Nebula Rising — CEO’s Journal Entry
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For 14 months, we have been building siloed pieces of technology, invested in great ventures, built an international workforce, iterated over several aspects of media production and distribution, launched our innovative technology solution in stealth mode, delivered on work for several clients, and a lot more.
For a while, it must have seemed to the casual observer that the building lights were on, people were rushing everywhere, furniture was being rearranged, but the final design remained elusive (and at times, the whole thing looked mostly confusing).
I previously received feedback that people looked at us with curiosity (and as a team not afraid to share our journey publicly). However, we also built a reputation for working on things that are considered innovative, and that we had a “F-ck Fake” air about us with human-centric style. Great!
Indeed, Chaos is order yet undeciphered.
I also recently got asked, “how do you keep track of all of the moving parts, and doesn’t that seem unfocused? What is your business?”. My answer is that I only have one product that I dedicate my attention to: that is, leveraging technology to help clients and commercialize businesses with authenticity.
It confused many when I said that at the core, we’re a tech company.
Although a lot of the visible parts of “the iceberg” falls into the marketing realm, the enormous submerged part is what makes us unique.
Ok, so yes everything we do revolves around our proprietary task management and communications platform with a few twists:
(1) our client work is radically transparent (clients see our progress and discussions on their task from start to finish and they can contribute to change the direction of a task whenever they want to),
(2) we offer subscription-based plans,
(3) All of our previously “individual” products have come home as add-ons to augment the benefit of our platform, and
(4) dedicated people around the world stand at the ready to work on and complete tasks.
We offer clients and our stakeholders a fully functioning marketing department at the click of a button and using the platform is a little unsettling at first.
For our marketing professionals that used to be “hidden” in their work then meet with the client from time to time to deliver progress reports, they now understand their work is seen in real-time by the client, and for the client, they now have an unparalleled global marketing department and production team that is more agile, more cost-effective and tailored to them.
The full implications of this can’t be understated — for example: client relationship building, speed, meeting expectations, and more outcomes that we have yet to fully comprehend ourselves.
Unlocking More Efficiency
Clients and stakeholders will soon be able to pay on a task by task basis (On-Demand), on a subscription plan by credit card or by prefunding their accounts with a variety of means of payment.
Prefunds are represented as credits that they can draw down to pay. Nothing too innovative here, but…
…from our business incubator’s perspective, this allows us to pre-fund the accounts of the ventures we invest in up to a specific investment amount that can be used to pay for media, marketing, advertising, consultancy, contractors, and sales personnel through our platform, with a few exceptions.
Another important evolution
Our digital channels will now only showcase The XTM Agency’s radically transparent process of content creation. Followers will now see the journey of client and stakeholder content (audio, video, photo, written) creation (and the behind-the-scenes) from start to finish. Audiences will then be able to experience the end result after viewing the “how-to” process.
A holistic vision
Our enterprise was started with a Truth First belief, that was expressed in the current cultural context as F-ck Fake. We then built a technology platform designed for radically transparent work with our clients and stakeholders and powered the platform with a global virtual talent ecosystem to deliver value.
We still have a long way to go but we now see the mountain we’re climbing clearly— the iterative part of our growth has subsided, and our team is now in lock-step as we tackle the ascent.
Let’s enjoy the ride.
James Duchenne
XTM; 2020
