on reading execution plans. I now have a career that pays me to apply the stuff. Couldn’t thank you anymore; you’re ace. Best of luck both!
Your comment alone makes the last 4 years extra-meaningful. That’s awesome.
Oh wow! You just made my year with that comment. Thank you! I’m glad that the course helped you excel and get the kind of work you want.
So very sad to see you two leave BOU, but I’m very excited to see what you will be doing in the future! I have learned a lot from you guys and I can’t express how grateful I am for that. Good luck and best wishes!
Now what am I supposed to do with these magnets?
Exactly what you were doing with them before– spelling out startling sentences on the conference room whiteboard 🙂
Lars – collectors items! Sell ’em on eBay!
One thing is for sure; you are all incredibly talented, and you will all continue to be very successful.
Best wishes to you all, on the next chapter of your lives. I’ll look forward to seeing where life takes you next.
It is with deep sadness to see you go but with utmost enthusiasm on your new adventures. The world is your sessile, bi-valve mollusk. It was an honor to have been able to take classes from the original trio and your trainings, videos, and chats have been instrumental in getting me to where I am today. (ROCK>me<HARD PLACE). 🙂 Seriously, though. Best wishes in your future endeavors and thanks for all the great advice. You leave the Bazzar, er, Bizarre, um, BOzar in a great place!
No No you can’t go !!! :). Whatever am I going to do when the Googlits spray rubbish around who is going to be my steady rock in the ocean of jumped up conclusions and rampant incorrectness ?? Too dramatic ???
Well, I’m sure it is for the best for both of you and from someone away away in Oz, you have both been terrific and I wish you all the very best. Oh I’m sure there is nothing going to keep either of you away for too long – just don’t be toooo long.
You will be missed..
Kindest regards
Mal
I would like to be the new padawan of next generation… jeje Good luck to you guys Kendra and Jeremiah you teach us to much…
Luck is the excuse of incompetent…
So I do not wish luck to you…
I wish you success!!!
Awwww you will be missed! Good luck on your endeavors!!
Kendra and Jeremiah, you will be missed greatly. I have enjoyed your training sessions and learned a lot! The Brent Ozar Unlimited site has been my “go-to” site for SQL information since the “PLF” days. I appreciate your contribution to the SQL community. I look forward to seeing what your next adventures will be!
Brent , best of luck moving the company forward. See you at “office hours”.
Congrats and good luck!
Best wishes to you (all). I’ve done several of your webinars and videos; used your sp_ask* probes; and your various web posts are generally the first thing I read each morning. I was thrown into the deep end of the wading pool a few years ago but thanks to you I rarely have to work past supper!
Thank you for your generosity and use of your talents!
Really, is it April 1st already?! Well, best of luck guys, your experience, tuition and help have just been immense and of course, all the very best of luck Brent heading forwards.
Happy and Sad; Happy for you guys! I know you’ll do great things! Sad for me. My daily routine is coffee, Ozar and Company – what’s am I to do?
Best of Luck Kendra & Jeremiah. Kendra you are not only super smart (also Jeremiah too) but also down to earth. That reminds me of the saying – people who are truly great are truly humble.
Meher
Thanks guys for all the helpful hints through the years and all the free information you all provided. It was nice when Jeremiah was hired by one of our customers and he validated our setup and install work on their servers as acceptable. We knew we were doing something right. Good luck in the future!
Congrats on the early retirement to the 2 of you (although someone needs to break out the news that you don’t qualify for Medicare yet). Best of luck!
Can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you.
I trust Doug can keep Brent in check in your absence.
LOL, while I like the concept of retiring, even if I could do that I think it’d drive me nuts. I’m taking six months to work on community projects and travel a bit, but probably can’t pull that off for the rest of my life.
I felt a great disturbance in SQL Server, as if millions of queries suddenly had key lookups, and were unable to find a covering index.
