Vanishing Inc. - The Startup
By Andi Gladwin - Thursday, August 8, 2019
We opened our doors to customers ten years ago, yet I still consider Vanishing Inc. a startup. In fact, when people ask about Vanishing Inc., I tell them the same thing I did ten years ago: that it's a startup that I'm working on with my best friend.
But, at ten years old, with two warehouses, over a dozen team members, and a thriving website, Vanishing Inc. is hardly a startup in the classical sense. But it's my aim that we'll always have the mentality of a startup. Let me explain why:
We're agile: the most important thing about a startup is its ability to move quickly when needed. There's no bureaucracy or hierarchy ... stuff just gets done. Therefore, when we need to make decisions about new team members, shipping operations, or product decisions, we do it quickly, and with our customer's interest at heart.
We're always moving forwards: once a company grows to a certain size, they typically don't continue to innovate. Not here — in the past few months, we've launched a new type of magic book (Astonishing Essays), a podcast, committed to daily blog posts, and have launched a retreat, and even announced a collaboration with the Magic & Mystery School. Just like a startup, we try to keep making regular steps forward.
We're careful: too many magic shops have lost their way because they take risks that they shouldn't have taken. Startups have to make every decision very carefully, and that's exactly what we do. We might move forward quickly, but we're still very careful with what we do!
We're customer focussed: for a startup, every customer counts. When most startups scale, they lose the sense of that. But we continue to treat every customer like our first few customers, and I think that shows in what we do.
We're contactable: when companies grow, the cofounders tend to shy away into the background to become professional delegators (or worse: golfers!). Not us. You'll see Josh and me at every one of our events, you can email us at any time, and as often as possible, we'll reply to customer support emails.
It's important for us to maintain a startup feel. I think this is one of the main reasons why we continue to grow. But, of course, if you have ways you think we should improve, please get in touch. Email magic@vanishingincmagic.com or leave a comment below. We'd love to hear from you.
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