The audacious goal of this then 12-person team was "creating a tech holding above which the sun never sets."
This imaginary holding was supposed to:
1. "Set the industry standards."
2. "Work internationally with Fortune 500 companies".
It felt silly to say that aloud, as the good #BHAG should... (as long as it is still able to drive your strategic decisions).
Ours has driven the business moves, and four years later, in a SINGLE quarter:
1. Our strategists conducted a workshop about B2B strategy for a #F500 company. Managers from six countries visited our 29th-floor AAA+ office to use our team's expertise.
2. Another team launches a brand from scratch for one of the biggest Polish companies. Then we will be doing all the execution in different marketing channels.
3. And our holding companies were networking offline in Taiwan, and London (Huqiao 琥桥); plus E-Commerce Berlin EXPO and now Make conference in Prague (Automation House, which just won the U.S. expansion grant)
BUT!
One of our core values is #transparency.
So to be fair, the first quarter of 2023 was far from being a walk in the park.
We have taken many hits due to restructuring in our clients' companies. And it has left us with a biiig revenue gap.
The teams doubled their efforts to secure the situation, and it wasn’t pretty. It was a Herculean task to win the big tenders and simultaneously take care of the current clients', and all of it in the middle of the flu season.
But thanks to this endeavor:
1. We have hit the revenue goals and exceeded the profit plans for the quarter.
2. The quarterly customer satisfaction surveys start to come back, and the results are astonishing.
The whole situation very much reminded me of the pandemic hit in March 2020. You make the big plans, and a moment later, you lose 30% of your revenue in one month.
But after a similar period of intensive work, we have quickly recovered without any layoffs.
It was the beginning of a new era, with the awarded Tigers rebranding and, one year later, the move to the Q22 Warszawa office. Juniors from this period are now our senior leaders.
So if we can win repeatedly against such odds, it means that we can truly achieve anything we want :)
Still, that didn't make me less tired. And I wouldn't be able to access this positive state if I wouldn't see my business partners in a two-day off-site retreat for some strategic thinking.
I appreciate your support Karolina, Konrad, Wojtek, and Milivoj. You did what needed to be done, and it was a very important ingredient of our teams' successes!
If we were able to achieve this in four years, what would be possible in the next four?
