From Empty Desk to Full Team Member | Weekly Vlog - EP3

Founder Journey

About this week's journey

This week's Founder Journey starts with a visible change at Thread A Pixel as Gemma joins the team. Her first few days include the less glamorous but necessary side of growth, reading and signing company policies that have now been built into the CRM process. For Chris and Helen, it is another reminder that hiring a new team member involves creating the systems that help somebody settle in and work consistently from the start.

At the same time, the business has felt the absence of its head of production, who has been away for two weeks. With the team still busy, Chris and Helen have stepped back into practical production work, carrying out quality checks and helping complete Thread A Pixel orders. That hands-on return to operations highlighted how much a strong production lead contributes to keeping work moving smoothly.

Two Krakens had a handful of shoots in the week, including finishing work on a JLR project, but much of the workload sat in the edit. Chris explains why the time a client sees on location is only part of a video project. Pre-production happens before filming, then the footage still needs to be organised, edited, colour graded, matched with music and shaped for pace. On a one-day shoot, the post-production alone can take two or three days before the first draft is ready.

Sales and client development continued alongside delivery. Helen had meetings with potential Two Krakens clients, including an AI business interested in testimonial videos that could be used across its marketing. At Thread A Pixel, a long-standing multi-site nursery client also signed off a new neutral-colour workwear direction, while a new CRM reporting system is helping the team spot ordering patterns and anticipate when customers may need new starter packs, winter wear or repeat workwear orders.

Built Not Born In Business also moved forward during the week. Chris and Helen booked future conversations with Jonathan Guest and Angela Cox, and Chris had already recorded a podcast with Barry discussing a framework called FAST. They also reached the final stages of construction on a brighter new podcast and content studio, bringing another part of their wider content operation closer to launch.