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Actionable growth hacks to help architects improve their sales, marketing, and social media skills.
Alex: For me, a big milestone will be
going from zero to obviously securing
the first piece of work and like
That in itself is the rEal thing,
Speaker: That is Alexander Buckridge,
an architect based in NYC, that is in
the process of starting his own fiRm.
And if you've ever thought about
starting your own architecture
firm, you don't want to miss this.
You'll learn more about Alexander's
background and the learnings
that he'll be taking forward.
Alex: And I think for me, the most
important things that I learned from that
was to like really put as much weight on,
Speaker: Then we dive into his
unique thought process around
mission and vision statementS.
Alex: I find that's the, really important
part that gets overlooked is like
actually taking a minute to understand
Speaker: And finally, we dive into how
Alex can think about positioning his firm
in a very competitive market and how to
avoid one of the biggest concerns that
architects have when getting started.
Alex: Then how do you approach
that now as a new studio trying
to not be a jack of all trades?
Speaker: Hey, I'm Tyler
Sumla, founder of Growthetect.
After nearly a decade in architecture,
I shifted my focus to helping
architects grow their business.
since then, I've spent the last few years
helping architects just like you improve
their sales, marketing, and business
development through my free newsletter
read by thousands of architects each week.
but I wanted to take it a step further.
That's why I started this podcast.
It's not your typical interview series.
actually for the whole first season of the
growth attack podcast, all 10 episodes,
I'm sharing exclusive recordings of my
consultations with Alexander Buckridge, As
he embarks on the journey of launching his
own firm and landing his first clients.
so tune in to learn exactly how to
tackle the real challenges that every
architect faces when starting out.
And make sure you subscribe
so you don't miss anything.
Speaker 2: But before we begin, a
huge thanks to our sponsor, GELT.
Discover how GELT can help to
manage and optimize taxes for
you, your firm, and your partners.
visit joinGELT.
com slash growthetect to learn more.
And now, here's the show.
Tyler: let's just do like an
intro in terms of, what led you
to starting your own firm, right?
Because you've been thinking
about it for a while.
Alex: So I think, I started thinking
about doing my own thing since probably,
you know, university and I've seen it
through, my dad had his own business.
My sister has it.
And so there's an inherent,
First community thing of
people, making moves like that.
And so I always had
that vision for myself.
And so throughout university and doing
internships and, getting out of Ireland
and traveling through, France and working
in Holland and all these different places,
I was always in the back of my mind,
like thinking to myself, what would I do?
What would I take from this place
and take with me to do my own thing?
Eventually that journey became
a lot longer than I anticipated,
to be perfectly honest.
It was about 10 years after I left
university that I stayed working in
practice and, learned a ton of a lot.
I did four years in Paris and had a
great time there doing this architect
experience and then, decided to get out
of France and go to New York and, got
started off working in a bit more of a
corporate end with, with, with one firm.
And then.
Ended up at some architecture where things
were definitely a bit more artistic, a
bit more, playful, and that was much more
in line with what I was doing in general.
very creative, very conceptual
work, and, definitely tried
different things along the way.
and all of those experiences ultimately
led me to starting my own practice
and, gathering up knowledge, got
chartered, with the UK system and the
Irish, and, Eventually said to myself,
uh, I think it's time kick this off.
maybe because I'm now 36,
maybe it's I feel like I've
built that wealth of knowledge.
I don't think you ever have
enough, but I feel the push
was, necessary to get me going.
no better place I think in
my mind to be a small startup
entrepreneurial in New York City.
so yeah, I think that's where
I decided to kick it off.
Tyler: Yeah, that's beautiful.
So you've taken your
experiences from all over.
So you've been working
now for ten plus years.
And other practices, yeah.
And you've taken things that you've
learned along the way to both
evaluate what type of work do I want
to be doing and not want to be doing
long term when I run my own studio.
But obviously, just the things
that you've learned about.
Running a business and working
with clients and doing these
other things.
yeah.
And scale, you've had plenty of
opportunities to jump in and use
those experiences to inform what
you're going to be doing now.
Alex: Yeah, exactly.
so having done like all the towers
and various different ones in
like New York, I would say Brazil.
I worked on different ones there.
I did master plans, for like artists.
Gardens, it's called, and all
these different cultural buildings.
but then just getting down to the
nitty gritty of, yeah, I think with
Snarkitecture we were much more
one is to one human scale, walking
through space, interiors, furniture.