Actually, congrats to everyone! Sounds like an exciting new chapter is fixing to open up. Best of luck on the new ventures and enjoy your travels!
Finally, a metaphor that I can understand!
Thanks, Steven 🙂
Kendra, Jeremiah
Wish you both all the best on your next steps and I just hope you’ll continue in the same line of work as the SQL world will be a much richer world with you in it. Your videos were really food for thought and I want to thank you for that.
Brent, now that you might have 2 openings and me having pretty much same sleeping pattern (in bed by 8:30pm and my cats are waking me up at 4 – 4:30am), is this making me a potential candidate ? Joke aside, wish you all the best with the down-sized team and hope the training videos will still be one of your regulars…
Alin
Alin – HAHAHA, no, I need people who keep a *different* sleep schedule than me so we can have better coverage. 😉
Kendra, Jeremiah and Brent
I’m glad I was able to attend a class and learned from the three SQL Amigos!!! You guys are a fantastic team.
Kendra and Jeremiah best of luck and looking forward to what you come up next. Have fun traveling and relaxing!
It sounds, like Brent will have more blogs to write and emails to answer.
Thanks to all of you, I’m a recent convert but have gained a bunch of knowledge and laughs in a very short space of time. Really enjoyed your class Kendra.
Best of luck to you all for the future.
Kendra: a 6-month break? But where will I get my unicorn & dinosaur-infested diagram fixes?
Seriously, have a great time away from it all. And thanks for the truly huge effort you have put into your articles and videos.
Congratulations Kendra and Jeremiah!
It appears that (apart from thisisnotatheologicalissuewhichwhilefineisnotthepointofthiscomment) the only constant is change.
Side note to you youngsters (if I may): I am 63, have been making a living developing software for almost 30 years now, self taught, still dealing with knuckleheads of all types, still drinking from the learning firehose, still *choosing* to sometimes work until 3:00AM and still fascinated by it all.
Yes, my older brother DID get me to ride my tricycle down the stairs when I was four. We both survived; he with mom & me with the stairs.
Jeremiah, Kendra – It appears you have this already figured out but I would remind you during this transition to remember to go TO something not FROM something. Find what you are passionate about and just go for it.
Now for a small theological tip: Augustine is attributed to saying, “Love God and do as you please.” I’d say the same.
Warmest regards.
Well!
I’m really happy it is an amicable and joint decision. I got in under the wire it seems when I took the week-long training course in Chicago this year. You’re all fine teachers, which is rare in any field but especially so in tech. I appreciate so much the work you have all put into the site and your service to the industry, and you don’t hear me say it more often because it would come across almost fawning, if you know what I mean. Continued success to all of you!
I have over 25 years experience managing DB2, Oracle and now SQLServer. After attending numerous database conferences, attending specialized training and having access to some of the best tools in the Industry, I can say that the one place I get my most valuable information is BrentOzar.com and his partners.
I am happy for all of you and wish you all good luck. But please do not let this product slide, you will force me into premature retirement.
Jeremiah and Kendra,
Best of luck to both of you in. I hope Brent lets you make a cameo in the training sessions every once and a while.
Kendra.
Sorry, but you were flat out best presenter. In all my research on brentozar.com, the articles, blogs and posts that most had to do with my everyday challenges of sql development were posted by you.
You never tried to impress with some whiz-bang-flash inner secrets of the sql server engine that most of us are never going to contact with. It was all a very useful, down-to-earth, and very helpful exchage on your part.
Thank you.
Mike, that’s the nicest thing EVER. I hope to live up to your comment!
Everyone else, I swear I didn’t write that comment. Seriously. It wasn’t me.
RIIIIIIGHT
A big thank you to you all, you have saved me several times and have made me look impressive on several occasions with sp_blitz, index and several other tools, you will both do well no matter where you are and no matter what you do in the future – I wish you all well.
This company has provided some of the best training material I have seen. From paid courses to the lunch time sessions. I will you all continued success and please keep the info flowing.