The 5 Most Pivotal Moments of our First 5 Years in Business
threesixfive has now been in business for 5 years.
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Those years have brought with them heaps of stories, successes, failures, leaps-of-faith, and all the little moments in between, but some stand out more than others and have altered the trajectory of our business disproportionately.
So if you’re curious here are, in my opinion, the five most pivotal moments in our company’s first five years of business
5. Opening our first Office - and now our second
I definitely don’t remember many folks saying “that’s a great idea”, when we signed the lease for our first office space in downtown Halifax.
First Office Space In Halifax
We had next to no cash - just a few small gigs lined up - but we knew if we were going to grow this thing into what we knew it could be, we needed a dedicated space to show up, bust our asses and turn a dream into a real company.
We took the 660sq. ft. space with its hideous yellow walls with blue trim, and I recorded early vlog-style videos sitting on our only piece of furniture, a small wooden box.
We painted the space with the help of a few friends, moved some walls around (more than once), and landed one of our first serious gigs: an in-kind trade with local company Office Interiors, who furnished our whole office with high quality desks, storage, seating, and flooring in exchange for a new brand video.
Finally Painting Our New Office
Admittedly, the exchange was quite generous on their part, and I’ve got to thank their former COO Keith Skiffington and [Current] CEO Jim Mills for trusting and supporting us so early on.
And now…
We have recently moved into and are finishing our second space (click for a slightly outdated walkthrough)!
New Studio Build
A brand-spanking-new, badass, ground-level, 3,670 sq. ft. studio / office space.
Right as the world seems to be headed into a recession…
And again, most conventional wisdom would / has urged us against such an aggressive move, but we believe wholeheartedly that this is what we want to do with our business, and that it will open up new worlds of possibility for our team, our company, and for our community.
So we’re doing it!
4. Landing our first international client: Puma
Near the end of our first year in business, when I first saw that someone named Sally Ghaly from Puma in Herzogenaurach, Germany had reached out to see if we could help with a remote video edit, I almost deleted the email, assuming it was spam.
Why would they be reaching out to us in Halifax, and (sorry, Sally) a rhyming name, Sally Ghaly? Gotta be fake.
But after searching for her LinkedIn, which told me she grew up near Halifax (in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia), I figured it was worth responding to. It turns out she had been in Germany for the past ~6 years, but had followed me on Instagram when I was documenting my life in Nova Scotia for my 365-day, daily video project that I used to first get into video.
We ended up taking on the edit. It was a last-minute project with a tight timeline, so we spent all day and night for a week trying to nail it. In the end, their team was impressed with our work and I followed up with a phone call, basically saying “we’re hungry to do more work with you guys, throw anything at us”.
We pitched an idea to promote the re-release of Puma’s classic sneaker, the Speedcat, and they ended up sending us a pair of shoes to Halifax, where we casted two friends to model for us, scouted a few locations, and shot the whole thing in one day between 3-6am to work around our friends’ schedules.
Puma - threesixfive
The Puma team ended up loving this piece as well, so we did a few more remote gigs and, eventually, I was invited to come out to Nuremberg, Germany (my first time ever in Europe) to shoot some content at a cool studio called Poolhouse.
Puma x Odin
This led to more trips to Nuremberg, projects in London, Berlin, and New York where I visited Puma's new flagship store on 5th Ave. I remember looking up at the big TV screen on the wall and thinking, damn it would be cool if our video was up there, and just a moment later, I saw our friends and our beloved Halifax pop up on the screen right in between clips of rap superstars Meek Mill and Cordae.
This was a huge moment. I thought, “Damn, if we’re getting opportunities in major cities around the world from tiny little Halifax, and our run & gun work from 3am can stand up next to some of these huge campaigns, we must be doing something right.”
At that point, I was beginning to think it might be time for another big move.
3. Expanding into Toronto
I was sitting for coffee with my mentor and close-friend, Robert Zed, bubbling over with excitement about our latest international exploits and what they might mean for our business when he said, “You’ve gotta be in Toronto.”
Within minutes, I was on the phone with my friend Matt Stairs, who invited me to crash on his couch in Toronto, and connected me with his friend Cam McDonald (then CEO of Cottage Springs - now part of the Ace Beverage group) who he knew might have some extra office space available.
Within days, I was on a flight to Toronto to feel things out and decide if it was time to make the jump.
I flew into Billy Bishop airport, took an Uber up to King & Bathurst (smack dab downtown) and within 10 minutes I bumped into several friends on the sidewalk, 2 others yelling and waving from their cars as they drove by. This felt like a good omen!
I met with Cam who did, in fact, have some extra office space. I went out for dinners, met up with pals, and scrambled around the city. It was all just feeling right.
