“I crave certainty. But, I understand I will never get it.  And perhaps certainty would be a bit boring anyway?”

Mat, why did you start Amigo Partnership? 

A mix of creating our own identity, freedom and wanting to do things differently.

Is it more about the journey or the destination? 

Both.

We are trying to create a business that is a great place to work, do work that we and our clients are proud of (from a creative and effectiveness POV), and also to create value.

When things get tough, what do you do?

Go forensic.  Operating an independent agency requires an understanding of the spectrum of risk and the need for speculation (or calculated risk-taking).  However, the spectrum needs more attention and narrowing when the markets have been as tough as they have been.  Within tough periods, spend tends to decrease, whilst the length of project sign-offs and delivery tends to increase.  So the agency gets stretched commercially.  So business development (new biz) is critical, whilst maintaining quality creative service and value delivery to existing clients.

Do you crave certainty?

Of course.  But I understand I will never get it.  And perhaps certainty would be a bit boring anyway?

Has founding a business changed you?

Most definitely.  I think the transition has been from being idealistic to being more pragmatic.  And also potentially from being relentless to resilient.

What do you need, now?

Our recent focus has been to pivot our proposition and launch our new brand, so what we need now is to communicate this to the market and deliver the benefits/value of our agency evolution to our clients.