From Nicole Ayres, Jumpsuit's founder:
This year, we pulled off the biggest experiments I've ever wanted to test in business –
Could I build a company – with zero employees – that completely runs itself?
Yes. I did that.
And I would not have been able to do it without all of you. YOU GUYS ARE EPIC AND MEAN THE UNIVERSE TO ME.
How did we do it?
1099 structure. No one's full time. Everyone maintains their own agency to work when they want on the things they want.
Clear roles and responsibilities, without compromising a spirit of flexibility. One contractor may focus on AP/AR, while another contractor does a little Production and Creative Direction.
Flat hierarchy. Everyone's independent, therefore, self governing.
Embodied culture. A clear, embodied culture means things naturally work themselves out.
Self-sovereignty. Everyone gets to determine their rate, what they say yes or no to, when and how they get the work done, and is ultimately responsible for doing what they say they're going to do. If they let the team or client down, the culture organically phases them out.
What were the opportunity cost/benefits?
We were able to ideate, create, and sell a tech startup in less than 2 years. Not only was that a dream come true for one of our collaborators (Fletcher!), Jumpsuit now has a proprietary AI tool that gives it a unique differentiator in the market.
Collaborators were empowered to work together, make decisions, and still had Nicole's support when needed. Overtime, needing Nicole in the weeds less and less.
However, there was a slowing down of energy that impacted revenue and vision primarily felt in in Q3-Q4. It was expressed by several sources that "the work is nice, but we're here because it feels good to feel apart of something," and that largely came from having a visionary at the helm. This has felt especially important with the ever-increasing sense that the world and the industry are rapidly changing thanks to AI and a flooded market of talent looking for work. This desire to have vision and support towards what's next felt especially urgent. Hence... the state of the union.
What is the state of the union?
I'm baaaack! And if you know me at all, I've got opinions and hunches on where things are heading and what we'll need to do now to position ourselves for the future.
Every year, I've historically released an update called The State of the Union. In year's past, I've gotten incredibly transparent about our revenue, margins, successes, and failures. But this year, I'm going to do things a little different.
This is going to be more of a high level overview of what I've been up to and where I'm personally feeling led. Over the coming year, I promise to make it clear what our specific strategy will be as well as plan of action. And most importantly, the unique role that you can play. You being current Jumpsuiters – and anyone else who finds themselves generally resonating with Nicole or Jumpsuit. Because what's coming is a lot bigger than any of us. I've made a 15 minute video, which is really just a chat between me and my boy James Webb who films everything that we're up to as a quick check in on where we've been and where we're heading.
I'll also share "10 worth-mentionings" as an homage to the things we don't want to forget from 2024. And as a reminder of what life used to feel like before 2025 got super weird.
Top 10 worth-mentionings!
Jumpsuit's annual Roadshow took over Marfa, TX! We hung out with our inner children in the desert, had a cosmic dance party with Lala as an alien, and several of us even saw the Mysterious Marfa Lights – an inexplicable phenomenon in the sky.
Jauntboards – our Future of Work AI tech – was officially acquired! And the good news is, we still get to use it. Shout out to co-founders Nicole Ayres and Fletcher Groeneman for coming up with an idea, making it happen, and selling it in under 2 years. And to everyone else at Jumpsuit who helped make it happen!
Jumpsuit's creative and production teams brilliantly executed a million dollar video production. While we can't share the details for client reasons, we can certainly give a huge shout out Emilee Banks, Nick Rogacki, and others for being straight up badasses!
We've officially launched "Jumpsuiters" – a podcast and a community on Patreon where what we make and do doesn't have to be tied to revenue. This will allow us to explore our own multi-dimensionality and our ever changing reality. And do it authentically (and for fun) without concerns of business ROI.
We partnered with The Humanity Code to help infuse AI with humanity's best interest in mind. We helped facilitate group discussions around the US regarding our fears and aspirations regarding AI and educated folks on what they could practically do to help the future of humanity.
We helped companies like Epson create campaigns for important global initiatives, such as Sustainability. We especially thank all of our clients who come to us regularly for our big ideas and our help with messaging and storytelling to bring those big ideas to life.
Speaking of big ideas, we were embedded as a Big Idea agency partner for the world's largest advertiser, giving them one of the biggest ideas they've "had in a decade." Shout out to Courtney Tsitouris who knows how to bring the rizz while uncovering a deep human insight.
Folks in our network released some epic personal projects including a full length feature film and killer albums on Spotify Here are a few of our favorite projects, btw. You guys f*ing rock.
Folks in our network launched new businesses and brands. Go ahead, have employees if you're into that sort of thing. But we think life's a lot more interesting – and fun – being surrounded by entrepreneurial spirits.
And back to the very first thing – the thing I'm most proud of – Jumpsuit operated like the mycelial network. Whatever the present need was, you tapped the network to see who could hop in and share their expertise. You formed lean teams to help support Jumpsuit and our clients, forming temporary teams like a mushroom, accomplishing the job to be done, and then decomposed back into the earth – democratizing what was value and important, springing up as something different with a new cast of characters when needed.
This is a really great picture of how Jumpsuit was designed to be a living, breathing organism. Seeing what we've already done makes me so excited for the future, especially when powered by the technology we've built. Your entrepreneurial, organizational, strategic, and creative badassery is exactly why the biggest brands and coolest startups on the planet want to work with us. I'm excited to have my energy back towards Jumpsuit to continue to amplify each of you and what we're capable of when we collaborate together. And there are so many of you to thank – Jonathan Lapps, Sara Gooden, Caroline Furlong, Nick Rigano, Courtney Tsitouris, Elizabeth Ireland, Nick Rogacki, Eric Ankenman, and Ben H. to name a few – who have proven brilliantly that this model works and that self-organization is a better way to work. With that said, I know that I bring a unique energy and vision to this place and I'm ready to jump back into Jumpsuit. And this time, with even more trust in you all. I have some pretty big hunches myself on how the world is changing, how agencies need to change, and therefore, how we need to change. As I state in the video, I think the future's going to be pretty weird. But weird isn't bad. And change doesn't have to be scary. In fact, both of those things have always been Jumpsuit's DNA – which gives me all the confidence in the world that we're becoming exactly what's intended. Follow the energy. Take the jump. Enjoy the ride. It's going to be a wild one.
Love, Nicole
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