Introducing 25x — a different kind of technical agency.

We’re excited to let you know more about a new part of 25Fifteen — 25x — a digital product agency that’s designed to make the commercially-focused approach we use for our internal projects available to corporates.

You can find the 25x website here.

But first…story time :)

In the beginning…

In 2013, when we set up 25Fifteen, we made a strategic choice to dedicate ourselves to developing our own products and ventures instead of providing services. This meant we consciously stepped away from the immediate allure of service-related income to embrace the challenges and excitement of company creation.

This path, while filled with its share of uncertainties, stress, and risks, was something we were passionate about. We were placing a bet on ourselves and our incredible team, opting for the potential ups and downs that come with ownership rather than the steadier route of service provision.

Working with corporates

Over the past 10 or so years, in addition to incubating our own companies in our studio, we’ve also done (and continue to do) corporate co-venturing, entering into joint ventures with a small group of corporates we like and trust. Co-venturing gives us the exposure to the upside (and downside) we crave but also lets us leverage the assets of value of our partners to speed up, and extend the reach of, projects.

Over that time we’ve frequently heard our corporate venture partners say “We have development work that needs doing, but we can’t partner on it, is there any way we can just pay you to help us build it?”. We’ve always said “Sorry but no”, because work for hire is fundamentally different from the shared risk and reward that makes us an aligned partner and, to be honest, we wanted to stay true to our founding principles.

That said, our corporate partnerships usually last a long time, and we often get the chance to see how those projects we said no to turned out. A lot of them haven’t been pretty.

Sometimes they never materialised, because internal resources couldn’t be found in a timeframe that made sense. In other cases a technical agency was engaged, and the projects went over time and over budget, without even creating a product that realised the businesses goals.

All in stark contrast to the products produced by our partnership with them.

Meet 25x — a different kind of technical agency

After some soul-searching we decided that we needed to find a way to offer technical services to the right clients and for the right projects. This was the genesis of 25x (pronounced 25 ex).

25x works differently to most technical agencies.

Commercially focused

Our work is commercially focused. For us, form (which tech and how to use it) ALWAYS follows function (what are the commercial goals? How does the project help achieve them, driven by what the users, internal or external, need).

A proven approach

We’re taking the same methodology that has allowed us to create multiple $100m+ businesses inside 25Fifteen, and making them available to corporate clients. This commercial-first mindset is in the DNA of our company and people, many of whom come from entrepreneurial backgrounds. It allows us to look at development work as a means to a commercial end, rather than an end in itself, so we avoid getting lost in the technical details.

Tools and processes that work for us, and you

25Fifteen has developed a set of proprietary tools and processes over the past decade that allow us to move smoothly from goal-setting, through development, to delivery. They’ll all be available to corporate partners, allowing them to direct the process and accommodate the inevitable changes along the way, and giving realtime insight into progress and delivery timeframes.

Suited to new product development

Our approach is specifically suited to new product development, rather than adding features to existing products. We’ll fit in well where the business needs a particular commercial outcome, but internal teams have too large a backlog or simply don’t have the time. Accelerating delivery of your roadmap like this might sometimes include helping you develop a roadmap in the first place.

We can also help where you feel the team working on an existing project, whether internal or external, isn’t understanding what you need, and you need someone you can trust to take responsibility in order to meet your deadline.

If that’s you, or someone you know — we’d love to chat or be connected.