What’s the background story behind Catchy?
With my background in Telco, I originally saw Catchy as a Mobile Marketing agency. It was 2010, and the iPhone was a couple of years old. Mobile was a big buzz word in agency land. We did some great work in mobile, but our first corporate client, Nokia, wanted us to solve a problem they were having - how to attract developers to their platform. We quickly realized developer marketing was an adjacent niche that we could own. As a result, we pivoted to a developer marketing focus in 2011. We, along with other pioneers in the space, have been working to establish developer marketing as a distinct marketing discipline ever since. It’s a fight I think we’re finally winning.
The past 3 years have been challenging for businesses. We would like to learn more about how Catchy has grown during this time.
2019 was a horrible year for Catchy. We lost a couple of great long term team members and it seemed to really throw us off our stride. Bizarrely, this turned out to be a good thing. By the time Covid arrived toward the end of the year we had already made changes that set us up to succeed in the difficult years ahead. Sadly, we closed the UK office (we still have a team based in the UK but no office) and established the Seattle office, which we’d opened in 2014, as the company’s headquarters. We also started conversations about acquiring Convoke, a Seattle-based strategy and design agency. That bought Gary and his team into the Catchy fold and, despite the challenging climate, we’ve never looked back.
You picked Catchy’s core values - Collaborative, Fluid, Inclusive, Accountable. Why did you pick these values to represent Catchy?
Picking values is hard, there are so many ways you can go, sometimes you feel bad leaving sentiments out. But I think our four values give us a solid base to ensure we surround ourselves with great people and we enable and encourage people to deliver the best work to our clients.
You’ve built and grown Catchy for over 12 years. Any advice to young entrepreneurs?
Leap and the net will appear. Running a business is hard, but one of the hardest parts is taking that first step. It never gets easier to leave the comfort and warmth of working for someone else to go out into the cold in your own company. Don’t put it off. If you have a dream, make a plan and then execute on that plan.
As a “forward thinking” leader, what’s your biggest vision in 2023 for Catchy or for yourself?
I want to continue the journey of making Catchy a great place to work and maintaining our position as the world’s leading developer marketing agency. In practical terms in 2023 that will mean us looking at how we retain and attract the best people into our teams. It’s hard for us to compete with big tech money so we have to work hard on culture, development, growth, and balance for everyone at Catchy. We’re actively looking at some of the most progressive ways to do that in 2023.
Want to work with Richard and the rest of the Catchy team? Well, you’re in luck - we’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for our current openings.