This document summarizes the growth and lessons learned by the digital agency Code Computerlove over 15 years. It describes their expansion from a small startup to a team of over 75 people with £5.5 million in revenue. Key lessons include: focusing on cash flow early on, adapting to change, prioritizing culture, avoiding overextending themselves, investing in experienced hires, continually learning and improving processes, and knowing when to end client relationships to focus on quality. The talk outlines their evolution and challenges in building a successful agency through various "chapters" of their business journey.

1. War and Peace
Louis Georgiou
Code Computerlove
@louisgeorgiou

2.  Share our growing pains
 Successes and failure
 Stories for you to laugh at
 Some serious advice - 15 lessons learned
What’s this talk about?

3. The bit about me

4. I’m from Code Computerlove

5. 80+ full time digital specialists

6. Established 1999

8. Still independently owned

9. We live in Manchester

10. And London too…

11. Strategy & User
Experience
Design & Build Mobile &
Tablet apps
Performance &
Optimisation
Search &
Media
Campaigns
& Social

13. Growth isn’t new
Awareness of what’s going on

14. It’s well documented

15. Rookies
Chapter 1: Straight into battle

18. First home

19. Watching the pennies

20. Lesson #1
Cash is King.

24. Lesson #2
Change or die.

27. Lesson #3
No egos, do whatever it takes.

28. Building the army
Chapter 2: New base, new
recruits

29. The Cause:
To be the best digital agency in the UK

30. Ruthless focus on quality

31. Talent
QualityBrands
Reputation + hard work
+ delight+ WOM
+ Cause

32. Value profit chain

34. RECRUITMENT AGENCIES

35. Lesson #4
Avoid recruitment agents.

36. Culture

39. High performing teams

40. Lesson #5
Culture is priceless.

42. Lesson #6
Keep stocked up on toilet paper!

43. Winning work and clients

44. Harder Quicker Better
CheaperNicer

47. Side missions

52. £120K lost


53. Lesson #7
Know what you’re getting into.

54. The heart
of battle
Chapter 3: Winning the war

55. Growth
£0
£1,000,000
£2,000,000
£3,000,000
£4,000,000
£5,000,000
£6,000,000
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
75 people
£5.5m

57. Lesson #8
Buy in experience.

60. The first battle scars…

61. £30,000

62. Managing
Director
Technical
Director
Marketing
Director
Financial
Director

63. A few fumbles

64. Letting people down

65. Serious e-commerce

66. Lesson #9
Don’t over-stretch.

67. Squads, regiments
and managers
Chapter 4: A new order

68. Keep growing
£0
£1,000,000
£2,000,000
£3,000,000
£4,000,000
£5,000,000
£6,000,000
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
75 people
£5.5m

69. Gonna need a bigger boat…

79. £250K over-budget

80. Designed for clients, not collaboration

81. Lesson #10
Stick to what you know.

82. Small skirmishes

85. Teams and management

86. Manager
Manager Manager
Manager Manager Manager
Staff Staff Staff Staff

87. Strategy
User
Experience
Creative Development Testing
Silos creating gaps & focus on
the wrong objective

88. Measure for
inefficiencies
Implement
controls
Additional
process
Increase in
inefficiencies
Process and control made it worse!

89. Even our new
offices weren’t
helping

90. Poor behaviour
from the top

91. Started to lose the
keepers

92. A talent business

93. Biggest challenge yet

94. Dawn of the
talent war
Chapter 5: Soldiers win wars

96. Us
ClientsCompany
Reset our
focus

97. Scrum
X-Dis
TEAM
s
Continual
learning
Feedback
Reflection
Sharing
T
Shaped
The Code way
Tools
Company
Routines
Sacred
Cows
Disciplines
Spaces
Framework
Define the culture
we need
People & Behaviour
Structure & Environment
Process & tools

98. The Computerlover is…
T-shape
awesome
collaborative

99. Discipline
Coach
Team Leader
Multi-disciplinary
& client centric

100. No brilliant jerks

101. Lesson #11
Only keep the right people.

102. Changed our processes

103. Gave teams ownership & autonomy

104. With room for collaboration

105. For us and our clients

106. Spaces to own

107. And walls to embrace…

108. Driven by
continual learning

109. CLIENT
AGENCY

110. Defecting clients

111. What happens when your great
client contacts leave?

114. Lesson #12
Know when to call it a day.

115. Simultaneously our biggest achievement
but biggest commercial failure to date

116. Growing success
£0
£1,000,000
£2,000,000
£3,000,000
£4,000,000
£5,000,000
£6,000,000
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
75 people
£5.5m
What happened?

117. We tried to help end poverty

118. Scope
Time
Quality
CostFIXE
D

119. Research Requirements Definition UX, Design & Build
Cost Cost Cost

120. Build
Client
UX
Design
PMs
Development

121. £X00K lost


122. Biggest charity
donation in 2010?

123. Lesson #13
Don’t over-promise.

124. Lesson #13
Deal with problems head on.

125. Lesson #13
Team collaboration is essential.

126. Battle for Developers

127. + Freelancing

128. Focus on software
engineering best
practice

129. Lesson #14
Invest in quality.

130. The next battle?

132. (Another) new home

133. Improve
Be Brilliant
Be Collaborative
Awesome
Collaborative
EFFICIENT
(internal)
EFFECTIVE
(external - client)

134. Lesson #15
The war is never over.

135. Thank you
@louisgeorgiou