The studio turned 1 this month. These 5 lessons come from our own builds, and 2 of them come from our own mistakes.
1 · We stopped planning and started building
February was our strategy month. We researched 14 industries and wrote plans, but no new revenue came. In April we stopped writing lists and started building engines. The year turned there.
2 · The close is the start
We met the founder of the Eddie George Celebrity Golf Classic through 1 cold message. The first build was small and shipped that week. Later, the same founder came back for 3 more engagements.
- Sep’25A logo and a long list of tools
- Oct/Nov’25The practice rounds
- Dec’25The first flagship
- Jan’26The reels engine
- Feb’26The expo and the training
- Mar’26The tallest graft
- Apr’26Our own film engine
- May’26The first cold close
- Jun’26A store and a framework
- Jul’26The quoting engine
- Aug’26The heavy month
- Sep’26The first ring closes
3 · Read the records
For a shop's quoting engine we read 332 pages of its own registers. The official price list held 51 figures, and the records held 225.
One handwritten fraction was misread by 1/8 in, and it mattered. So we price from the records.
4 · Verify the screen you changed
Our worst week came from an audit: we broke an admin panel while making it safer, because our check only reached the login page. Every check now reaches the screen it covers.
5 · A human signs everything
The systems did more on their own this year. Every email and payment still goes past a person before it ships. That person answers for the result.
Year 1 is written down. Year 2 is the long game, and it has started.