Preparing Pixelmatters for its next decade
Over the past couple of months, we’ve been implementing some structural changes at Pixelmatters, which mostly impact non-client-facing departments like Sales, Marketing, Finance, People and Operations. Today, in light of our commitment to transparency, I’m publicly sharing some of these changes and why they’re happening, to provide further clarity to our clients, partners, and community. TL;DR: We aim to position Pixelmatters for one more successful decade.
2024 is a year of disruptive changes at Pixelmatters. The most significant changes we’ve had in a single year, ever.
Just like every other tech company, 2021 and 2022 were years of significant growth for us. Our team went from ~40 to ~65 and revenue almost doubled. This growth was unplanned and “forced” by the market, where capital was cheap and abundant. Then, a (inevitable) correction came along. The first signs were timidly felt by late 2022.
Through 2023, even though the signs were no longer timid, I decided to avoid making disruptive changes as, despite the different market dynamics, I believed in our capacity to acquire new clients and retain the existing ones. I thought (or hoped) that the market would recover as fast as it did in 2020. It didn’t and so, while holding our heavy structure, our clients were focused on profitability and no longer on growth at all costs. Our costs were increasing/kept high and revenue was going down. In hindsight, that was a strategic mistake and I’m the only one to blame.
Fast forward to 2024 and it’s now clear that new market and economic dynamics are here to stay. This 1st semester of 2024 has been a huge learning experience and created a lot of clarity regarding how things are versus how they should be.
I’ve been thinking a lot about who Pixelmatters is, how it should operate, position itself, and its culture while realizing that what worked in the last 10 years may no longer work in the next 10.
So, to be able to make significant changes quickly, I decided to shake Pixelmatters’ foundations.
What started as a need to reduce the headcount is leading to an organizational restructuring and subsequent cultural repositioning, that I announced to the Pixelmatters team a few weeks ago.
What this means in practice is that we are and will remain focused on:
- Becoming a more efficient and lean organization, doing more with less, aiming for further competitiveness and sustainable profitability.
- Implementing a new Org Chart and organizational way of operating.
- Updating our cultural heuristics, better representing and highlighting the company we are and want to be.
- Ensuring that Pixelmatters is a place for A-players and A-players only.
In short, we want and will double down on preserving the (abundant) good things Pixelmatters already has while improving the stuff we feel we could be better at. The internal motto is ⭐ #BiasTowardsAction.
To achieve the above, in addition to optimizing several non-personnel costs, some roles have been eliminated and others are having their responsibilities changed.
To mitigate some of the human and cultural impact that come out of changes of this kind, over the past few weeks I’ve spoken individually with every Pixelmatters team member to gather alignment, answer questions, and provide visibility into the future vision for this new phase of Pixelmatters’ journey.
We’re executing all the above while being faithful to our values, leading this process with humanism and empathy. People have always been and will remain at the center of what Pixelmatters’ culture is all about, never forgetting that work is just work.
It’s a challenging phase. But I have never been as excited about Pixelmatters’ future as I am today.
