Waves, Values and Insights. HKEK is 5!
On riding waves literally and otherwise, across 5 years of calm and stormy waters. Also on 200%+ growth every year, happy teams, remote work and deep values for real impact.
Well, HOO KOO E KOO is five! 🎂
I too can’t believe it my friends, we survived! Instead of a generic company recap, I thought it might be worth sharing some deeper look from my personal perspective of the founder.
What started as an experiment in remote work has now grown to over 40 people, 7 figures in annual revenue and has touched a mountain of amazing projects that will truly shape the future of our world. We grow ~200% every year and signs are that the next one will be no different.
I’m proud of our beautiful team and all the narrow escapes from death we managed to pull off. But don’t let me get self-congratulatory. There were many turns, f*ck-ups and pivotal moments in our journey to building what we are now.
Let’s dive into it in two parts:
- Values
- Waves (Our Story)
No matter your industry, especially — but not only — as a founder or executive, you might find these useful!
Part I: Value your Principled Purpose
To me, what makes HKEK unique is our principles.
Our purpose contained in values.
It’s something coming from our internal deep thinking of who we want to be, what we want to do, and what makes us happy doing it. We didn’t outsource a branding strategy effort nor realized principles are needed to unite when at scale. They were born in the earliest days, from our own observations and hopes. We keep refining these to form something, that I’m pretty sure has not existed before.
Those principles are:
- Remote first.
- Happiness first.
- Solve real problems of the future.
- No redundant atoms.
- No redundant pixels.
- Intersectional by design.
- Redefine unicorns.
- Progressive partnerships.
- Intense and agile.
- Power is abundant.
- Trick or Retreat
- Question everything, every day.
Let me expand below:
1.Remote first.
For 5 years, this was the key tenet of what HOO KOO E KOO is. We will all, always, work remotely. Everyone has flexible work hours, location doesn’t matter. Easier said than done. We had to reinvent our process several times and now we built our own processes and tools to master the remote work process. Handy in 2020 :)
2. Happiness first.
We promote a balanced lifestyle of happiness, adventure, self-expression, and freedom.
3. Solve real problems of the future.
Our outputs are foundational, built for longevity and for scale.
4. No redundant atoms.
Reduce material waste and pollution. Strive to be as lean as possible. No offices, computer hardware, or idle hands.
5. No redundant pixels.
Thoughtful and beautiful design, not more or less than it needs to be.
6. Intersectional by design.
We are creating one global tribe, where everyone is free to choose their location. No two people have the same background. Our team is based in 15+ countries and we are lucky to celebrate women in leadership.
7. Redefine unicorns.
We participate in projects that disrupt markets, provide a leap in human experience, and move towards a more sustainable existence on this planet. 20% of our projects are non-profit.
8. Progressive partnerships.
We build long-term, collaborative, and integrated partnerships. Clients are called Partners because of the supportive nature of the relationship. We also work on our own business ventures, always in partnership with someone.
9. Intense and agile.
It’s ok to be crazy about something. There is an energy and momentum to each project. Staying agile to flow with the collaboration.
10. Power is abundant.
We are open and collaborative. We have built a community of thought and industry leaders. We share knowledge, networks, and resources to build a better future for humanity and the planet.
11. Trick or Retreat.
We foster meaningful human interaction in inspiring locations to build bonds and conceive ideas. We foster a highly free-spirited culture. Without retreats we might fall apart as a team, hence the “trick” part.
12. Question everything, every day.
We are constantly evolving our culture, innovating our tech, finding better processes. This list is always a work in progress as we grow and adapt.
Part II: Waves you surf. Waves that wipe you out.
HOO KOO E KOO has by all means been a wild ride.
I like to look at life as a series of waves. When you see the right one you paddle hard and get to ride it. But sometimes you get wiped out: completely mangled, spinning aimlessly underwater, and hoping some time you will resurface. This happens especially when you try bigger waves or try a new style. Every time you get out of your comfort zone to reach a new level.
There are also swells, the “waves of waves” — these create whole sets of opportunities and challenges — but I’ll get to that.
You see, as it is with surfing, it has been with HOO KOO E KOO. What I’m most grateful for in the past 5 years, is that we managed to navigate out of multiple “wipeouts”, we came back to the surface, learned and took notes. I’m so proud of our team who made it through these adventures and stuck with us. This, and especially 2020, made us really strong.
But some don’t realize how many of these wipe-outs happen!
My sister gave a TED talk mentioning how she perceives me as a person that sets a goal and then goes A-B.
This made me realize how much things look different from the outside, even to someone close to me, so — part in response to her talk! — here’s how the “A-B” unfolded, for us.
To keep our metaphor, the best way to describe is surfing big waves after you watched a few YouTube tutorials. When on the way towards B, we also touch on half other letters of the alphabet, meander around, almost went bankrupt twice, but not give up and get there, just to chart a path towards C.
Here’s roughly how our story went, in those 5 years.
Come travel in time with me, will you :)
December 2015
I launched the first HKEK website (it hasn’t changed that much!) and the company is ready for business. It is by all means an experiment.
- Can I create a 100% remote service company while constantly traveling the world?
- Can I work less than 20h/week and still make a living?
