Agency interview: nclud

I’m excited to present the first in a series of interviews that focuses on what it takes to start, manage and grow a successful agency business. In this interview, I speak to Martin Ringlein, Co-Founder and Senior Consultant of nclud, based in Washington, DC.

When and how was nclud started?

Alex Giron, nclud co-founder, first pinged me about starting an agency together right before Christmas 2006 – timing being what it was, we officially decided to found a new DC based agency on the first of February 2007.

However, the idea of nclud started long before that. Alex, myself and John Riviello a few jobs back worked together at a company called Cygnus Business Media. It was so poorly run and the ideology of design and development on the web as well as how to manage creative talent was so fundamentally flawed it actually prompted action. We wanted to do more than simply start an agency, we wanted to do more than simply work for ourselves, we wanted to do more than become “entrepreneurs”. We wanted to create an environment that promoted and drove creativity. We wanted to hire the best talent and value them as individuals rather than resources or “billable hours”.

nclud was started to be that agency. An agency built around and in support of the web community. We strive to create great work and to be known for doing great work. We hire great people and assume great things will happen; we are more focused on the solutions we create than any sort of bottom-line revenue. nclud was really started on the idea that making money is more of a necessity than a businesses driving factor; we make great things on the web and are fortunate enough to profit from that. But, it is the making great things on the web that pushes us and ultimately stay in business.

Are the services you provided at the start the same as you offer now?

When we started nclud, we positioned ourselves as a “design agency”; in our company’s short history; we have quickly evolved into more of a consultancy. But it is our focus on unique, usable and stylish designs for the web that is and always will be the focus of our agency.

We do still offer the same core services that we did when we started. However, we are continuously adding to our team and ultimately increasing the services we are able to offer to our clients. We believe that a job position should conform to a person, as opposed to a person conforming to a position’s pre-scribed non-flexible description. Because of this methodology, our agency evolves with the talent it has. We recently added to new members to the team, Cindy Li and Dan Drinkard. Cindy is our Art Director and brings to the company a high-level of illustration and marketing talent. Dan is our senior Web Developer and brings to the company a more experienced knowledge of PHP, Python and Rails development. The idea is to ensure that the company, nclud, isn’t always restricted to the focus and talent the original founders had, but that can always evolve (and evolve quickly) to the talent of the team.

How would you differentiate between what services a consultancy offers vs. that of a typical design agency? Do most clients understand and appreciate the difference?

That is a great question; our answer is one of the things we think makes us a unique agency. While we call ourselves a “design agency”, we really act as more of a consultancy. To our clients we are really problem solvers; we deliver creative solutions to their web based initiatives. We believe “web design” is this all-inclusive (hence the name “nclud”) entity comprised of best-practice methodologies in information architecture, accessibility, usability, user-experience design and development to name a few. It is when bringing all of these components together in an elegant and usable format that you get true “web design”; anything less is just a pretty picture. And a pretty picture doesn’t help our client’s user base, business objectives or long-term strategies. So, to answer the question more directly … we don’t differentiate between the services a traditional consultancy and a design agency offer; we don’t even believe their should be a differentiator. And, we don’t ask our clients to understand or appreciate the difference; we simply explain our philosophy on “web design” and seek those clients out that share, appreciate or simply understand that philosophy. 

What have you found to be most effective in marketing nclud?

We don’t really do traditional marketing here at nclud. We do marketing, but it is always community centric—so anytime we do “marketing” it is in the form of partnership or sponsorship towards helping a community event. And we only sponsor events that need sponsorship help. We don’t sponsor events to get noticed; we sponsor events to help and are appreciative when we get noticed. Everyone at nclud is highly involved in the web community, locally, nationally and internationally. It is important to note that we don’t force or even give incentive to nclud members to be apart of the community – we just bring those that are and want to be onto the team!

