Jason Thompson and I share many things in common. We were born a few days apart. We recall spending too much time playing games on Apple IIe computers. We have an almost spiritual response to most of the Coen brothers’ movies. And we have been collaborating professionally for about ten years. I traveled to Utah to learn more about how 33 Sticks, the Analytics boutique he founded with Hila Dahan, inspires customers to work differently.
Jason and Hila founded 33 Sticks about seven years ago and I’ve experienced first-hand the key principles that define 33 Sticks’ competitive advantage: the company employs a handful of rock star employees who typically work (very) remotely with clients and religiously abstain from billing by the hour. Sounds simple…but speak with any 33 Sticks customer and you will hear something more…a deeper connection to the 33 Sticks team where personal stories are shared freely and relationships span multiple companies.
As I drive the 30 minutes from Salt Lake City to Jason’s home near American Fork, the landscape gently reminds me that I am traveling a world away from my home outside of Boston. Mountains are always present in this part of the country, and distance is faithfully measured relative to the Salt Lake Temple downtown. As I drive farther from Salt Lake, Google Maps struggles to finish announcing intersections before I pass through them. But then I reach a point where the mountains seem to take over, streets have names, and horses linger in open grass fields between manicured subdivisions. Tech is growing here at a torrid pace, and traffic is starting to grind along the wide roads. I arrive at Jason’s home, the closest thing to a headquarters for 33 Sticks, towards the end of the day.
Like all 33 Sticks employees, Jason works from a home office. “The Dude” hangs on one wall, painted by an artist clearly inspired by both Van Gogh and The Big Lebowski. An espresso maker sits peacefully nearby. Various inspirational business books and soccer club memorabilia are neatly arranged on a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf opposite the three bay windows that fill the home office with light. We spoke about 33 Sticks at length during my short visit, and the following is edited and excerpted from our conversation and an interview conducted remotely about a month later:
What are some of the challenges you have had to overcome to stay true to the purpose, or mission, of 33 Sticks?
Starting a business is difficult, especially if you are starting it with no money. You will be challenged to compromise your ideals for money…should I take a project just because it pays well even if it doesn’t align with what I want to do? One of our earliest, hardest decisions at 33 Sticks was to refuse to bill by the hour. And we turned down a lot of technical implementation projects because we want to help our clients solve a larger problem, or condition. Sure…we can implement Adobe but we want to help our customers navigate a more strategic journey and we feel that billing by the hour is in opposition to that goal.
Refusing to bill by the hour has been raised to a moral or ethical level at 33 Sticks…why is that? Why does it matter so much?
It’s part of our ideology…we want long term relationships with clients and we want to help them get to that next level. Billing by the hour directly competes with that goal…it rewards consultants for taking a long time to solve problems. Clients want problems solved quickly. By removing the billable hour we remove any incentive to just take our customer’s time. We’ve worked hard to educate the market in this area…and we’ve made a lot of progress…but it’s still a difficult conversation to have and there are companies who simply cannot buy our services without charging by the hour.
It’s also critical for our employees…as a manager I immediately focus on utilization as a key measure if we bill by the hour. By removing the billable hour we’re creating space for consultants to think. One of our best and most difficult decisions has been to remain faithful to our ideals since day one. Our employees can count on the fact that we will always remain true to our principles.
In taking the long term view towards client relationships, 33 Sticks clearly focuses on different measures. How do you measure success if you’re not focused on measures such as utilization?
If someone from an ivy league business school took a look at 33 Sticks they would be quick to point out that we could easily be making twice our current Revenue. There is a lot of money to be made in technical implementation…there is more money to be made by billing more hours or at higher rates. I really believe in the ideas of Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, who mastered the long term customer relationship. At 33 Sticks, our only measure is whether our decisions are in the best interest of our client’s satisfaction, and the satisfaction of our employees. Yes, we have more work to do to up front to demonstrate the premium value we offer. But once customers start working with 33 Sticks and experiencing the difference, we know we are establishing a long term customer relationship that will pay off. The work almost becomes an excuse to have these deeper, personal relationships. I’m often criticized for encouraging more personal conversations with customers or employees, such as saying it’s OK to treat them like family, to discuss vacations and share in life events. I feel that our focus on the personal, on the human challenges of walking the analytical journey, is a quality that separates 33 Sticks in the marketplace.
By renouncing the billable hour and advocating for remote work, it feels as if 33 Sticks has a social mission to change the way people work. Would you agree?
Absolutely…if we stay on the Patagonia theme and Yvon’s book “Let My People Go Surfing” the fact that Patagonia makes gear or climbing equipment is secondary to providing opportunities for social responsibility and for different experiences. We have a client who works for a 100 year-old publication, not an organization that you would associate with change, and he went to his management and asked to work with his family from Hawaii for a year. That’s the kind of personal change and new opportunity 33 Sticks wants to encourage. Analytics is just a way for us to to effect social change, to help people find different ways of doing work. 33 Sticks works with some very large brands that make billions of dollars. And sure, we can help them make millions more, but that isn’t personally fulfilling and we work with a lot of clients who feel unfulfilled. At 33 Sticks we want to lead people to a better way of doing work and by extension a better life.
The social mission of 33 Sticks is core to its success…and you’ve mentioned that technical ability is a given in the Analytics business. Do you feel that it’s possible to start a business without the technical acumen?
Absolutely…take a look at the story of Charity Water in the book ‘Thirst.’ Scott Harrison started without clue of how to bring clean drinking water to people around the Globe. He had skills as a nightclub promoter, but he had to learn all of his technical skills along the way.
What are some of the challenges that 33 Sticks faces today? And what ambitions do you have for the company?
We spend a lot of time fighting “good enough.” We could make a lot of money just doing work that is good enough for our customers. Hila has been the driving force behind the quality of 33 Sticks’ work. Early on we decided to stick to our highest standards of quality, and Hila champions this ideal with every client engagement.
My ambition for 33 Sticks is to have a larger voice in changing the culture or direction of a business. It’s about scaling our social mission of changing the way people do work to create an environment that is more fulfilling for everyone. And this relates to our passion for working remotely. I should’t dictate where you do your work…I also have no interest in chasing the changes in technology…it’s too hard to keep up with. We have done a lot of work with Adobe over the years, but we don’t want to be perceived only as an Adobe expert. We want to continue to grow our role as personal business advisers for those companies seeking more fulfilling ways of doing business.
Jason Thompson is the co-founder of 33 Sticks, a boutique Analytics consultancy. He is also an incredible chef and aspiring barista…the author can vouch for the latte Jason created with that humble espresso maker.
