We think building software to increase human agency is good. We also think it’s good business.
Agency Enterprise is a software development, data science, and design studio based in Los Angeles. We’ve bootstrapped our way to 100+ without VC, PE, or outside shareholders. It’s a simple business model - our amazing people do amazing work, we turn a profit, and we hire more amazing people. Ok, there’s some nuance, we have a skunkworks division and launch vertical SaaS companies like Instill Video and do NFT drops, all while keeping a laser focus on our enterprise sales targets for our core consulting business, but if you aspire to drive value across a range of initiatives, then we should chat.
We take the long view and develop technology to increase human agency for our clients, our employees, and humanity. We incubate agency-increase technology startups, building MVPs and founders. We are currently winning international competitions in neuroscience machine learning and researching the cutting edge of brain-computer interface (BCI) technology.
We’ve built incredible startups their MVPs, worked with large enterprises like Walmart, Samsung, and Berkshire Hathaway, and everything in-between.
Equity
Working at AE means receiving equity in some of our client projects and in the Skunkworks projects we incubate. The equity granted is priced at a value of $0 when you receive it. If it were otherwise, you’d be forced to pay taxes. But to be clear, there are no free lunches, only the choice of who pays for your sandwich.
At AE, the equity you receive is not free to AE. We invest millions annually in Skunkworks projects - paying our employees to build technology for which no client pays a bill. We receive equity from certain clients, which means we accept less in terms of our billable rate. We then pass that equity on to our employees. Sure it’s priced at $0 on day 1 - a call option on a stock trading at $100 with a strike price of $100 is priced at $0 today for tax purposes, but you’d want to receive that option. If you received that option on a dozen stocks, you’d be fairly confident that some of them would be worth a lot more than $0.
Offering this equity (by investing in Skunkworks or offering clients a lower rate) comes out of AE’s margins. Theoretically, we should be lowering salaries to compensate. But we’re competitive on that front as well. Over the long-term, we believe AE employees who stick around are likely to fare extremely well monetarily (no legal promises). We think long-term. You should too when you choose your employer.
We are looking to hire people who think long term. People create exponentially more value here in their 3rd or 4th year rather than their 1st or 2nd, and that only increases. The value you create leads to more equity issued every year, and you retain it while you remain at AE or at a Skunkworks co that spins out, in order to free up equity for others, which is how we afford to be generous with the equity.
* Disclaimer: If you leave AE on good terms, you can retain 20% of your equity if you continue to send leads our way, share our core values, etc. If you leave AE for your own AE-incubated Skunkworks project (or someone else’s), you retain 100% of your equity. Folks create exponentially more value here in their 3rd and 4th years than their 1st or 2nd - we want folks who think long-term like we do.
We only hire the world's most effective people.