So seeing that bandwidth, I think has
just been pretty extraordinary for me
to understand the impact you're building
has on the urban environment and the,
to how you interact with the actual
materials and the feeling of the space
and That was pretty wild just to like
experience all those different layers,
but also experience the corporate side
of it more to the, conceptual side of it
and both having their pluses and minuses.
Ultimately, I found that actually
really fascinating that we could spin
our wheels and forever design and
in a certain conceptual area and.
And at times probably not be as profitable
and then, but in the corporate realm,
I felt, there's a lot of structure
in place that was super helpful for
me, particularly as I go into my
own practice, understanding systems,
understanding, being very disciplined
around scope, schedule fee, which is,
now I see the benefits to that, but
then I didn't enjoy the
work, I did not enjoy, me.
The buildings we were implementing,
I did not enjoy the spaces we were
designing, but credibly efficient,
credibly, one of the best systems that
I probably learned was from there.
So it's actually really fascinating.
And then actually just coming last as
an architect once, you know, I assumed
the director role there, obviously I got
exposure to running the entire practice.
So for me, that was invaluable.
At that point, I could
take let's say seven years.
And then those seven years run
with it for a couple of years as an
architecture and help the partners
and help the people in the industry in
the business itself, grow and learn.
And they allowed me to grow and
learn and make mistakes, and
I found that invaluable as I now
segue into my own thing, now knowing
how to run roughly about a 10 person
Tyler: Yeah.
what's the biggest learning, that
you're going to take from your time
as a director at Snarkitecture?
into running your own practice now?
Alex: I put great value on the design
side of things, but I put an equal amount
of value on the business side of things.
And I think for me, the most important
things that I learned from that was
to like really put as much weight
on, the, how the business runs
as much as how the design runs.
Because I think sometimes that
scale got moved sometimes maybe
too much towards design end.
And how important it is to have, great
clients be out there getting new work
continuously and making sure that,
there's a pipeline of work coming through.
And I think I just, those were
particularly big learning curves,
because no matter what happens.
You can have the most talented
team, you can have the most talented
people, but without the work coming
in and without, stuff happening,
there's no creativity, right?
There's a whole thing about that.
It's no business, no creativity, so I
think for me, that was a big learning
curve because I actually saw it in the two
other firms at different scales as well.
and so for me, I came out of thinking to
myself, this is not just about design.
this is about, business,
you know, ultimately.
Tyler: Yeah, I think that's probably
the most overlooked thing that every
architect experiences immediately when
they start running their business, right?
They think, I'm a great designer.
I'm really confident in my design skills.
I know that I can do great work.
And I think a lot of
architects feel that way.
And then they realize, well, that's
actually not what gets me clients.
I say this all the time, but design
is not your differentiator, right?
Because design is your differentiator
among other architects because they're,
we're all trained to be able to
identify those really minute differences
and we can look at something and
say, wow, that's really well done.
the vast majority of clients
do not have that capability.
They don't have that training.
They don't have the same eyes.
They're not looking at
things in the same way.
there's different, sure, there's
different thresholds of design, right?
Like you can, most people can spot
the difference between maybe a
bad designer and a great designer.
once you kind of pass different thresholds
of a great designer to a really great
designer to top tier designer, like
it's really tough for just the average
client to notice these differences.
And to your point, you can be as talented
as you want, but if you actually are not
working on business development, if you're
not working on bringing in clients, then.
It doesn't matter.
You're not gonna be able
to build a business.
Alex: yeah.
And I will say just to know on
that as well, that, actually
moving from Europe to the U.
S that was a big, there
was a big difference.
Also, I noticed in, I think in the U.
S I think there's just a real more
conscious effort and understanding
and inherit culture around business
and making how to make money.
I would say that specifically with
architecture and in our architects
in Europe versus architects in the U.
S.
I think here there's this understanding
and more inherent want to go after
money, to, to understand business
and marketing even more so than
what I experienced over there.
And I always found that like
super motivating and beneficial
to be surrounded by that.
Tyler: That's good.
That's good to hear.
Obviously as a consultant, for sales,
marketing and business development, I
feel like there's not enough at all.
but it's great that it's above Yeah.
what that baseline was in,
in Europe, so, just to get a
baseline for where you are at.
you worked in various firms
for about 10 years, right?
Gathering your own experience.
You're licensed, you're now living in
New York, that's where you've decided
to start your own firm as well.
