← All work
GraphicHunters · 2022 to 2024
Growing a sports design studio from a solo founder to a full team
+334%Revenue in two years
78%Average gross margin
500+Projects for sports and lifestyle brands
6 + 30From a solo founder to 6 in-house staff and 30+ freelancers
The situation
GraphicHunters makes design for sports brands. When I joined in June 2022 as the first employee, it was just the founder, starting out. Clients like KNVB, Eredivisie and AFC Ajax wanted more, so we built a structure to grow on.
My role
I was the right hand of founder and creative director Ché Heijnen, as Operations Manager and Client Lead in the leadership team.
I ran operations and the client relationships and led new business, so Ché could focus on the creative work.
Clients
What I did
01Build the workflowSet up how work moves through the studio, from brief to delivery, in Asana, Harvest, Forecast, Figma, Discord and Dropbox.
02Price for profitIntroduced pricing and reporting, so every project was quoted, tracked and reviewed. The average gross margin reached 78%.
03Grow the teamFrom a shared office to a dedicated studio, with 6 in-house staff and 30+ freelancers. Bi-weekly 1:1s and individual KPIs for the in-house team.
04Lead the clientsClient lead for KNVB, Eredivisie, AFC Ajax, Heineken, Just Eat Takeaway, Nederlandse Loterij, Topps, Manchester City, SPORTFIVE and the Dutch Grand Prix.
05Win new businessLed new business and turned one-off projects into long-term clients. Revenue grew 334% in two years.
06Hand over wellWhen I left, I handed the day-to-day over to a senior project manager, with the workflows and reporting in place.
Looking back
Creative studios often grow on talent and then stall on structure. Clear workflows, pricing and reporting gave the team room to do their best work, and that is where the growth came from.