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Small companies face distinctive challenges in terms of development and scaling. From deciding which tasks to tackle and the place to focus funding, to experiencing new eventualities and onboarding new workers regularly, it may be so much to navigate. However with the appropriate methods and instruments in place, it’s doable to thrive.
One enterprise that has skilled distinctive development over the past 4 years is Fantasy Studio, a London primarily based inventive company that produces explainer movies, movement graphics, 3D animation, and company communications. Launched in the course of the pandemic, Fantasy Studio grew from two to 9 full time staffers within the area of 18 months, whereas working with among the most recognisable world manufacturers.
There are key components to this velocity of success. That’s why, Jimmy Gordon, Fantasy Studio’s Enterprise Partnerships Director, has shared his insights into the company’s enterprise story, finest practices, and what it takes to develop a small enterprise in at present’s aggressive market.
Are you able to inform us a bit about Fantasy Studio’s origin story?
Our founder, James Finley, was an skilled freelancer however all the time had the ambition to start out a studio. Fantasy Studio emerged after he had constructed the connections and gained the mandatory expertise. Beginning out in 2020, in the course of a pandemic, the early days have been powerful with quite a lot of uncertainty – as with all new inventive company – however we knew we had the experience to succeed, and we’ve been rising ever since.
What was it like launching in the course of the pandemic? What challenges and alternatives did you encounter?
Trying again, the pandemic was the right time to launch. The shortage of stay movie meant the demand for animation and movement graphics accelerated. On the similar time, there was additionally the large shift in direction of distant working. As a result of we have been simply beginning out, it meant that working collaboratively and remotely – and having the tech stack in place to take action globally – was in-built from day one as an alternative of getting to adapt from conventional processes. Working on this approach from day one, and utilizing instruments like Dropbox, has lowered the barrier of entry and allowed us to maneuver extra shortly.
Who was your first main shopper? And what classes did you be taught from that have that you would be able to share with others fascinated about having an identical trajectory?
Our first main shopper was working with a long-standing companion of ours now, Revolt, to work on a venture for Budweiser which was to be proven at Cannes Competition. It got here out of the blue from our freelancing connections, and we truly nearly turned it down as a result of the two- week turnaround time was going to be a real all-hands-on-deck state of affairs.
However we knew we couldn’t say no to a model like that on our portfolio, so we jumped in. It was a loopy couple of weeks, however we delivered, thanks in no small half to Dropbox, which enabled us to collaborate at velocity throughout places. My largest recommendation could be to take dangers and say sure to alternatives outdoors your consolation zone. You be taught so much and might spot alternatives and areas to strengthen your small business.
How has the way in which the crew collaborates, and work collectively modified with the company’s development?
As a studio, we deliver quite a lot of persona and instinct into all the things we do and are consistently assessing our methods of working to retain that. It’s an ongoing cycle of enchancment round our programs and processes and we’re all the time experimenting with collaborative instruments to make sure we’re utilizing what’s finest. Significantly relating to safety and effectivity, as a result of issues like encryption and storage ranges are paramount when working with greater manufacturers.
What’s that like incorporating freelancers into your crew’s present constructions and workflows?
Working with freelancers has been a very key a part of our development technique. If you’ve received a giant venture that comes on, and possibly the scope is a bit greater than you thought it might be, you may need to double the crew measurement. That’s why we determined to reinforce the work of our 9 full-time staffers with a large community of extremely expert freelancers, so we could be versatile in how we ramp up our creativity with extra assist.
However clearly, freelancers use completely different programs they usually every work in another way to at least one one other – and to ensure that this to work, folks must be built-in amongst the crew and all people must be singing from the identical hymn sheet. So, we needed to make adjustments to how we work. We now have an excellent movement for onboarding in place that components within the want for safety. You’ll be able to’t simply share all the things when working with bigger companies, in spite of everything!
That was the principle cause we migrated to Dropbox Enterprise. Now we are able to management folder permissions and add two-factor authentication on shared folders. Dropbox Seize additionally permits us to create a video archive of our processes for onboarding freelancers and new crew members so organising is a way more seamless expertise.
From transient to last product, how do you’re employed collectively as a crew and with the shopper?
We got down to make all the things as streamlined as doable from the outset, and we embrace the shopper in that.
It begins with leaping on a briefing name to scope out the venture. After following up with notes from the decision to make sure nothing has been misplaced in translation, we then begin collaborating to place collectively a proposal to ship to the shopper.
As soon as the venture kicks off, we’ll arrange a Slack channel together with the shopper for straightforward comms. If utilizing freelancers, they’ll be onboarded onto our Dropbox, too. By way of venture phases, these can range, however it normally begins with creating model frames and movement checks earlier than shifting into storyboarding after which manufacturing. Including and receiving suggestions is essential right here, which is why we use Dropbox Replay for suggestions on our video content material as a result of it’s tremendous straightforward for shopper stakeholders to leap in and supply suggestions on a frame-by-frame foundation and to match iterations facet by facet.
With folks working throughout a lot of places, moderately than sharing a display and risking speaking via a movie which everyone knows can lag, everybody concerned can leap into their very own model and all watch on the similar time. Organised model management and integrations with different enhancing instruments imply that Replay additionally allows us to show round content material and log out last variations sooner.
Lastly, we’ll all the time use Dropbox Switch for sending last deliverables for a fast, straightforward {and professional} wanting packaged feel and look.
Have you ever needed to develop your working practices over time for collaborating with worldwide shoppers? What suggestions do you might have for others trying to increase their model and shopper base internationally?
Two phrases: collaborative instruments. Working between time zones could be helpful. For instance, with the US, you possibly can ship a movie at finish of day our time, the shopper critiques it in a single day our time, and we are able to leap in to amend the following day. However having the appropriate instruments to verify issues don’t get missed is so necessary right here. It’s why Replay (one among our producers’ favorite instruments) are key. It permits a number of folks so as to add suggestions neatly and precisely in a single place.
Whether or not working with worldwide or native shoppers, it’s about eradicating friction so everybody can deal with the work that issues moderately than losing time on admin. Whether or not that’s Slack as an alternative of lengthy electronic mail chains, Google Meet for tremendous fast name hyperlinks, or Replay to take away any ambiguity on suggestions on movies because of timestamps and annotated feedback.
Do you might have any last recommendation to different SMBs and artistic businesses trying to speed up their development?
It’s all about relationships. Individuals like working with good individuals who do good work, and to have enjoyable – it provides them no cause to go elsewhere. Internally, it’s why we’ve got a studio in addition to distant work, to permit folks the flexibleness to get collectively. From a development perspective, don’t be afraid to leverage the relationships you might have constructed. We’re proof that they open doorways.
Lastly, by no means underestimate the facility of arming your folks with the appropriate expertise. By having the appropriate instruments of their arms, our individuals are capable of execute business-defining work, with out having to be in the identical room or on the identical time zone.
Learn extra
Constructing enterprise relationships: Eight pointers for small corporations – In the event you’re trying to develop your organization by increasing your skilled community, the next suggestions from Ian Naylor of AppInstitute will assist with constructing enterprise relationships
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