When I called my girlfriend at the time to tell her about my new plans, she dumped me, I agreed that was probably smart, and the decision was made.
In less than a month, I moved into my new apartment in Toronto (which Cam also found for me. Jeez, thank you, Cam!) and kept my pad in Halifax with every intention of traveling back and forth, frequently, so I could stay close to the operation in both cities.
These first few weeks in Toronto were looking extremely promising. The outpouring of support and influx of interest in our services were way beyond anything I expected. We landed new work with eBay Canada, were asked to bid on a project for NFL Canada, lined up a gig with one of Canada’s largest Law Firms, and I got stoned with Paul Bissonette (@biznasty) who helped me craft tinder messages as a newly single man (that part was actually not helpful, it turns out, but thanks anyway, Biz!).
eBay Sneaker Authenticity
Everything was looking up! The work in Toronto was coming, we were lining up more projects in Europe, and our Halifax team was stepping up in my absence. I felt on top of the world.
Then, about 2 months after arriving in Toronto, the news became flooded with talk of some new and contagious virus that might be a big deal if it made it to North America.
Shit.
2. The Pandemic
This period of time was hard on everyone, obviously.
**Note: It was extremely hard on us and on me, but we were also so damn lucky to be in a business that could survive this. I have a great deal of compassion for the business owners and staff in the industries that were most impacted, who didn’t really receive any meaningful support (restaurants, gyms etc.) and who really had it hard - especially anyone who lost their job or their loved ones through no fault of their own.**
For those first few weeks, we had no idea what was going to happen.
Pretty soon, most of those promising new connections in Toronto began to fall off as the world shut down, fear took hold, and budgets froze.
We’d spent the last few months doubling our staff from 4-8 in anticipation of continued growth and it became apparent all too quickly that our business was not going to be able to sustain these salaries and survive.
We made the extremely difficult decision to lay off 4 of our staff, all of whom I considered my friends, and it sucked.
We spent the next several months like everyone else, hoping that things might bounce back any time, but we spent quite a while just sitting home on zoom with our remaining 4 team members, trying to find work to do and trying not to panic.
Eventually, when the world and our clients realized that this wasn’t going to change anytime soon, we started to hear from them again. Given that we couldn’t really shoot with any of them in person, we had to get creative and find other solutions like repurposing old content, creating animation / motion graphics videos, or coaching our clients and their teams on how to shoot their own content at home on their iPhones.
This was a very difficult time on many levels, but I think it did have a number of very positive effects on our company, and it showed me how much our team was capable of without me micromanaging every little detail.
Due to the 2 week isolation rule when travelling to Nova Scotia at this time, I didn’t end up going back to Halifax for over 1.5 years - whereas my plan all along was to be back there almost every month. Our team not only got by, but they all stepped up in huge ways and our operations improved dramatically (especially on the technical side) with me out of everyone’s way. If it weren’t for the pandemic, I don’t know how long it would have taken me to learn this lesson without the forcing function of that distance between us.
Also, having gone through this whole experience really galvanized mine and Gavin’s working relationship (probably also largely due to me getting out of his way).
1. Gavin becoming a Partner
threesixfive’s closest clients and friends all know that Gavin worked and acted like a partner at threesixfive long before it became official.
Gavin Becomes a Partner and COO
With that said - as two young men with very different backgrounds, skill sets, and personalities - it did take a few years, a lot of work, and some really tough, long, and honest conversations, for us to fully understand one another, to build a sense of trust, and to hone in on a shared vision.
Three years into business, our formal partnership agreement solidified all of that, providing a foundation for what is now (in my opinion) an absolutely rock solid business partnership.
We respect each other’s different styles and strengths, allowing them to compliment each other, and there is a foundation of trust that allows us to challenge one another and work through friction to make our team, our company, and ourselves better.
Beyond business, our bond has evolved into one of my most cherished friendships. He’s acted as a homie, a brother, a therapist, and confidant.
Work is a hell of a lot more fun when we can laugh, dream, argue, hug, struggle, and grow, and then thoroughly enjoy a glass of wine and some great food together all in the same day.
I couldn’t be more grateful to have such a capable, hard-working, supportive, and passionate Partner to be on this ride with.
Company Update
Moving forward...
Despite the looming global economic situation and rumbles of a recession, I couldn’t be more excited about our business’ current position and trajectory. The time spent fostering and building some key relationships in Toronto, and powering through that difficult time, is now paying off in big ways.
I’m very proud that we stuck it out.
These first 5 years have been quite a ride, and I can’t wait to see what the next five will bring.
Thanks to everyone who's been part of the journey so far!
Dave