Q: You were a chef for eight years. How does that connect to what you do now?
A: "It shaped a lot about how I work. The importance of precision, understanding how two very different things can come together to make something great… I feel like this is comparable to how we approach client projects. In a kitchen, you can't just focus on one dish. You need to see the whole service, how everything connects. That's our holistic approach at sixtynine.Plus, I learned what it means to be productive under pressure. It is also how I work best now too.”
Q: What does a typical day look like?
A: "Because we work for such a wide variety of clients, each day is pretty different. I might be setting up ad campaigns for a wine supplier, or in discovery with a fiscal firm that needs a CRM system and a complete digital marketing strategy. I'm always working on at least three projects simultaneously.“
Q: What's your favourite part of the job?
A: ”3 things: diversity, impact, and accelerated development. Clients come to us because they have trust in our expertise. We're talking directly to business owners - that means something will actually happen with our advice.
And we're forced to take responsibility for everything, which means our professional development goes 10-20 times faster than in a conventional job. You're challenged constantly.
Overall, my day-to-day doesn't feel like work - its the project we are building."
Q: And the hardest part?
A: “The financial side - keeping cash flow healthy and consistent. It's stable now, which is good, but as a founder you always need to be thinking a few months ahead.”
Q: What's something about sixtynine that surprises clients?
A: "We're a young company, and people don't always expect the full range of what we can do. We can do video shoots, build custom software, develop complete brand strategies and much more. People are constantly surprised: 'Wait, you can also do that?'
We can do it. In my opinion being a bit of a generalist actually makes your work better - you understand how everything connects. That's our holistic approach."
Q: How would you describe your working style?
A: "I'm a calm extrovert. Also, I consider myself to have strong intuition: I often feel when it's time to call a client before they call us.
My focus is best in the first 2-3 hours of the day, that’s when i can really get work done. So I try not to plan meetings in the morning. No questions, no distractions, no sounds.
Between me and Emre, I'm the realistic one. He's optimistic and gets excited easily. I ground things. We need both perspectives."
Q: What's the biggest risk you've taken with sixtynine?
A: "Starting was the biggest commitment risk: what's the reward at the beginning?
But operationally? Hiring two new people at the same time when we were only three FTEs. And investing heavily in our own SaaS tools. Those are big bets."