You're licensed in Europe, in
different areas, in the
UK, in,
Alex: UK, Yeah.
Tyler: in Europe and the UK, and
also in the United States, or not?
Alex: no.
Tyler: Okay.
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And now, back to the show.
Alex: in terms of what I actually
sat down and did this week was.
Writing out what it is I am doing with
the business and what is the kind of
manifesto, the vision, all that stuff,
mission, making that super clear
and, focused and directed at like why
I'm coming in on the market and why,
what it is I'm doing, I find that's
the, really important part that gets
overlooked is like actually taking a
minute to understand why it is you got
to where you it is you want to get to,
Tyler: where you want to go and what you
want to build is definitely important.
mission vision statements, they're
significantly more important for
you than they are for your clients.
Just But I think there is a common misstep
that people come up with where they're
going through the exercise that you're
going through and they're like, okay,
I actually can't, I can't do anything.
Until I get this figured out, right?
And I think the issue with that line of
thought is that mission and vision is
going to be different in like two months.
It's going to be different after, maybe
after you get your first few clients.
it can be more of a bottleneck, than
anything if you focus too much on
this mission and vision statement.
Alex: So I think setting clear
limits, X and Y time on it
and just saying that's it.
That's it.
That's where we stand right now.
Tyler: Yeah, it's almost like you
have to give yourself the flexibility
to make mistakes and to know that
things are going to change a lot.
Alex: No, that's helpful.
I mean, just for me in general, to think
about that and just to be like, put
a bit about maybe less significance.
Tyler: What's significant
now is getting clients.
again, those clients probably aren't
going to care that much about your
mission and vision, they're going to
care about what you can do for them.
Alex: That makes sense.
Like it.
Tyler: So let's talk about what type
of work you plan to be pursuing.
Alex: for me, I've done a lot of.
let's say in the last few years,
particularly what I've been churning
out is retail and hospitality.
initially I would like to springboard
on with that, and continue on
working with brands and clients.
And I think I, what I've, I'm, I have
a little bit more personal interest
in would be the hospitality area.
and pushing that forward.
I'm very interested in
yeah, the different.
spaces that are going on
there, nutrition, wellness.
I think they're personally passionate,
so I'm trying to align with that.
things like breweries, distilleries,
retreats, restaurants, all that
kind of like more and stuff.
I would be eventually, well, I would like
to kind of more get into, but, initially
off the bat, you know, I'm, and I think
we might've touched on this before,
way back when we first connected, but
as I said, trying to get through stuff
probably that I can know I can turn out
pretty straightforward and get through,
you know, without too much complexity and
get my first few projects under my belt.
So that's what my current thinking is.
I think this is going to go
from As you said, we have two
years, four years, 10 years.
one thing that like with SNAR
architecture, what we have done and what
approach was is that we, and I don't know,
this is a conversation for us to have
is there was like take on any typology
was the attitude of we can do anything.
And the thinking was, is that, at the
end of the day, the program changes,
infrastructure of the requirements
changes, but ultimately you're designing
environments and experiences for people.
And I think to me, sometimes what I do
struggle with is that question of what
is your particular niche you want to get
into and I do see fluidity throughout all
the market, you know, I do see like that.
I can bring impact and value to each
different area of it, whether that's
a barber shop, whether that's a retail
space, whether it's a residential, and
that's something I'm curious about to
talk to you about as well as I know it's
probably better to be very pigeonholed
in one way, but it doesn't feel
natural for me also at the same time.
So that's an interesting one.
Tyler: Yeah, you know what's funny
is that I think it's really more
of a positioning exercise, right?
And it's also a risk assessment, right?
So it's a risk assessment
because it can be, depending on
what market you're in, right?
It can be better to be a
little bit more diversified.
Or it can be better to be more niche.
It's dependent upon each
thing that you're pursuing.
But it's a positioning exercise
because what you said there was
actually really interesting.
that regardless of what market
you're in, what you were
designing is a human experience.
and you're saying that's something
that you learned from SNARKitecture.
And so I see that actually as a
positioning exercise, where you, if
you do it well, if you can describe
that clearly enough, then you can
actually convince any market to kind
of work with you because you're still
doing something really specific,
you're still working on
whatever, scale that is, right?
It's it's working through exactly
how to describe that in the best way.
it's a little bit of a
double sided coin because.
there's great books around category design
is essentially what they call this, right?