These are my main questions. I set out to try. I leave Silicon Valley and begin my journey around the world. Over the next 2 years, I work less than 20h/week on average and visit 50+ countries, circumnavigating the planet. HOO KOO E KOO is just me and 2 part-time developers.
December 2016
I hire my dear friend Yukiko Goto, former Sony PlayStation producer to create project management at HKEK, during a night ride on a “chicken bus” through Myanmar. Yuki pushes the company to a whole new level.
We are a team of perhaps 5.
Spring 2017
We keep traveling. I start noticing how many issues there are in the world and start making a plan to focus HKEK entirely on solving these issues. The micros project is born thanks to a suggestion from my friend Vinay Chaudhri.
September 2017
Due to several unfortunate events all at once, HKEK almost goes out of business for the first time, luckily gets saved by my crypto investments. I move to Nicaragua and tired of the service model I start interviewing for a Google Design Lab job in search of some stability.
Winter 2017/18
After another video call when I’m looking at a gray Google office in San Francisco — while I am sitting by a surfer beach in Nicaragua — I quit interviewing for Google. I decide to double down on HKEK.
It becomes my #1 focus from here onwards.
Spring 2018
I stop traveling as much and mostly hover around NY now. I quit the <20h rule and work full time from now on. The company enjoys a hockey stick moment in growth but is by all means super tiny. I think we’re about 10.
Summer 2018
I write our first manifesto vision doc. HKEK starts becoming a “post-agency” with a mission to focus on building a better future for humanity and the planet. Chantelle Buffie joins, pushes our production discipline to a new level, and drafts the first Production Bible — or the “HOO of the KOO” — the grand manual to show how by working remotely we can outpace any old school office-based agency.
Spring 2019
We organize our first 9-day team retreat and it’s an incredible bonding experience. It becomes a series to celebrate our birthday and thank the team, at least once a year.
Summer 2019
We organize our first Tribe Gathering in New York during which we launch the 20% Nonprofit Project. From here on HKEK constantly supports nonprofits to further our mission. Chris Spearpoint joins as an ongoing consultant.
December 2019
HKEK has its biggest year ever, we achieved our 1-year revenue target by April already! The company grew over 200% again but after a parabolic first half of the year. It is now facing bankruptcy. I have to reinvest in it heavily, after months of distractions trying to launch 3 other companies, organizing a Burning Man camp, and moving to the Caribbean. Yukiko suddenly passes away 💔 The end of the year is really dark. I wrote about my lessons from these mistakes here.
January 2020
I get the opportunity to speak about our efforts to Sir Richard Branson, while he’s wearing our Future Horizon necklace and sitting right in front (thank you Susi Mai!). I get nearly an hour of 1:1 talk time with him while cycling together. HKEK is reaching new audiences and things are starting to look interesting.
March 2020
We start the Future Horizon micro-festival as our second retreat. COVID arrives at the west, things are getting weird. The Future Horizon community achieves incredible things right after the event, from donating 1,000,000 masks, to building a new coral reef to feeding 10,000 people and helping raise $70+ million to help instill democracy.
Hmm are Medium Vimeo embeds broken?
See more here :)
April 2020
Markets shift, projects go on hold, some get canceled. HKEK is seriously facing bankruptcy and has just weeks of runway. With all stocks and crypto crashing, I have near 0 money left to invest in it. We change course, work almost non-stop for 3 months and… we save it! :)
June 2020
Chris Spearpoint, my good friend and collaborator of many years becomes a partner at HKEK and kicks ass on all fronts ever since 🔥 I can’t be more grateful and it’s a total game-changer to have a partner, especially in such a kind and thoughtful person 💛 We’re ready to scale more.
Summer 2020
We keep hiring and start reconfiguring the company. I think we hire some 20 amazing talented people over this period. Tiya Gordon joins and brings our production machine to a new level.
November 2020
Following pulling nights most of the summer, we help raise over $70M to instill democracy in the US — and it works! We organize a mini retreat for those who dare in Mexico. A critical meeting given the business scenario.
December 2020
HKEK revenue grows nearly 200% again in 2020 despite an incredibly terrible start to the year and then the pandemic. And yet what we worked on most is preparation for next year and the future.
HKEK is stable. I think I can finally say we reached Stage 2 of my original plan ⛳️⚓. At the same time I know it will never be fully stable as in the meantime we also dabbled with Stage 3, 4 and 5, simultaneously — and we grow at a pretty fast pace.
2021
At the beginning of this section I mentioned swells. Swells bring sets of waves. Waves are the ones we ride. The swell we saw several years ago, was that the world needs to become sustainable, or it will simply become hell.
Humanity historically aspired not to be in hell and therefore there will be a heavy investment in fixing this. 2021 will be when the wave really starts turning at scale.
And HOO KOO E KOO is now more suited than perhaps any old school agency to help empower these efforts.
More in our upcoming Insights for the 3rd Decade story. Stay tuned!
But first…
We are seeking more environmental impact!
You made it all the way here! Thank you. We are now looking for exciting non-profit projects to support next year.
2020 was a year of social justice work for us, we are now seeking highly impactful environmental projects to support.
Think large scale, exponential impact that really makes a difference. Are you one? Do you know one? Please get in touch! 🙏⚡❤️
Happy Holidays everyone! 🎄
With love,
— Matt Cyrankiewicz
and the HOO KOO E KOO family
