24,895 hours later

On Christmas Day 2013 I was heading to the playground with my wife and our 18 month old daughter. We were living in Buenos Aires, it was a hot day and the streets were empty.

I had been thinking about starting an agency and we were throwing around names. I don’t know which one of us said it but once it landed in my head I instantly knew it would be called Ueno, named after one of our favorite parks in Tokyo with a nod to Buenos Aires.

And then seven years passed. Ueno became my life’s work. We found success early, grew fast, hired great people, signed more and more amazing brands and won awards.

Don’t get me wrong, there were lows too, a lot of them. But somehow we managed to take every hit and get back up stronger than before.

Through the years we’ve worked with some of the most ambitious brands in the world. We worked with global industry leaders in finance, media, culture. Name a tech company and odds are we worked with them.

In fact, one of the jokes on our website for years was that we had worked with every tech company except Twitter.

But that changed in late 2019. I got a Twitter DM from my friend Dantley Davis. He had just joined Twitter to run their design and research teams and he wanted our help on a project.

The next few months we worked to help establish a new vision and product strategy for one of the cornerstone teams at Twitter. After some early hiccups the project became a huge success. So much so that a few hours after the executive review I got another DM from Dantley. This time asking if we would consider joining Twitter.

I’ve had a lot of good client presentations (and a lot of bad ones too) but this was a new high.

But as flattering as the question was, those conversations were put aside and we continued to work with Twitter as an agency. We worked on a number of new streams helping their product and brand teams.

And with each project our partnership grew stronger. Our people and theirs working together as one team.

Now, 2020 was a hard year for most people. That’s not news to anyone. And the early days of Covid hit Ueno very hard. We even had to let some of our amazing people go. But then by summer we were back on our feet. Not just that, we started to grow faster than ever. The work poured in.

And of course I love all our clients but one relationship kept standing out.

The work we were doing with Twitter was interesting, it was impactful, it had buy-in from the top and it felt real at a time when the world felt less and less so.

So a few months ago me and Dantley started to talk again. I wanted to see how we could work closer with Twitter. That conversation evolved and we picked up the thread from before, what if we actually just joined Twitter full time?

And the more I thought about it the less crazy it sounded. Or maybe, let’s say it sounded like the kind of crazy that could be a lot of fun.

So, now I can finally get to the point.

Today I am happy to announce that Ueno is joining Twitter to help build the future of one of the most influential brands in the world. (And yes, I know the header image kind of spoiled the surprise.)

What does that mean for Ueno?

Well, it means that the story that started that Christmas Day in 2013 is coming to an end. Ueno will close its doors.

As a founder, this is not a decision I made lightly. I put so much of my life into Ueno. I actually kept track, so far it has been 24,895 hours (hey! that’s the name of the article!).

24,895 hours actually on the clock, that’s not including all the time when I was supposed to be off work and something kept creeping back into my brain.

24,895 hours of doing client work, interviewing new potential hires, building our own brand, creating processes, sending slack messages, designing, talking, writing, thinking, laughing, crying.

24,895 hours of working with many of the best people I have ever known. Building a team and a culture that was resilient, constantly learning, tackling new challenges, adapting to every obstacle.

People have asked me if it’s hard to walk away after all this time, all this work.

And my honest answer is no.

The feeling I have is pride.

I’m proud we are able to leave on a high note. I feel like we won the agency game and there were no more things to prove. No more worlds to conquer.

And so instead of going on just for the sake of it I’m proud we are able to end the story with a happy ending.

Lastly, I’m proud we can start a new story together with new challenges, new worlds.

So, let’s start the clock again, I’ll see you again in another 24,895 hours with the story of how Twitter took flight.