A bit about SweetRush: First things first, here's how we came up with the name SweetRush. During the dot com days when the frenzied URL land rush was in process, one of SweetRush's founders, Arturo Schwartzberg, secured the name SweetRush. Why? Because he liked it. Sweet and Rush seemed an interesting pairing of words, with complex texture and meanings-and even, as they say, a hint of vanilla. When Arturo and Andrei Hedstrom were first conceptualizing the company, Andrei immediately gravitated to the name. Arturo thought it perhaps a bit strange, given our chosen client base would be corporate. However, upon further scrutiny, they agreed it was memorable and represented values they shared.

So why Sweet? It's hard to imagine today, given the ubiquitous and even unavoidable presence of sweeteners of all sorts, that a few hundred years ago, people rarely had the chance to taste something sweet. And when they did, it was an overwhelmingly delirious event. So when we use Sweet in SweetRush, we do so referring back to that feeling of ecstasy. In The Botany of Desire (a fantastic book!), Michael Pollan speaks to the intoxication of sweetness best. We have included a fascinating passage from his book, if you would like to read further.

We have infused sweetness into our culture at SweetRush, and we try to keep that sense present at all times, centered on our interactions with each other and everyone with whom we come into contact. This is a basic tenet of the company, as further defined in The SweetRush Way.

So why Rush? Rush has two meanings, and both work into the mix. Of course it means to do something quickly and we are often asked to step up and move quickly to accomplish project goals. There is an edge to Rush, a hint of moving too fast-but we felt it was ok when softened by Sweet, so it worked for us in this combination. The other meaning of Rush, in the vernacular, is a flushed and strong, heady feeling. When combined with Sweet, as in a Sweet Rush, it seemed to enhance the sweetness, like a fresh breeze on a hot day. This worked for us and it's how we want our clients, and ourselves, to feel. Over time, we have come to appreciate our name more and more. We think it fits us perfectly, and constantly reminds us of things we value.

As we mentioned, SweetRush was founded in early 2001 by two partners (Andrei and Arturo) with many years of experience in the world of digital media. Knowing the hardships most early stage facilities face, the founders set a course they hoped would ensure success and sanity. A number of principles were established about talent (only world-class), attitude (sweet and committed), debt (don't incur any) and building overhead (stay lean). While during the early years there was a good deal of Web development and strategic marketing consulting work, the founders steered the company to the world of performance improvement and the design and development of training courses. Having been steeped in technology from the start, e-learning and custom course development evolved as a strong suit. Over the years, we've become experts in all aspects of blended learning solutions. Up to 2009, company growth was constant and steady as the team and expertise matured. That year proved to be a difficult one, as most of our large corporate clients ran for cover. Though painful, we made changes, survived and emerged stronger as a result.

Over time, we have developed a solid client base, and we have an extremely high level of client satisfaction and retention. The same is true of our employees. SweetRush has evolved into a powerhouse of consultative services offering instructionally sound blended learning and e-learning development. With a ten year commitment to technology, which allows us to go well beyond off-the-shelf authoring tools, and an incredible multimedia design team, our e-learning solutions are highly effective. We know from our clients that we deliver a unique product few vendors can emulate.

Given our business is all about helping others change and improve, we would be remiss to not apply these same efforts to ourselves. In this light, we are continually improving the services we offer, and we are innovating our way into new areas such as app development, staff augmentation and applying ourselves in the sustainability movement.

Beyond The SweetRush Way, the founding principles and a caring and committed attitude, the company's success can be attributed to the depth of capabilities it offers as depicted on this site; a unique combination of instructional design, project management, creative and engineering.

The performance improvement industry is robust and growing. Helping employees improve at what they do is now a business imperative as we further transform into an economy based upon human capital. All of us at SweetRush look forward to continued growth and to helping our clients meet new and exciting challenges as they drive their associates and organizations toward greater success.

As Andrei generally signs off, "Good things," and as Arturo generally signs off, "Feel good!"