From a house in Mountain View to Broadway. How I built a creative department from 4 freelancers to 40 people, designed the brand that carried a startup to a $300M Goldman Sachs acquisition, and created the workflows that made us one of the biggest ad shops in adtech.
In 2015, Frequence was a scrappy adtech startup operating out of a house in Mountain View with 4 freelance designers. By 2024, we were a 40-person international creative powerhouse that helped drive a $300M Goldman Sachs acquisition.
This is the story of how I built that team, the systems that scaled it, and the creative work that made us indispensable.
The hardest part wasn't hiring. It was building a culture where designers could do their best work while moving fast enough to keep pace with a rocket ship startup.
When I joined, the "creative team" was four freelancers who rarely talked to each other. There was no brand consistency, no shared workflow, no career path. Just designers cranking out whatever sales needed that day.
I knew we needed:
As we scaled, I built systems that freed designers to focus on what matters: the work itself.
Reduced animated banner production time by 350% by building a browser-native ad production system that eliminated Photoshop exports and standardized naming conventions.
Developed custom Adobe scripts and AI tools that automated repetitive tasks, letting designers spend more time on creative decisions and less on mechanical work.
Created a tiered client service model that gave high-spend clients dedicated creative attention while maintaining quality across thousands of smaller accounts.
But the numbers only tell part of the story. The real impact was in the team we built — designers who felt supported, challenged, and trusted. People who stayed because they were growing, not just working.
Scale doesn't have to kill craft — but comfort will. Smart systems protect craft by freeing designers from the grind.
The best creative directors are player-coaches who never stop making things. I stayed in the work because that's where you earn trust and stay sharp.
Your team's talent isn't hiding — you just haven't been curious enough to find it. Lead with curiosity, uncover superpowers, then get out of the way.
The breadth isn't a distraction from the work. It is the work. Being a DJ, a community organizer, a home renovator — that's not a side hustle. It's where creativity comes from.