We stopped looking for one project/account manager. Instead we promoted six

Evelina and I founded Moskito Design in 2006. Over the last four years Moskito Design has grown from 6 people to the 39 we have today. In terms of running the business Evelina and I have always done everything together, including serving as Art Directors and Project Manager for our major clients. When we were just 6 people we could talk to everyone directly, but with that kind of growth, we couldn’t manage to be everywhere and do everything anymore. We knew something had to change.

Last May we advertised that we were looking for a project/account manager to help us do what we have always done, to embody both roles in a single figure. But we quickly realized a single alter ego wasn’t the approach we needed. We’ve never had account managers before ― at Moskito senior and junior designers interface directly with the clients they’re working for.

So instead of hiring one person, we elevated six to the new role of Agency Director: Giulio Clerici, Gian Maria Gallicchio, Iris Ranzani, Paola Taccardi, Thiago Taniguchi and Gaetano Giarracca. Officially, the first five combine the duties of art direction and project management; the sixth, Gaetano, those of a senior developer and project manager. But all, in addition to project management, will absorb the client-facing duties normally accorded to an account manager.

They’re six people who’ll create a layer of management in a company that’s never had one before. Six people who know the company inside and out and understand the way we do business.

A model business

Before we started Moskito Design ten years ago, Evelina and I had had only one other agency experience in our lives ― an unpaid internship at the studio of our university professor and thesis advisor. We learned a lot from him about design, but also a lot about company culture. The studio was small and it was like a little family. It was close to his apartment, and his wife and son were always around. That became my image of what work should be: intimate, familiar, not in a big agency with a lot of hierarchy. This first experience helped us build the agency the way we wanted to.

We were always managers of ourselves, and even as we grew, in terms of projects, the approach at Moskito Design has always been that everybody ― and I don’t mean just the graphic designers, but really everybody ― manages their own projects.

But it was in growing quickly from 6 to 30 people that we realized we needed to transition from a boutique agency management style to that of a more structured one. We’d been lucky to be able to take on bigger and bigger projects, which meant we had also had to grow a lot in terms of people. The more people you have, and the bigger the projects are, the more you have to delegate and the less control we’re able to personally control everything.
That’s why we decided to create these new roles within the company.

A natural choice

As far as our choice of leaders, these were a natural choice ― we didn’t have much doubt about it. They’ve been working here the longest and had always helped in managing projects. They’re people we value, people who are good for the role. They’ve been with us since before we before we really exploded, and they’ve grown with us.

So yes, seniority within the company plays a big factor, because they’re going to have a much more active role inside Moskito in the management of people and the management of money. It’s scary letting go of control, and if we’re going to share our company it has to be with people we trust. Now they’ve got to learn to care for Moskito Design like we do.

Agency Director = Project manager + Account manager

Project managers and account managers are traditionally two different roles, but what we needed are people to be our replicas, in a way. If I had to train an account manager… I’m sure I could, but just like us these guys have started out as Graphic Designers. With the exception of Gaetano, who’s a developer, all the others have all developed from designers to project managers. Now they’re learning to be account managers with the clients we have, in the sense of taking an active role in proposing new projects, or ideas to clients.

There’s no formal training process, but what we’re trying to help them learn is how to work with customers, how to say no, how to be diplomatic. We’re trying to transfer our expertise in it. They’re all different of course, with different strengths and weaknesses. But I have confidence in them.

Managing change

We never studied management, but we’ve always been the managers of ourselves. We’ve made mistakes, and we always will, but our approach is that there’s always a solution and we’ve got to find it. Sometimes what works for one agency is the best for ours, but we’re always ready to learn. Some agencies act as though they’ve already learned everything they need to. We’re always had the opposite approach ― we’ve kept our minds open to try to learn as much as we can. Which doesn’t mean we’ve arrived ― there are always new challenges and new problems to solve, and the day will never arrive when we can say we’ve figured everything out. If it did, that would probably mean business is not going well and you’re not getting new clients.

This is an approach I’d recommend to other agencies. Of course, it depends on how you’ve structured the agency, but this is working for us. If we just tried to shove somebody into the role, I don’t think it would work.

Conclusion

I don’t know what the future will hold for Moskito. Every time I think “we’re there”, something happens that completely upends my expectations. I’m sure we’ll grow ― I don’t know how much, and of course I can’t put a number on it ― but I’m happy to grow as long as we can still stay Moskito with the same approach.

It can always be difficult to grow, but with the right people in place, I’m less afraid of it now. We’ve got a great team and we would’ve never got to this point if we hadn’t found such good people to work with.

If you work hard, you can do it. If you choose the right people, you can do it. That’s the only secret recipe.

At Moskito Design we’re making sure that as our company grows, our people grow as well