Ambrook’s 11 team retreats, a story in photos.
Working at Ambrook is unlike any other startup. We don’t spend all our time in the office — our team travels the country, visiting ranches in Montana, ag conferences in Wisconsin, diversified farms in Vermont, and more. It’s such a privilege to visit the places where our customers work and call home, learning from the land they steward. Touching grass is just part of how we do things.
Our team is distributed across the United States: with offices in New York and Colorado and teammates working remotely in California, Washington, Minnesota, and Massachusetts. There’s something different about getting together in person. These retreats are about more than just work. They’re a chance to connect with each other and those we serve, engage in thoughtful collaboration and — most importantly — share some fun memories.
After 11 retreats and nearly five years, here are a few of our favorite moments from a team that loves being together.
Retreat 000: Denver, CO
Our small but mighty team of eight wound up stationed at Jeff’s house for Colorado hiking, urban scootering, board games, and farm-to-table eats. We spent the week on air mattresses and spread out over every square inch of available space. It had the classic feel of early startup energy, but with plenty of nature to explore.
This was the first time our cofounders had seen each other since the Covid-19 pandemic began. The first iteration of Ambrook was helping farmers across America apply for federal funding to help them get through the pandemic. We spent this week building out what is now the Ambrook Funding Library — something that still helps thousands of farmers get access to funding every year.
Retreat 001: Red Hook, NY
We started our second retreat coworking in New York City, then headed north to a U-pick farm in Dutchess County. We helped out around the grounds, built owl boxes, and got a bonfire going. At this point in our journey, we were helping farmers qualify for millions of dollars worth of grants. Mid-retreat, we turned the farmhouse living room into a war room to help a customer apply to a large grant. It all wrapped up with hand-picked berries and BBQ burgers.
Retreat 002: San Rafael, CA
Later that year in 2021, our next retreat brought us to San Rafael, just an hour north of San Francisco. The team gathered for a focused working session, including readouts on recent design partner feedback from onsite visits and a brainstorming session on our 2022 strategy. Littering our Airbnb with sticky notes, we explored the question, “How might we build a 10x better QuickBooks for agriculture?” In between sessions, we went on hikes, tried tidepooling, and dined on delicious seafood.
Retreat 003: Nederland, CO
We had several Colorado customers by this point, so this one was part retreat, part in-person farm visit. We visited urban operation Unlikely Farms for breakfast, road tripped to Niccoli Livestock’s goat farm, and spent the day with Teo and Darnell at High Haven Ranch. Colorado also set the backdrop for our mini-documentary with Stripe, which you can watch here.
Retreat 004: Burlington, VT
We spent this trip embedded with our design partner Bread & Butter Farm, learning the ins and outs of their operation alongside owners, managers, and staff. We learned about regenerative techniques and sustainable home building, and then herded cattle as part of their rotational grazing practice. We finished each day with farm-to-table meals at Burlington’s top restaurants and slept cozily in beautiful Stowe. John led a barefoot walk through Brewster River Gorge to cap off our time in the Green Mountain State.
Retreat 005: Maui, HI
When the opportunity came up to visit a diversified operation for a customer discovery trip, the team didn’t hesitate — our team generously agreed to head to Maui. We had local lunch with Hāna Ranch managers Rose and Duane, would go on to become one of Ambrook’s early design partners. While on-site, we hiked to the highest point in the area, pet free-roaming horses, and ate ulu and oranges straight from the branch.
In our spare time we beached, zip-lined, braved the legendary Road to Hana, and hacked from oceanside recliners.
Retreat 006: Los Angeles, CA
In LA, the food was front and center: downtown small plates and rooftop BBQ wagyu burgers from the storefront of one of our early customers, WhiteBarn. Our Los Angeles teammate Maika guided us through her favorite local gems.
We filled our days with communication workshops, a team-wide sprint for a customer milestone, and bonfires on the beach. Our last excursion was an after-hours facility tour with our friend’s family, who owns and operates LA Produce Distributors — a reminder that even in the heart of the city, agricultural production remains the backbone of how we live.
Retreat 007: New York City, NY
This retreat marked the opening of our Ambrook NYC office. Our 15-person team flew from across the country to transform it from an empty loft into a cozy space that reflects how we work — collaborative, grounded, and a little eclectic. We had spent the weeks before tracking down antique furniture from estate sales and Facebook marketplace, curating a collection that now defines the office’s distinctive charm.
For the retreat, our team ventured to Staten Island for a tour of the Greenbelt Native Plant Center, then tried to add to our plant collection with a terrarium-building workshop — though most of the plants didn’t survive the month.
We capped it all off with an official Ambrook HQ housewarming party — the first of many gatherings to come.
Retreat 008: Denver, CO
This retreat felt full circle. Just two years earlier, we gathered in Denver post-pandemic for what was Retreat 000. Back then, there were eight of us on air mattresses at Jeff’s house. By this time, the team had more than doubled; we spread between multiple Airbnbs.
With the full team in town, we hosted an Ambrook Research party to celebrate the launch of The Only Thing That Lasts — Ambrook’s first podcast series — at Comal Heritage Food Incubator. We gathered with members of the Denver ag, climate, food, and tech communities to mark the occasion, an ecosystem that Ambrook Colorado is now proud to be a part of. Later in the week, we headed to the National Western Stock Show, where we score VIP seats to the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) finals.
Some of the team wrapped up the retreat with a weekend ski trip to Nederland and Brian’s birthday celebration.
Retreat 009: Hudson Valley, NY
In the heat of July, our team once again flew into NYC — but this time we road-tripped Upstate to the Hudson Valley. We stayed in Airstreams nestled in the Catskills, ate apricots straight off the trees at a local winery, and browsed antique shops in Hudson.
This retreat centered on storytelling — both personal and collective. As Ambrook grows, we’ve been thinking more deeply about what it means to scale without losing sight of our mission. We reflected on the small businesses that shape our families and communities, and brainstormed how Ambrook could better serve them. Through workshops on brand, habits, and company strategy, we recommitted to our vision: making small businesses across America more profitable and resilient, so they can stay independent.
After the retreat, some teammates stayed on to visit Ambrook customer New Moon Farmstead in Central New York — a climate-smart producer and dairy grazing apprenticeship leader. We dug deeper into regenerative practices, grant reporting, and building better tools for producers like her.
Retreat 010: Sonoma, CA
Last month, we gathered at Occidental Arts & Ecology Center (OAEC) for our 11th retreat — our largest one yet. It was a chance for our 22-person team to reflect on and celebrate a year of growth: more teammates, more customers, more offerings. We paired cross functionally across engineering, ops and growth to better understand each other’s day-to-day work and chart a course for what’s next.
We were grateful to spend that time in a space that so closely aligned with our values. OEAC is a mostly self-sufficient community, with food grown on-site, closed-loop composting systems, and a renowned greywater treatment infrastructure — part of their WATER Institute, which promotes watershed health and climate-resilient land stewardship. Even the hot tub we relaxed in after team sessions was filled with copper filtered water.
On the last morning, some of us were crazy enough to run a half marathon from Occidental to the coast to catch a sunrise. It was the perfect trip to plan for the kind of future we want to help build — one where American small businesses stay independent and sustainability can be profitable.
The last 11 retreats have shaped who we are — not just as a company, but as a team. They’ve taken us across the country, into our customers’ homes and pastures, and into conversations that have pushed us forward. And we’re just getting started.
If what we’re doing resonates with you, we have several open positions in engineering, growth, and ops. We’d love to hear from you!
