Not just a new look. A new perspective

Welcome to the next chapter

Today, we are excited to announce the next chapter of our agency. Starting immediately, Shadow is now a development-only Webflow agency. We will no longer be accepting design-related projects and instead hyper-focus on providing specialized development services.

Keep reading to learn why we are making this decision and how we will maximize the value we are providing to our clients, this community, and the industry as a whole.

At the start, Shadow was an “everything for everyone” agency. We believed the only way to provide value to our clients was to provide a 360 suite of services and deliverables. It seems obvious now, but this approach leads to a dilution of quality which effectively hurts the client and our relationship.

A few years into our journey, we decided to shed a plethora of services and focus on two main pillars - design & development. While this was most definitely a step in the right direction, we now know for certain that it still was not a big enough leap.

By practically splitting our services down the middle, we were deliberately creating a divided environment within our organization. This ultimately led to confusion when it came to key decisions since there is no clear north star to align ourselves after.

Additionally, it prevented us from becoming experts in one defined domain and instead forced us to do the splits between two vastly different worlds.

The untamable beast

During a period of review at the end of last year, we realized that all the heartache, delays, and complications we experience as a company comes from one thing - the untamable nature of creative endeavors.

No matter how hard you try, it is impossible to fit creativity into a box. In a sense, that is the beauty of the beast, however, that very fact renders it impractical to lie at the foundation of services, processes, and growth.

As a result, we have decided to shed the design and branding layer of our services and focus solely on development. By doing so, we can eliminate confusion and align all our values towards a single north star. This is the culmination of years of growth and reflection, and we are excited to see where this new chapter takes us.

Optimizing for happiness

To take a page out of Joe Krug’s playbook (and his decision to turn finsweet into a development-only agency), this decision will also allow us to optimize for happiness.

Countless design revisions, incomplete feedback, and untimely critique are all elements that will lead to decay within any organization. Simply said, there is no right answer when it comes to design, and, because of that, it has the potential to derail any project at any time.

This creates open loops within our process and eventually leads to apathy toward our work.

Instead, we want to create clear targets that we have the confidence to hit every time. By removing design from our list of services, we eliminate any ambiguity and turn success into a clear-cut matter. We will instantly be more aligned internally & externally, which will exponentially increase happiness across the board.

Success creates more success. By leaning into this flywheel effect, we will be able to excel within our specialized suite of services and provide more meaningful value to our clients.

By niching down into Webflow-only services - more specifically, migrations, implementation, and support - we are allowing ourselves to become obsessive. No more straddling the two worlds, but becoming true experts, will allow us to have the answers to our client's toughest questions. By removing the distractions, we can create an environment of flow, focus, and freedom.

The Webflow Community

The last piece to the puzzle is this incredible community that has formed around the idea which is Webflow. While growing rapidly, we are still a tiny speckle on the windshield of the internet.

We believe that any organization, startup, or team can benefit from the power of Webflow & No Code. Therefore, our goal will be to grow the entire pie instead of fighting over the crumbs. With all the extra time that we are no longer spending on design revisions, we will use our resources to create value for this community - from tools to templates, and more.

Outside of our community, our main focus will be on migrations from other platforms to Webflow. Our goal as a company will be to act as a portal into this incredible world and enable clients of any size to turn their digital presence into a true asset.

Along for the ride

If you are still reading, thank you. This new chapter is set up to be our best one yet. The potential for happiness and value is exhilarating, energizing, and exciting. Beginning again, in the middle of your journey, is a luxury not a lot of companies get to experience and we are grateful to have you along for the ride.

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