MetaLab's Growth Challenges

Andrew Wilkinson shares how his experience running MetaLab changed as the company grew from 5 to 50 people.

"I started MetaLab, a design agency, about 20 years ago and ran it as CEO for almost 10 years. For the first 3-5 years, it was really exciting - I was learning new skills, scrappily sending invoices, negotiating deals with clients, flying all over the world. It was all new and exciting.

But after year 8-9, I didn't want to fly to San Francisco anymore. My CFO Chris would tell me 'You have to fly to San Francisco, every time you go down there you close $1 million of new projects.' But I didn't want to do it because I was exhausted, it wasn't new anymore, and I was already making enough money.

The business started to plateau because I wasn't willing to go that extra mile. Meanwhile, there were young scrappy people who dreamed of flying to San Francisco and taking clients out for steak dinners - they'd never done that before.

Running a 5-person agency versus a 50-person agency is a very different job, and it was a job I wasn't good at. I love running 5-15 person companies, but I wasn't enjoying it at 50 people. I read every book about management, did courses, and kept whipping myself asking 'Why am I not a great manager? Why can I not be like Peter Drucker reincarnate?' I would fantasize about selling the business. That's when I discovered 'door 3' - hiring CEOs - after reading a book about Warren Buffett."