We’re open-sourcing our Profit & Loss Statements
A couple months back, we wrote about how we’re beginning to Open Source the way we run Sanctuary Computer, and share our journey of building a truly unique digital product shop.
Take a read here:
For the Good of Transparency
Thus far, we’ve been super open with everyone on the team about the underlying money situation of Sanctuary — we’re working to build a truly caring and understanding group of collaborative technologists, and we believe that without transparency on the money front, there’s a line drawn between the people who maintain the Quickbooks, and those that don’t.
Instead, the business admin people at Sanctuary (Ella Fitch aka Sanctuary’s Studio Producer, and me) internally frame our involvement with money, quotations, invoices and client relationships as an open door.
Any technologist at the studio is welcome to dive into it if they’d like.
Personally as a developer, sometimes I wish I could return to a place where I was oblivious to the added stress of payroll, efficiency and client relations. That said, back when I was a salaried developer, I wanted more of a clue as to what was going on behind the scenes.
It seems logical that for us to grow an open, friendly & collaborative team (and community!), being transparent about our finances helps everyone be invested in what we’re building.
So! Today we’re sharing our first two Profit and Loss statements with the world, so that those starting new studios & freelance businesses can learn from our experience.
Of course, these Profit & Loss Statements are available on Github, too:
2015 — Sanctuary is Born
Sanctuary Computer started in February, 2015.
This year, I was traveling a lot (Montreal, Seoul, Berlin, London, Poland, and more) before returning to NYC late in the year. Given Sanctuary had just started, I was mostly working on smaller projects, and contract engagements for bigger web apps.
Given my traveling, I was mostly assembling small teams of Berlin freelancers for some of those projects, but ultimately I was the sole Sanctuary developer in 2015.
Below is our Profit & Loss for Sanctuary Computer in 2015.
2016 — Sanctuary gets Busy
In 2016, beginning with the homie Sebastian Odell, we hired our first full-time employees, and moved into NEW INC on the Bowery.
We began by working on some Shopify & editorial sites, taking on what we could and doing our best work.
Toward the middle of the year, and on the back of some of my work at ✎ Gin Lane, we landed a bigger contract doing large-scale infrastructure in the React & React-Native space, and were able to hire a few more people to support that work, and move in.
By the end of 2016, Sanctuary had moved into a 2100 square foot studio on Bowery & Grand, and was a bustling team of 7 people.
A note on 2016’s End-of-Year Tax Haxx
While it looks like 2016 killed Sanctuary (ending with negative-almost-$30k Net Income), in reality we were able to carefully plan out our client payments, and payroll in a way that allowed us to see out the end of the year running at a loss, and quickly rebuild a bank account buffer in the first week of January.
It was a little stressful at the time, but this careful planning was integral for us hitting the ground running in 2017, without a large tax hit to worry about.
Let’s keep chatting!
Wanna talk more?
Please reach out at hello@sanctuary.computer — we’re super friendly and would love to chat in greater detail on some of the specifics here.
Ultimately, we believe that large, full service agencies are becoming less appealing to clients out there, and instead, we’re hoping to encourage a world where nimble, specialist companies work together to carefully create intimate & unique work for clients, at realistic prices.
So get in touch! We’re always down for a margarita @ forgtmenot.
Oh and check back for our 2017 Profit & Loss, next year!
