Episode 2 — Nadia Lushchak / Qubstudio. Clutch №153 / From Zero To Agency Hero Podcast

In this podcast series, I am interviewing the Best 100 Professional service companies according to Clutch 2023 Top 1,000 Global to find out:

• What’s your agency's core business model, and how has it evolved over time?

• What’s the UVP of your agency?

• What’s your ICP and why?

• How does your agency's 'DNA' or core values manifest?

• Foundational metrics: year-to-year growth, CAC, LT, LTV, Churn, most promising marketing channels, sales closing ratio, sales cycle length, Cost of Service, EBITDA

Each episode will include audio and video versions of the podcast, shorts with my commentary, and other thoughts on the subjects discussed during my conversation with the guest.

I am not being paid to promote these agencies, nor am I paying anyone. All these great agencies have been very kind to get involved and share their knowledge.

Thank you, and enjoy the podcast edition of this newsletter!

• My guest today: Qubstudio, Nadia Lushchak, CEO

• Position in Clutch rating: #153

• Location: Ukraine/UK

• Size: 51-100

• Years in business: 17

• Type: Digital Product Design and Branding Agency

From a Project Manager → To a CEO

Nadia's journey exemplifies that launching your own agency isn't the sole path to success. Rather, through dedication, someone starting as a Project Manager can ascend to the executive role of CEO within 3 to 5 years and then lead the agency to achieve up to 60% YoY growth over the next 7 years. Wondering how?

Dive into the full interview with Nadia to uncover her insights and strategies.

Key Highlights

1. How Qubstudio has been successfully growing and acquiring clients:

• Move faster, offering rapid solutions to shorten the sales cycle.

• Provide an entry-level offer to show value from the very beginning (usually involving boxes, low-cost, and easy-to-integrate solutions).

• Expand within once you are in (usually through upselling or cross-selling of other services).

This is exactly the strategy we use at Belkins.

2. Qubstudio has different buyer profiles and applies various strategies when working with them. The buyers are:

• A startup Founder (CEO) who wants to build from scratch or revamp.

• A Digital Transformation Officer (from larger companies like banks) who wants to implement innovation around users, creating something new.

• A Marketing Director responsible for the buyers’ journey.

I am surprised to learn about this from Nadia and would like to implement the same in my company. Unfortunately, we have always treated clients based on the industry we work with and not the personal goals of the buyer. Now, thinking about this, we have a lot to work on. I think that differentiating buyers and understanding their unique objectives will help provide more value for clients and increase LTV. Something I've always told my client team: “Although we use KPIs as our north star, each client has their own unique needs, and sometimes it’s not the KPI they are looking for. Your job is to understand and provide value to their needs.”

3. Differentiation of client profiles helps Qubstudio with:

• The timeline of attracting new clients (some with shorter and longer sales cycles).

• Allocating teams (having people available to work on the client project) - short-term or long-term projects require different support, commitment, and human capital that companies like Qubstudio need to hire, onboard, train, and assign.

• Increased engagement by different teams being able to work on different projects and different SOWs.

4. Invest in developing relationships with clients. Qubstudio achieves this through:

• Operationally, via a Delivery Team.

• Strategically, via a Client Partner.

What does the Client Partner do?

• Investigates clients’ business goals.

• Applies offers to bring more value to clients.

• Organizes the team in presenting offers, both online and offline (including trips).

Qubstudio experienced a 2-3 times longer LT after implementing Client Partners.

KPIs

• Revenue

• Gross Profit Margin 

• NPS

• eNPS

• eER (employee engagement rate) 

Why does Nadia track the employee engagement rate? Because happy employees can produce better work and make clients happy.

The average tenure of employees at Qubstudio is 3.5 years, which is higher than the 1.8-year industry average. How did they achieve it?

• By attracting great clients (people work in agencies for excellent clients), which emphasizes the importance of sales qualification to close clients, you will be successful with.

• By focusing on core values, which are:

  • Create

  • Care

  • Grow

• By implementing a “Behavioral Code.”

100% of people at Qubstudio say that the company values resonate with their personal values.

• Conduct performance reviews aligned with values.

• Provide feedback guided by values.

• Introduce “buddies” to help newcomers integrate into the company culture.

• HRs are not solely responsible for fostering a great culture. It's primarily the managers' role, and it spreads through their leadership.

Foundational Metrics

• YoY Growth: 60% average (2022 and 2023 were lower)

• LTV: Increased during the recession.

• Lifetime (LT): 12 months.

• Churn Rate: Not a primary concern.

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Increased from $6,000 to $10,000, with a focus now on investing in larger clients to build a pipeline.

Nadia’s final insight during our interview: “Aim for growth and engage in scenario planning. Our baseline is 5% quarterly growth, but our target is 15% quarterly growth.” A big thank you to Nadia Lushchak for her participation and to our listeners for tuning in!