There are fiscal realities coupled with layered intangibles that have made this market our home. Don’t get me wrong, we definitely support our ongoing clients with attention to detail and radical enthusiasm, but in the last three years, our journey has taken an exciting turn.
We’ve begun to focus on launching pioneers. Companies seeking to raise capital through various mechanisms have found our approach and team to be the right fit for reaching their goals. Many of these have been start-ups, quite a few in the altcoin/cryptocurrency, blockchain arena.
Who hasn’t been mystified by the rise, and rise, and dip, and rise, and recent tumble of CRYPTO? Who isn’t at least moderately interested in upstart technology, and startup innovation? We’ve all heard the term Blockchain (distributed ledger technology) more than we can count, but we’re finally beginning to see the tedious work of applying the tool being carried out and it’s surprising the number of use cases people are uncovering.
Governments are embracing the very technology that could effectively shrink government possibly without realizing or perhaps because they recognize all too well what this spells.
Our team loves working with cutting edge businesses. It excites us. The temperature changes in the room when we’re sparked into action on a big idea.
There can be hiccups. We meet excited, ambitious, motivated people who want to do everything yesterday and don’t have the capacity to plan marketing the way they do software or product development. Or they think money can fix a dysfunctional campaign. Very often, a short conversation with some data-supported guidance will move that excitement into laser focus with a developed strategy. Most of our successful clients have engaged us for a strategy phase which lasts from four to eight weeks.
This is like forced courting. We have to fall in love with you so your target market will. By going through the journey of exploring all the features, benefits, intangibles, and flaws of your brand, we get in touch with its authentic voice.
Very often with a new venture, it is the voice and personality of the lead pitch person. Or it’s a combination of a big idea with a big personality.
The Money
We didn’t anticipate this focus would yield such high results. Our Q4-2018 was more significant than any in the previous five years (since the company was officially founded).
There are a few considerations. Most startups have some kind of marketing budget allocated on a spreadsheet but don’t have experience with building creative assets and launching campaigns. Ninety percent of new businesses fail, so on average, if we take on twenty new clients one year, odds are, two will remain the next. There’s some inherent risk and burn rate.
The clients who do scale, often scale large, sometimes beyond 100x. The law of averages tells us 50% of those clients will drift annually. So our agency works closely with our clients for retention.
Of the nine-in-ten businesses that fold per year, two entrepreneurs will move directly into their next thing. So, we do get repeat business from leaders. We obviously get offered payment in many company’s coins. Rarely, do we accept this.
Overall, the fiscal reality is good, and it makes sense for us to continue down this road many see as experimental while we see it as inevitable. But, the biggest payoff for us is in the work.
The Feels
We launch pioneers because we love the job. We love interpreting people who see the future and bring it to life. We like to channel their passion into grabbable opportunities for communities at scale.
When a client walks in and makes us speechless, that’s our best opportunity to grow and shine.
Our team came up on the outskirts. As kids, we like skateboarding, punk rock, being in bands, and pushing limits. We learned what being popular felt like, and its chilly opposite.
For all of us, there’s something gratifying about seeing the lights come on in someone's eyes when they get the advantages provided by a new currency exchange, or an STO platform, a health and care platform, an energy source with zero footprint.
We admire and respect ground breakers. We know how to connect them with audiences around the world. We do it because it fulfills us. It means a lot to get that voice of innovation, that pioneering spirit, that haggard rasp of hours invested, and the satisfying grunt when your head hits the bed, long day behind you, into the main conversation.
It means something to get emails of gratitude because a campaign got 23x ROI. Those are people’s ambitions becoming real. Those are countless people’s lives being impacted in a small or large way.
When a visionary is heard, there’s a resonance that shakes across the globe. Like all of matter settles in just a little deeper. Like a better world has confirmed itself in that listening.
So, punk rock is what got us here. And skateboards. And pushing limits. And most of all being inspired by pioneers.
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