We have no ceiling at PAR.
Reflecting on my six years at PAR Technology, I’m amazed at how often we’ve shattered our own expectations. Every step of the PAR journey has been hard, not obvious, and was never given to us. We were the team no one believed in, burdened with debt and limited resources, yet we transformed ourselves and our business. Our Day 1 mentality has driven us to dream without limits, with the confidence to take audacious (often contrarian) swings and see them through.
In 2018, we faced countless doubts: “You don’t have the money or the people,” “What do hardware teams know about software?” “Enterprise POS is too small a market,” “You can’t combine front of house and back of house,” “Enterprise restaurants aren’t a big enough TAM,” and so on. But with every step, we broke through those ceilings.
I believe deeply that it was our Day 1 mentality that drove these outcomes. Our Day 1 mentality is rooted in the idea that there is no ceiling high enough for a team willing to believe in the collective as much as they believe in themselves, willing to believe that value created will always be rewarded, and willing to believe that if we put the right people around the table with the right direction, no problem is too large. Day 1 is our commitment to never settle for the business we have today.
I’m often asked by investors, “Where are you now compared to where you thought you’d be?” I smile because, honestly, no one could have predicted this journey. But here we are. It wasn’t through strategic planning—it was driven by the sincere belief that by attracting and retaining exceptional talent with enormous appetites, the outcomes would follow and we’d blow through any upper limit put on us.
Today, when I’m asked what PAR will look like in five years, I chuckle again and say “I have no idea!” But what I do know is that we have no ceiling and linear expectations will never align to the team we’ve built.
My father, who is often my harshest critic, tells: “A cat that dreams of being a lion must lose its appetite for rats.” My dad’s advice can take some time to digest 😊, but this one hit fast: it’s being a Day 1 thinker! We aren’t just dreaming about becoming successful at PAR, we dream with the understanding that to accomplish our dreams, we must be willing to change and question everything we started with.
We have no ceiling at PAR because every day is Day 1, and today is Day 1 of 2025.
Let’s get it!
Savneet
This message was originally sent to PAR employees on January 1st, 2025
