2022 > A review

In what has become the end of year annual tradition, I have tried to capture a snapshot of what we we’ve been up to over the past 12 months.

What started as a public thank you to the very first team, has now become a yearly digital diary of the progress we’ve made. Naturally the year comes with challenges, unexpected turns or unplanned time to fix things. However, I’ve always taken the simple view of “are we better than the year before”.?The aim every year is to improve and hopefully get more things right than wrong.

Our big news from the last 12 months was being acquired by Agent3 . You can see what I wrote at the time here.

Now, a year later, the sense of pride knowing that decision has never felt anything but right, has made the last year even more exciting & personally fulfilling. The opportunities our team are now afforded and the breadth of services our clients now receive, as a result of being part of the Agent3 group, have been considerably fast tracked.

I think most entrepreneurs would acknowledge it’s very rare to pause and take stock, but this year I found myself looking back at how far we’ve come. I’m convinced the reasonings behind reflection this year are down to having a bigger supporting team around me - thus allowing that rare commodity of time to think.

Coffee table to here today has meant sacking myself a lot. For large parts there is a natural need to be involved in almost all. My role today is to be a custodian of the business: give a viewpoint, ensure we don’t swim too far from shore, give encouragement and help mobilise the business to continue to grow and provide opportunities. I’ll always be our biggest fan and chief encouragement officer.

The truly great ideas, the innovation, the heartbeat and the future feel of the company, are now with the team. It’s a now a global business that’s taken on a life of its own, but I believe remains a truly special and intimate place to work.

So many people I could list as thanks yous. It’s humbling to know that even at the stage we are today, I have the same group of friends willing us on - colleagues, mentors, partners, industry peers and many supporters the industry would consider competitors, all have continued to wish us luck and will us on. I’m proud to say our very first client (when I personally delivered the project), is still a client today.

I would like to personally thank Clive Armitage & Daniel Sands who were the sponsors and the driving force behind our acquisition. From the outset Clive Armitage insisted “keep doing what you’re doing and call me if you hit a hurdle”. That autonomy to make the big calls, but knowing I have experienced support alongside, is what makes the day to day so enjoyable.

Daniel Sands has been on speed dial 10 times a day and been hugely instrumental in helping us take that step to the next operating level. Whenever we want to tweak or create, his opening gambit is always it can be done!

Also want to thank Paul, Greg, Liam, Pete, Sai, Roger Marshall for the day to day support, advice, ideas and encouragement. A really fun & smart team to work amongst and now call colleagues.

And importantly to the team that work alongside me every day: Niamh, Kav, Jamie, Amanda, Lisa & Emma, huge shout to you all for your energy, ideas and desire to improve all that we do. Throughly enjoyed working in and around you every day.

So, as 2023 horizon edges nearer, here’s a snapshot of what happened in 2022:

We doubled our turnover

We moved UK offices twice (2023 and we’re off to a new home)

We spent a heap of time back in the office

We opened our first US office in New York

We hired our first General Manager in Amanda

We attended 9 in person events

We spoke at 4

We crept ever closer to 100 members of our team (87 and counting!)

We said goodbye to 5 oneninefivers (special mention to Malinda our first Head of People & Culture + Tim, started with us a junior exec and left as our Head of Data & Technology - true oneninefivers whose prior work is felt daily & will be missed).

We said hello to 27 new oneninefivers, adding to our global footprint with new team mates in Dubai, San Fran, Boston & Sydney.

We spent 27 collective days volunteering

We finalised the format for the ONF 2023 podcast

We drank a lot of coffee

We reconfirmed that tequila is the company drink of choice

We had a summer party on a secret island

We held our first AMER offsite

We passed 9 people’s probation

We promoted 7 people

We delivered projects across 72 countries

We found out Emma Carter can REALLY bake

We announced Chris as our first person of the quarter (who gets to spend a week working in a global office of his choice - he’s off to NYC)

We sent beers to a client when we got it wrong

They sent us beers when we got it right

We planned our 2nd charity golf day (May 2023)

We had Friday beers

We sometimes had Monday beers

We visited our clients a lot

Our clients came to see us a lot

We are coiled springs to announce some really big news early 2023….

So that's it, another year over. Another year that has flown by, yet done so with so many reflective moments.

Every new year comes with opportunities & challenges. My simple mantra is to focus on each day as if it’s your first. You can’t go far wrong.

Ps if you’ve read this and it sounds like a team you’d like to be part of, we’re hiring globally across client success, sales and operations. Feel free to drop me a note as to what you’d bring to the journey - [email protected]