Pros
The biggest bet I'm making, and the thing I'm proudest of: we're working hard to be an agency that works with businesses we actually believe in, not just anyone willing to pay us. We say no to 80%+ of the businesses that reach out to us. It's always a work in progress, but the bar is real. We've spent the last two years restructuring our teams to specialize in the industries and business types we're proven to win with, which gives our people better clients to work with, better results to point to, and stronger retention. Win for the team, win for the client, win for the business. The people here are the real reason this place works. The leaders running Disruptive right now are the sharpest, most aligned, and most capable they've ever been, and I'd bet on them to win anywhere. Underneath that, the team is full of people who care about the craft, care about each other, and want to grow. I've watched coworkers become real friends, real mentors, and in some cases business partners after they leave. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens because we hire for it. Our framework for that is something we call VSET, vision, strategy, execution, and team. It's how we help marketers and the brands we serve align performance with purpose. The variety and quality of clients you get exposure to here means one year at Disruptive is worth three or four somewhere else, which is part of why so many of our top performers go on to start companies or lead at other ones. We're genuinely proud of that. We're privately held with no debt, no outside investors, and healthy reserves, which means we can pay above market and benchmark compensation actively. We invest in our people through Disruptive University (VSET training, plus optional quarterly deep dives on finances, strengths, and our Authenticity Wins course on identity and purpose), Disruptive Caring (a portion of profits funds employees giving in their communities with our support), anniversary lunches I genuinely look forward to, money games to keep things fun, and growth challenges with real bonuses attached. When we're in person I'm a hugger if you're open to it. We hire, promote, and let people go based on our values and our purpose of seeing and activating greatness. If we can't see and activate greatness for a client, we shouldn't be working with them just because they'll pay us. Same standard applies to how we lead our people.
Cons
We're fast-paced even by agency standards. We pivot hard when it's the right call, and I've had to learn to make fewer and better pivots because the cost of constant change is real. Perfectionists get crushed here. You have to be ruthless about prioritization or you'll drown. The variety of clients can feel stretching. The exposure is part of why people grow so fast here, but in the day-to-day it can feel like a lot. The agency industry right now is hard. AI is compressing fees and margins, and learning to use tech to deliver more value efficiently is real work. The transition is painful at times. That's the truth of it.