And so it's where you're almost
defining your own category when
you're starting a business.
that can be really problematic because
people don't know what this category is.
And so there's usually a certain
scale that you have to hit.
Before you can define a category.
But a lot of people will start off
and say something really specific.
So, for example, like a clear
mistake that you could make based
on what you were just saying is that
like, I'm a human scale designer.
Or something like
that.
Right?
Like that's, that's, it's a
category that no one's gonna
know what it means when they
read it.
And so there's always this exercise
that you have to do in terms of,
you almost have to think about,
it's like a, like SEO, like
search engine optimization, right?
What are people going to be searching for?
What question are they actually going
to ask before they need your service?
And so that's where you need to
think about it in their terms.
Like, are people going to be
asking for, are they just going
to be asking for retail design?
And that's fine, right?
If that's.
If that's the actual question that they're
asking, but you have to then figure
out how to position yourself within
that realm and within their language.
that's how you build up the top of funnel.
Again, you can then educate the client
after they come into your funnel.
But you need to meet them
where they're at, at the top.
And that's really all a
positioning exercise, right?
So if you're trying to do
something that's maybe a little
bit different, which it is, right?
But if you're just talking about,
hey, I can actually work on.
any typology of project,
but I very specifically work
at this more human scale.
yeah, just a matter of finding, what
people are asking before they need
those services and inserting yourself
there at the top of the funnel and
then educating the client as you move
them down to say, no, I can do this.
It's very similar to this other
typology project that I did.
It's literally the same problem.
It's going to be solving you too.
Alex: kind of like a really key thing
that's, occurring whether I'm at like,
you know, a cocktail hour or meeting
someone for a coffee or, you know,
someone reaches out to me to jump on a
call and I just want to discuss cause
they're interested in like, Hey, I, you
know, I know you've been there for a
while and heard you're doing this now.
and it's always like, what
do you want to get into?
You know, like, I'm trained as an
architect, all that good stuff,
predominantly resided in the last
couple of years in interiors.
That just happened.
I get just, I went with the flow.
I just went with the current
and I'm learning and I like
seeing how things happen.
and furniture too.
Cause that kind of like we were, we
were doing our own custom furniture.
So then it's another thing about what
is the service you're providing where
these two things are like going together.
Right.
It's trying to define your typology,
let's say, or Your specific vision
that, that, that is grasping upon like
people who want to also join that kind
of understand it, but also service.
Like if we want to get into that,
I think if I had to boil it down,
I would say interior renovations.
but
Tyler: commercial interior renovations.
yeah,
Alex: we wanted to boil it into, distill
it into probably it's most simplest thing.
and again, maybe it's a
thing that you evolve.
It's like, don't want to limit
myself, not, the business
and creatively to just that.
And also I feel I have the
bandwidth to obviously branch over
the other disciplines as well.
So here's, that's another like Todd
and something that I'm having a bit
of tension actually about Cause of
working in these various different
scales as well and practices is that
I do feel a little bit like, you know
I have a lot of stuff i've understood
and experienced and yeah Then how do
you approach that now as a new studio
trying to not be a jack of all trades?
Which I don't want to be
Tyler: I think this is relatable to
every single person that's thought
about starting their own firm, right?
Or that has started a firm, right?
They reach a point and they're
like, Should I do this?
Should I do that?
I like doing this too.
I like doing that too.
I don't want to pigeon myself into
a hole where I'm only doing this one
thing for the rest of my life, right?
I think these are fears that
every single person has.
there's two ways to think through this.
One is that you have to, walk before
you can run, before you can sprint.
And there is part of this that's
just a, it's both a play in patience.
And also a play in listening to
your market, that's, really the
exercise that you're in right now.
where it can be like, you're, you still
have a top of line goal of Hey, I need
these interior, renovation clients.
And maybe as we're moving through
the process, it just makes sense
that they would actually have a
custom piece of furniture in there.
that's an add on that I can offer to
them if I feel like I have the bandwidth
and it's something that I want to do.
But, you know, top of, like, you're not
going to go from a business development
level, you're not going to be jumping
around and just trying to get, one
off furniture installations or custom
furniture, right?
also understanding different ways
that you're positioning that service,
that's more of an add on, or that's
a cross sell, actually, which is
something that I just wrote about in the
newsletter, I can link
that in the show notes.
And these are great things that can
increase revenue, whether you're
doing it yourself or whether it's
something that you're outsourcing.