At last years SXSWi conference, we started this marketing practice – if you want to even call it that. We got a rather distressing email telling everyone that the bowling event that year was a bit under-funded and that everyone would have to pay to participate. As we roamed the halls of the convention center, we heard slight rumblings of confusion and even debates as to whether or not go; not the mention the line for the ATM was growing ever longer. So, being a community minded agency, we decided to call the organizers and tell them we’d step-up as a last minute sponsor and contribute the exact amount it would take to ensure everyone could bowl for free. We didn’t get our name on the website or on any promotional banners; but those who knew what we did were very appreciative of it.

And this year when SXSW time came around, we didn’t plan on sponsoring the bowling event again. It wasn’t “our thing” – it was just an event we loved, because it was a community event. However, a few months before the event we received another distressing email informing us that unfortunately the bowling event would be canceled this year because the original organizers would not be able to make it to SXSWi. So, we didn’t cut any checks this time around, but instead we called up the original organizers and asked if we could, this year, take over and host the event. Not for profit, not for exposure and not for anything else other than ensuring that this favorite after-event of SXSWi continued to survive because the community loved it so much.

We don’t sponsor events to get noticed; we sponsor events to help and are appreciative when we get noticed.

What tools do you use to manage projects, track time and handle invoicing?

We love two online applications specifically, 37signal’s Basecamp and ArtyPaper’s SideJobTrack.  Basecamp has its perks and undoubtedly has it flaws. There is one thing we love most about Basecamp; how intuitive it is. We invite all of our clients into our Basecamp for their particular project, but we don’t force them to have to use it. However, to-date every client has opted to use it and we have never received an inquiry on how to use it. SideJobTrack is currently closed for new users and has stopped updating the application – it was as close to perfect for us as possible; we are actively seeking an alternative.

Are all nclud staff full-time, in-house employees or do you also hire contractors who work remotely?

All of the nclud team is full-time; most of us work out of our downtown Washington, D.C. office. Cindy Li, our Art Director, works remotely from San Francisco out of a generously shared space with the team from ma.gnolia. We do occasionally work with other teams and independent contractors; it gives us an opportunity to work with some amazing people on really exciting projects. We are always honest with our clients about is who is and is not an nclud employee. We never “out-source” simply because we have overfill work or are looking to increase revenue by sub’ing out. Working with other experienced and talented professionals is a great way to leverage skill sets beyond that of which we specialize specifically. Great web design requires more than Photoshop and CSS; large-scale projects often require very talented copy writers, photographers, artists and others alike.

What are some important business lessons you’ve learned since starting nclud?

We continue to learn everyday; the biggest lesson is never being naive enough to think you’ve learned enough. Know how to manage client expectations, always strive for success but be prepared for failure and never be too afraid or too proud to ask for help. Oh yeah…never take on spec work, always get a deposit, know when to walk away, realize money isn’t everything and under no circumstance accept credit cards.

Great read, I like the point where you said you wanted nclud to be a place that grew creativity. Too many work spaces kill creativity and don’t think anything of it.

Thanks for the comment Michael. We always say that we want a place where people feel more creative when they leave than when they came in that morning. Our studio, the environment, is like a member of the team ... you have to feel creative, embrace creativity and surround yourself in it sometimes to really do amazing things. Not saying you can’t do it without that, but sure doesn’t hurt!

A good read - the secret to this biz is “...never being naive enough to think you’ve learned enough.” Keep that one in your chest pocket - remind yourself often, and the business will be fun forever.

@Trevor that is totally it. That is how you keep it fun and as soon as you stop caring about keeping it fun ... it is time to re-evaluate why are doing this; or even why you are working in this industry. If we just wanted to make money, we would have stayed working for the man ... a 9to5 is much less stress and much more secure; but no where near as much fun!

Martin, I totally dig your space as well as your approach to business.

@Carl, thank you. A comment like that means a lot from you specifically as we often look to people like you and nGen Works in the community for inspiration and even motivation. There are a lot of talented people and great small companies doing amazing things right now in this industry—it is terrific!