A year ago The BaaS Company didn’t formally exist - BaaS (our Branding as a Service approach) was still an offering by Leoni Janssen.
That all changed in early 2022 with the launch of the new company in February, and the addition of Emma and Savana coming on board at exactly the right time.
Let’s stop and look at the color bomb for a minute which illustrates our year so well. BaaS is a new and unique concept we brought to market when we launched our geo and discipline agnostic branding agency for global b2b tech companies.
Through the year there were many highlights and moments that made us proud, including MACH ONE in June, the MACH Alliance’s first annual conference, and our involvement in the first Women in MACH event in Madrid in September. We’ve written before about starting a movement, and I’m pleased to see the Alliance going from strength to strength. We also welcomed a number of new clients, grew our team, and delivered some amazing positioning projects with more exciting new projects scheduled this year and kicking off right now.
Despite only a year in business, we’ve also seen some important team changes. In October, we waved Savana off on a seven month sabbatical to Australia and New Zealand. We recognize the incredible opportunity for her and want all our people to follow their passions. In December, we welcomed Konrad Pitala to the team as head of creative ops. We wrote the job description with him in mind, so to have him join us was an absolute highlight from the year. And we’ve grown our extended team of freelance heroes - Bas, Jordy, Victoria, Kat, Fred, Megan and Ina - thank you for your commitment and hard work this year.
In one year we’ve grown 300%.
That growth is down to getting the right people on board, pure and simple.
We’re nice (smart) people and we want to work with nice (smart) people. And we do, every day. People are noticing us as a group of people they want to work with. Friends and strangers are reaching out as potential team members or clients.
I’ve learned a lot about hiring. About talent and skill, and about strengths and team building. We look for the special things in people that are reliable and will move us forward. We are like bees searching for honey in people, not flies attracted to… (the bad stuff).
We’ve also learned about clients and where we deliver our best value, which includes recognizing what doesn’t work for us too. We’re always honest in our exchanges as our time and focus are our only limitations and we can not get lost in many scattered obligations.
We have a very clear view of our ideal client, based on years of experience and the work we deliver every day.
We don’t specialize for the sake of it, but because we learnt that others cannot do what we naturally do well. Our clients are country agnostic. They want to have influence on a global scale, and they do that by focusing on sector and psychographics, not geography. Neither do we.
All of our clients are entrepreneurial and on a mission to make a difference through their modern technology, which naturally makes them passionate and driven. They want to invest in the next big milestone that will be the game changer of their business including its positioning. They understand that it takes guts and clear decision making at this pivotal time in their development.
We often start on a project, or at the very beginning of a growth curve, when there is pressure and speed is of the essence to get a launch or reposition over the line. And we can only work with clients where we understand and see the long term potential of what they want to accomplish; we can not build what we can not envision.
Our clients understand they need overall guidance and allow for us to lead that work. They are often a team of passionate technologists that do not have (enough) strategic marketing skills or resources internally and need a lot on top; from the basics like artwork and messaging, to the longer term executable plan and narrative on which they can build the company.
We have learned that we only really add value when working with decisive executive leadership, as it is fundamental. We are not the agency to execute campaigns. We can of course, but the assignments The BaaS Company takes on are strategic, conceptual and require execution with finesse.
We have ambitious new projects and plans for 2023, including extending focus on the US and making ourselves more available in the space where we specialize, and deepening our specialization in the modern tech space of MACH.
We’re doing well and love that we can share the gift of our great work with our clients. But that steady path won’t limit us; expect some surprises soon!
