Welcome to our site: We finally grew up. And it almost killed us.

"We finally grew up. And it almost killed us." by Mike Wagner

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:32:37 -0600

It’s tough to grow up. And in some ways we never do…if we’re lucky.

The structure you put into place works now but won’t work forever. At least that’s been my experience.

Too many companies and organizations suffer from what I call “hardening of the categories”.

Thanks for sharing your journey to date.

Always something to learn from here.

Keep creating, Mike

"We finally grew up. And it almost killed us." by Brad Garland

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:35:12 -0500

Sounds like somebody has gone back through the E-Myth book again! We did the exact same thing recently too but only through the ‘owners’ responsibilities by dept. I think I’ll get the rest of the team involved and get everyone on the same page. Thanks!

"We finally grew up. And it almost killed us." by Jeff Stephens

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:09:05 -0500

Very cool of you to share this introspective process with everyone. I can relate, and it’s indeed a bear of a process. If you haven’t already read it, I’d highly recommend Michael Gerber’s book, eMyth—it sheds a ton of light on this exact topic and I think you’d get a ton out of it.

"We finally grew up. And it almost killed us." by Robbie Wright

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 11:46:48 -0500

Growing pains are good though! That means you’re growing! Keep doing what you’re doing and I know success will follow.

"We finally grew up. And it almost killed us." by Travis Carnahan

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:35:36 -0500

Great job of sharing Trabian’s story! Can’t wait to hear “the rest of the story”!

We finally grew up. And it almost killed us.

matt@trabian.com (Matt Dean) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:59:00 -0500

Several months ago we decided it was time to grow up. In less than a year our team grew from three to seven and moved from one location to four. Not only were we trying to figure out how we could keep in touch long-distance, but we were also trying to figure out what each of us was supposed to be doing. This used to be easy—Brent was the designer, Trey was the blogger and site content writer, and I was the developer and CEO (usually in that order).

Now we had two designers, two developers, a guy to help us keep projects on track, an office manager, and a speaker/blogger.

So we did what most companies do at some point. We gathered around a whiteboard and started drawing boxes. Trabian needs to make more money than we spend, so we needed a Finance Department to keep an eye on that. If we don’t produce anything for our clients then we don’t get paid, so obviously we need a Production Department. Who’s going to buy anything from us if we don’t sell it to them? That’s where the Sales and Marketing Department comes in. And of course, we always need to be innovating—so we need a Research and Development Department. Oh, and somebody needs to be in charge of everything.

Alright, now all of the bases are covered. Doug has the most management experience, so he’s in charge of Finance and Production. Trey is the closest to our clients and potential clients, so he’s in charge of Sales and Marketing. I’m always getting distracted by some crazy idea or new-fangled programming language, so I’m in charge of Research and Development in addition to my role as CEO.

Two levels. Check. Production obviously depends on Development and Design. Brandon is a developer—that’s an easy one. Brent and Charlie are both designers, but Brent’s been with Trabian longer and has more experience designing websites, so Brent it is. Kelly helps us all in some way, so she’ll be off to the side and be connected to everyone in a support role.

Awesome. Everyone finally knows what they’re doing and who to go to if they have a question. If I need to know where we are on a certain project, I go to Doug. If Doug needs to know whether we’re staying on track with our revenue goals for the quarter, he talks to Trey to check on sales.

We finally grew up. And it almost killed us.

I’ll tell you why and what we did about it in my next post. Here’s a spoiler: we’re all incredibly happy now and know what our roles are. And our roles rock.