Quick answer: next week, our founder and CEO Jennifer L Bagley launches her new book — Hands Up: A CEO's Letter to the Generation That Will Inherit What We Build (ISBN 978-1-963241-00-0). She is giving the digital edition away, free, to anyone who asks: request it here and mention Hands Up. And we're asking one thing in return — share this with someone who's building.
What Hands Up is
The back cover says it in one line: “He shipped because he could not stand the alternative. So do we.”
Hands Up is a CEO's letter to the generation that will inherit what we build — the operators, the builders, the contractors, and the kids riding the drop with their hands off the bar. It's the book Jennifer's whole story has been building toward: raised by her father, Kevin Michael Bagley, a software developer who was programming on the Apple II in 1980 and taught her to see the next shift before it arrived; three decades operating at the intersection of technology and business transformation; the December 2022 call — weeks after ChatGPT launched — to rebuild the entire company on the new layer while others argued it was a fad.
The dedication carries the whole thesis in three sentences: “For my father, Kevin Michael Bagley — and my grandson, Dallas Kevin Bagley-Slone. The line runs through both of you. I am in the middle.”
The digital edition is free — on purpose
Jennifer is giving the digital edition away. No price, no funnel, no catch. If the book is a letter to the generation that will inherit what we build, then putting a price gate in front of that generation would miss its own point.
How to get it: open the CI Web Group intake, mention Hands Up, and the digital edition is yours the week it launches. You can also see the full book feature on Jennifer's page.
The one thing we're asking: share it
We're not running ads for this. The book travels the way everything in the trades travels — one operator telling another. So if this announcement reaches you:
- Share this post with one person who's building something — a contractor, a founder, your kid, your crew.
- Post it to your feed and tag Jennifer on LinkedIn so she can thank you.
- Tell your team — the free digital edition means every tech, CSR, and apprentice in your shop can read it the same week you do.
What the people around this work say
You don't have to take our word for who wrote this book. Here are the people who work beside her — partners, clients, and our own team — in their own published words.
“Jennifer is one of the true visionaries in this industry — someone who sees what's coming before the rest of us do, and then builds it anyway. … So when Jennifer writes that the contractor shouldn't have to walk this road alone, I believe her — because that is exactly how she has shown up for the people building alongside her, including me.”
— Dave Kaynar, CEO, OnePath.AI · Partner
“What you are doing is going to change the world of service for hard-working families.”
— Joe Crisara, Service MVP · Renowned Service Industry Speaker & Strategic Partner
“When you find people who challenge your thinking, keep learning, adapt when necessary, and genuinely care about helping you build something meaningful, you don't just hire them—you build alongside them.”
— Paul Wiese, Founder, Built by the Trades · from his letter “The Client's Side of the Table”
“The right marketing partner doesn't just build you a website. They help you understand where the future is going—and they make sure you're already headed there before everyone else realizes the road has changed.”
— John Dean, Owner, Superior Air Duct Cleaning · from his letter “My Ci Web Group Journey”
“A website should not just look good. It should think, rank, and book work while you sleep. That is what design engineering makes possible.”
— Michael Parker, Executive Director of Design Engineering, CI Web Group
“The speed and quality that CI Web Group delivers is unbelievable. Partnering with CI Web Group has been one of the three best business decisions I've made.”
— Billy Gregus, Integrity Refrigeration & AC · Client
Launch week
The book launches next week. The free digital edition opens with it. If you want it in your inbox the day it's out, ask now — mention Hands Up — and then do the one thing that actually launches a book like this:
Hands up. Share it forward.
