How Lumos Elevated Their Company-Wide Offsite Program with Marco
Working with Lucy was a game changer. She kept us on track, had great fresh ideas, and handled all of the really detailed work, even coordinating with vendors in Spanish over WhatsApp to make sure every detail was executed perfectly. By the end, she felt like part of our internal team.
See why event leaders at top companies choose Marco.
About Lumos
Lumos is building the first autonomous identity platform, helping IT and security teams manage who has access to what across their entire software stack.
Powered by Albus, their AI-native platform, Lumos reasons through access decisions and leverages agents to take action at scale. With Lumos, organizations can improve identity security outcomes while enhancing productivity for their teams, allowing AI to handle routine operational work while people focus on fine-tuning the overall systems and handling exceptions and outliers.
Customers include GitHub, MongoDB, Pinterest, Anduril, and Intercom, and the company was named to the Forbes America's Best Startup Employers list in both 2025 and 2026.
Internally, Lumos employees are called "Alchemists," and are guided by four core values: Set the Standard, Discover to Deliver, Paint in Pink, and Care Genuinely. It's a company that takes culture seriously, which is exactly why their offsites matter so much. For a remote-first team of 100+, these are the moments that deepen alignment and connection.
The Challenge
As Lumos scaled, Katie McDonald and Anna Silberstein realized their growing annual all-company offsite program deserved a dedicated partner.
Their focus was on People strategy and Employee Experience. They wanted logistics handled end-to-end so their energy could go toward designing an exceptional agenda and experience, not managing production.
"It was very manual, tons of time involved outside of our core job duties." - Katie
The stakes for their FY27 company-wide kickoff were especially high. The team would be shifting locations for the first time in three years, which meant designing an experience that felt fresh while matching the quality employees had come to expect. The event also had to set the strategic and cultural tone for the entire fiscal year and reinforce their "remote first but connected" philosophy.
They needed a partner, not just a vendor.
The Solution
Marco paired Lumos with Lucy, a senior event planner with deep hospitality expertise and the operational instinct to turn a four-night international offsite from laborious to effortless.
End-to-end planning, from venue to checkout
Lucy and the Marco team handled the full scope: sourcing and securing Dreams Sapphire Resort & Spa in Mexico's Riviera Maya, negotiating rates, managing the budget, coordinating with vendors (many of them Spanish-speaking), and designing an experience that balanced strategic work sessions with genuine team connection.
"Lucy is a true event planning and hospitality expert. She handled all the really detailed work - even in Spanish, over WhatsApp - to make sure every detail was executed perfectly." - Katie
Fresh ideas that elevated the experience
Rather than a standard corporate agenda, Lucy brought creative programming that surprised the team: group dinners designed to spark conversation, activities that got people out of their comfort zones, and logistics so seamless that attendees could focus entirely on being present.
"The big group dinners, activities, and easy logistics" were the team's highlights, Katie said - the kind of moments that turn a business trip into something people talk about months later.
A planner who felt like a teammate
What set Lucy apart wasn't just execution. It was how she showed up. She anticipated needs before they became problems, communicated proactively, and adapted in real time.
"She felt like part of our internal team by the end. We'd want to work with her on every future event with Marco." - Katie
The Results
40+ hours saved. Katie and Anna stayed focused on People and Employee Experience, not hotel logistics.
Full-service execution. Marco managed the full event budget end-to-end with complete cost transparency, from contract through checkout.
Seamless on the ground. Vendor coordination in Spanish over WhatsApp, on-site execution, last-minute changes - all handled.
10/10 NPS. Katie rated the planning team "BEST IN CLASS" and gave Lucy MVP status: "Beyond knowledgeable, creative, detailed, organized, and a lovely person to work with." She has already referred Marco to peers at other companies.
Already re-signed. Lumos has booked Marco for their FY28 kickoff, with additional events in the pipeline.
Company Size: 100+ employees
Industry: Enterprise Software / Identity & Security
Structure: Remote-first
Funding: Series B
Event: FY27 Company Kickoff
What Marco Delivered
Best-in-Class Planners
40+ Hours Saved
Full-Service Execution
10/10 NPS Score
Would Recommend
Multiple Offsites
The Moment
Thursday had a different energy.
Everyone knew it was the last day. Fewer icebreakers, more inside jokes. Even the award ceremony hit differently. People weren't just clapping for top performers, they were cheering for the coworker they'd spent three days getting to know in person.
All week had really been pointing at one thing: the final night.
Cocktail hour
It started relaxed. Fun décor, a 360 glam bot spinning people into slow motion, massive Lumos letters on theme, and branded music running low in the background.
Dinner
Then everyone sat down. Round tables, tastefully branded details, warm lighting doing most of the decorating. Once conversations started flowing across tables, it was clear the offsite had done exactly what it was supposed to do.
The CEO's speech wasn't a quarterly update. It was more personal than that - about what it actually means to build a company when most of your team is in a different time zone, and how weeks like this make the rest of the year work.
Lumos Lights Up
After dinner, the vibe shifted. Glow-in-the-dark décor came out, the lights went funky, and the whole room became the theme of the night: Lumos Lights Up.
Then the reveal - Andrej (the CEO) took over the decks. Within a few songs, the dance floor was packed. People danced nonstop, straight through the night.
By the end, Lumos felt exactly like what they are: one team.
