RWL245 This Is How A Boutique Remote Firm Beats Bigger Agencies On Outcomes

Setting The Stage: 33 Sticks

SPEAKER_00
0:00

Welcome
to
Remote
Work
Life,
the
podcast
spotlighting
the
leaders
and
location-independent
entrepreneurs
shaping
the
future
of
work.
My
name's
Alex
Wilson
Campbell.
And
today
I'm
taking
a
closer
look
at
33
Sticks,
a
fully
remote
analytics
consultancy
that's
been
quietly
rewriting
the
rules
of
how
digital
consulting
firms
operate.
Founded
back
in
2013
by
Jason
Thompson
and
Hiller
De
Hahn,
33
Sticks
was
built
around
a
deceptively
simple
idea.

Impact And Positioning

SPEAKER_00
0:34

Create
the
analytics
consultancy
they
wish
that
had
existed
when
they
were
clients.
A
decade
later,
that
philosophy
has
led
them
to
deliver
more
than
1
billion
in
revenue
impact
for
over
50
global
brands,
all
with
a
small,
intentionally
remote
team.
336
sits
at
the
intersection
of
analytics,
business
strategy,
and
culture.
The
company
partners
with
major
brands,
names
like
Target,
Viacom,
Harvard
Business
Review,
and
Major
League
Baseball
to
help
them
make
sense
of
their
data
and
turn
it
into
action.

Pricing And Methodology Shift

SPEAKER_00
1:15

What
sets
them
apart
isn't
the
technology,
but
the
mindset.
Rather
than
billing
by
the
hour,
they
use
value-based
pricing,
aligning
their
incentives
directly
with
client
outcomes.
They've
also
built
their
own
matrix
methodology,
a
framework
that
measures
analytics
maturity
as
a
straight
line,
but
across
multiple
dimensions
of
business
readiness.

Small Team, Global Reach

SPEAKER_00
1:42

And
while
most
consultancies
chase
scale
through
headcount,
33
Sticks
keeps
its
team
intentionally
small,
a
handful
of
highly
experienced
professionals
working
remotely
around
the
world.
And
this
approach,
they
say,
keeps
quality
high,
communication
honest,
and
clients
deeply
connected
to
the
people
actually
doing
the
work.
Their
model
challenges
the
assumption
that
bigger
is
better,
and
it
shows
how
remote
structures
can
foster
agility
and
not
isolation.
Let's
talk
a
bit
about
what's
really
interesting
about
33
Sticks
just

Founder Backgrounds And Intent

SPEAKER_00
2:19

for
a
minute.
The
founders,
Jason
Thompson
and
Hiller
Dahn,
both
came
out
of
the
analytics
and
Martec
world.
Jason
helped
build
Omniture,
the
platform
that
later
became
Adobe
Analytics,
while
Hiller
spent
years
advising
top
brands
on
optimization
and
experimentation.
When
they
launched
33
Sticks,
they
weren't
just
trying
to
sell
analytics
services,
they
wanted
to
redesign
the
experience
of
consulting
itself.
I'd
say
that
their
biggest
differentiator
is
culture.
33Sticks
operates
completely
remotely,
not
as
a
pandemic
pivot,
but
as
a
deliberate
design
choice.
Every
team
member
works
from
home
or
remote
offices,
collaborating
virtually
with
clients
around
the
world.
They
describe
their
employees
as
rock
stars
who
work
very
remotely,
and
it's
clear
they've
made
distributed
work
a
strategic
advantage
rather
than
a
logistical
challenge.

Culture And Communication Principles

SPEAKER_00
3:18

Instead
of
hourly
billing
or
long
reports
that
no
one
reads,
they
focus
on
transparent
conversations
and
measurable
outcomes.
Their
communication
style,
truth
over
politeness,
as
they
call
it,
has
built
a
reputation
for
clarity
in
an
industry
often
cluttered
with
jargon.
This
model
brings
freedom
and
accountability
into
balance.
Clients
get
senior
level
expertise
without
the
overhead
of
large
agency,
and
employees
enjoy
autonomy
without
losing
connection.
For
remote
entrepreneurs
and
leaders,
33
Sticks
proves
that
scale
doesn't
mean
size.
It
can
mean
impact
per
person.
By
staying
boutique
by
design,
they've
protected
culture,
kept
bureaucracy
low,
and
delivered
consistent
results
across
12
years
in
business.
And
the
story
of
33
Sticks
is
a
reminder
that
remote
work
isn't
just
an
operational
choice,
it
can
be
a
competitive
advantage
when
it's
built
on
trust
and
clarity.

Rethinking Assumptions In Consulting

SPEAKER_00
4:23

Their
founders
questioned
the
assumptions
that
drive
most
consultancies.
Why
charge
by
the
hour?
Why
require
an
office?
Why
hide
behind
layers
of
management?
By
stripping
those
things
away,
they
built
a
model
focused
on
outcomes,
relationships,
and
craftsmanship.
For
leaders
building
or
scaling
remote
businesses,
there's
a
simple
takeaway
here.
Deliberate
constraints
can
spark
innovation.
Limiting
headcount
forced
33
Sticks
to
create
processes
and
methodologies
that
scale
impact,
not
bureaucracy.

Lessons For Remote Leaders

SPEAKER_00
5:00

As
somebody
who's
spent
years
interviewing
remote
founders,
I
see
the
same
pattern
again
and
again.
The
best
teams
succeed
because
they
design
for
autonomy
and
clarity
from
the
start.