All About the Agency - Chad Pytel - Agencies That Build #008

Chad Pytel is the Founder and COO of thoughtbot, small studios of designers and developers collaborating closely with clients. They are dedicated to pushing the bar by continuously improving for themselves, the company and their clients.

Takeaways:

• To close any productivity and communication gaps, remove the middleman between the founder and project team. “We fundamentally believe in having a small group of people who are really good at what they do working directly with clients to create something.” ~Chad Pytel.
• Aspire to build successful products AND successful businesses. Training clients to facilitate a meeting or prioritize planning helps them be lucrative in the future outside of your own business. 
• Set specific expectations for your team in terms of communication and holding the company philosophy. This sets the bar for your team and allows them to have a growth mindset going into projects. 
• Training is a powerful tool that enables you to hire more people than you otherwise would have been able to and sets your team up for success. Apprenticeships and other training programs are a great way to accomplish this!
• Whether you are a specialized or generalized company, the most important thing is to know what your model is and stay consistent to that. This provides a basis for your team to execute on.
• Career advice from Chad Pytel, have an honest conversation with your founders about expectations and what you want to achieve before starting your company. 

Links:

• Personal/Business Website: https://thoughtbot.com/blog
• Email: chad@thoughtbot.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpytel/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/cpytel
• Company Website: https://thoughtbot.com
• AgencyU: www.thoughtbot.com/agencyu
• Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast: https://www.giantrobots.fm

Busted Myths:

• If your primary motivation for doing consulting is to earn some money to bootstrap a SaaS product then you might get stuck on a consulting treadmill. Be clear what your priorities are and be intentional about your work early on.

Ways to Tune In:

• iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agencies-that-build/id1533003876
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/04KrB9JKLJ7lxoBZQQpSSH?si=zljWTjmwSK-ht50WPpesOg
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/agencies-that-build
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYWdlbmNpZXN0aGF0YnVpbGQuY29tL2ZlZWQueG1s
• YouTube - Full video - https://youtu.be/ExKVOtDDDxg