So this is especially applicable to
you doing interior renovations, right?
There's obviously standard furniture
that people can use, or they're going
to be custom designed and custom built.
And that's a perfect cross sell, right?
the vast majority of the clients
that you're going to be work with
are going to be interested in that.
And so then it's really just
a matter of kind of testing as
you're bringing these clients on.
Does it make sense for me to
offer that at the beginning?
Or is that just like too
much for them to handle?
Or is it something that like, Hey, after
we're getting through the conceptual
design phase, starting to get into design
development, and I'm listening to them,
it seems like they need something custom.
So now it makes sense to
offer them that service.
those things are really just about,
they're just about listening,
but again, you want to keep
in mind that Top level, right?
Top level, I need interior
renovation clients.
These other things are justthey're
going to come, tothey have to
be needed in the market, right?
Or else they're just going
to be a wasted pursuit.
Alex: Yeah.
That's right.
And so it's just, it's helpful to
understand that in terms of yeah,
not getting again, this question
of getting caught up in, in trying
to solve, cube, essentially of many
different ways this practice can unfold.
going in somewhere a bit more where
I feel I can have an impact and kind
of hear what's the market requires.
And probably understanding and having
the patience that this thing is going
to take its own, you know, legs, its own
legs.
It's going to expand.
It's going to evolve.
It's going to grow.
Tyler: The flexibility, right?
You needyeah, you need to allow
yourself that flexibility to have
those things happen, because again,
you're not making decisions right
now that you need to stick to.
And I think maybe that's even the
important thing when you're having
these conversations with people.
And they're like, what type
of work are you going to do?
And you're well, I'm having
conversations with people like
you to understand that, that
can be your answer.
this is exactly why I'm, meeting
you for coffee and having other
coffee conversations now is that
I think this is what I want to do.
What do I also want to make sure
that I'm solving the right problems?
it's a two sided thing.
Like it's both, it's a combination of
what you want to do and what you can do.
And then also what the market
is telling you is needed.
Because if you're not taking in, if
you're not taking the market into
account, then you know, it's gonna be
a long time before you Get a client.
Alex: not to head down that route.
All right.
like me, I'm picturing myself like
standing, you know, on the Brooklyn
bridge, like with my thumb out, taking
a temperature gauge and what the network
wants, it's funny, like retail obviously
has its ups and downs moments as I've
experienced in the city and all of a
sudden offices became the whole thing.
And so you do understand the ways and the
desires of what people want more and you
adapt, these are just really interesting
because I think you're expected to
have the answer to a lot of questions.
At least you feel like you should
have the answer to all these things.
But ultimately, you don't really
you're here looking to create something
that you want to bring people on
a journey with and also work with
people that you would enjoy with.
Ideally, And, you know, you can create
these great experiences and environments
for people, you know, and, and whatever
that looks like it can be whatever.
Tyler: That's exactly right.
That's exactly right.
I'm actually going through this,
I literally just went through this
yesterday with Growth Detect, which
I've almost been running for two years,
and it's been pretty consistent, right?
I've done
different things.
I'm sharing, growth hacks and sales
marketing and social media for
architects, and that's roughly been
what I've been doing for the past
two years, but I recently had the
realization from listening to my
market that my audience is responding
really strongly to this one thing, and
whenever
I talk about it.
And that's something I've been
talking with my wife about a lot.
And I was like, it seems like
there's actually a really large
business opportunity here.
And she was like, yeah, that's right.
That does seem like that.
It's even more niche than
what I'm already doing.
And so then what did I do?
I had, I was having another
conversation with a friend yesterday
that had run a very similar business.
And I was like, am I being crazy?
Is this actually, it seems like this
is a problem that needs to be solved.
He said, yeah, no, that seems like a
problem that does need to be solved.
So next up for me is I'm going to be
having conversations with people that
probably need to solve that problem.
it can change and it can adapt because you
don't know exactly what's going to happen.
I think until you start
listening a little bit more,
All right, thanks for being a Growth
A Tech and listening in on this
consultation with Alexander Buckridge.
Be sure to subscribe so you can
continue to learn exactly how to
overcome the challenges that every
architect faces when starting a firm.
And check out the show notes for links
to everything that was mentioned.
lastly, make sure you go to growth detect.
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simple business growth hack in their
inbox every Sunday morning from me.
I'll see you in the next episode.