What if agencies were required to see their ideas all the way through? ?? At OCTO, we’ve walked that path with Route Werks. It’s not just about creativity; it’s about proving long-term impact and making sure our work stands the test of time. #RouteWerks #SystemsThinking #Entrepreneurship #Startups
What if every external innovation agency were required to stay involved through the go-to-market phase and into the follow-on revenue stages of their projects? It’s well-documented that creative / strategy agencies often grapple with both overconfidence and imposter syndrome. I’d argue that this stems from the fact that they typically aren’t required to see ideas through to execution. This makes it easy to attribute outcomes—good or bad—to external factors. Agencies are given numerous off-ramps throughout the process and are rarely held accountable for proving the long-term performance of their work. In 2020, we at OCTO decided to challenge ourselves by putting our processes, creative abilities, and business acumen to the ultimate test. We designed and built a company—Route Werks—from the ground up. Our goal was to engineer a client in a non-competitive category that aligned with our personal interests. Route Werks, a cycling accessories company, enters its fifth year in business, we’re incredibly proud of the spin-out we’ve created. This initiative became a forcing mechanism to validate—or invalidate—our experience and methodologies. With no one to blame but ourselves, failure was simply not an option. I’m thrilled to share that after two straight years of over 40% growth, Route Werks has launched its second major product: The Big Handlebar Bag. This milestone marks a new phase, evolving beyond being a single-product company into a true system sell. Building a product, brand, and social credibility while simultaneously expanding distribution and operational infrastructure requires a perspective that goes beyond product design and user experience. Of course, the road hasn’t been without its bumps. The journey has pushed us to deepen our understanding of what it takes to build and grow a business. From navigating supply chain delays in 2021 to weathering the crash of the cycling industry in 2022, we’ve faced all the challenges of a startup. Balancing sales goals with capital needs, managing quality control, and supporting an ever-growing network of shops and distributors, we’ve continually put our consulting practices to the test. At OCTO, we emphasize the importance of a systems-based approach to problem-solving. This allows us to anticipate challenges, build comprehensive solutions, and address the broader needs of our clients’ businesses. It requires probing questions that may initially seem unrelated to the problem. Through these methods, we gain a deeper understanding of the scope of the task, giving our team confidence that our solutions will endure long after our role is complete. Without Route Werks, measuring the impact of our efforts would be far more complex. We certainly haven’t gotten everything right, but we’ve learned from our mistakes and applied that knowledge to meet our clients’ needs. Imagine a world where every innovation agency had to eat the meal they cooked. #routewerks #entrepreneurship #startups #systemsthinking