The Portland Business Journal ranked Planet Argon as the 148th fastest-growing private company in Portland of 2014.
Planet Argon named 148th fastest-growing private company in Portland
24 Jun 2015
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24 Jun 2015
The Portland Business Journal ranked Planet Argon as the 148th fastest-growing private company in Portland of 2014.
5 Feb 2015
A short story about how a seemingly harmless blog post by the folks at 37signals may have impacted the future of Planet Argon…or maybe it didn’t.
26 Mar 2014
We were briefly mentioned in an article about hiring Jr. developers from a local code school.
5 Mar 2014
Once leadership was all about planting your flag on the summit and standing heroically for a photograph. Now the leader is the one pacing anxiously at base camp waiting to hear good news.
Really enjoying this book, which was recommended to me by Dan Saffer a while back.
3 Mar 2014
An outsider may venture to assume that Robby Russell, the founder and chief evangelist at Planet Argon spends his every waking moment helping foster creativity among his team whilst ensuring that he helps make things happen in the studio. While that most definitely is the case, there is much more to him than just that.
While those of of us who get the opportunity to work with him on a daily basis know and understand his drive to be an active participant in the local community, his philanthropic passions are easily overshadowed by his extensive Ruby on Rails resume / endeavors.
I'd suggest you take a look at the latest interview that Omakase conducted with Robby. This interview sheds some light on Robby and his true philanthropic passions.
29 Aug 2013
2005 — the year we went from a freelancer company to an agency.
5 Aug 2013
There are queues everywhere. Do you know an entrepreneur-wannabe who is on his sixth or twelfth new project? He jumps from one to another, and every time he hits an obstacle, he switches to a new, easier, better opportunity. And while he’s a seeker, he’s never going to get anywhere.
As we near our 11th anniversary, I can definitely think of a few former clients that fit this profile. It's something we try to spot in potential projects now (and avoid, if possible). We aren't here to build pet projects. We're here to help you build a business. It's going to be difficult. We know what it'll take. We know how to put in the hard work... especially when it's not as easy as anyone hoped (it never is). Do *you* have what it takes?
13 Jun 2013
Perhaps the most important lesson I’ve learned while being at Planet Argon has been the value of learning on the job. As a design student, there is freedom to create something that is largely for your own visual tastes. But in a professional environment, the world changes when there’s a client and an approval process.
29 May 2013
Once upon a time, I found myself struggling with a few business ideas and problems. How do I win more project bids? How do I find new clients? Should I get a new full-time job and drop this “Planet Argon” thing? How can I improve my coding? Am I… Should I… etc.
Taking advice from friends, I reached out to a few people that I admired in the industry. I offered to take them lunch in exchange for their time to bounce a few ideas and questions off of.
Out of the, roughly, ten people that I wrote, a few people said they were busy and said, “maybe in a few months when things are less hectic.” One person agreed to meet the following week. We met up during lunch, had some food… and I got some great feedback on my ideas and questions. When the bill was put down on the table, they said, “My treat. You’re a young entrepreneur, you shouldn’t be spending your money on people like me… yet.”
That was ten years ago.
Admittedly, over the past few years… I have had a number of people send me similar introduction emails. I, like the folks who replied to me, have found myself being too busy to schedule lunch with them… but last week… one person caught my attention with their introduction. It stood out from the usual copy/paste “help me!” email… and I ended up accepting their invitation1, but only under the condition that they let me buy them lunch.
They have better things to spend their money on right now.
Having said that, I would like to put out a formal offer to the people in the Portland area. If you are a motivated and young (say under 30?2) entrepreneur who wants to bounce some ideas and/or questions off of someone who has been running an agency for nearly 11 years… then I invite you to introduce yourself to me, pitch the topics you’d like to cover, and I’ll schedule and buy lunch for you3.
I owe you that much.
1 ProTip: Finding out something unique about the person you’re writing by a simple google search will go a long way to not getting filtered. In this case, they said they enjoyed my old band’s music… flattery works. ;-)
2 Give or take… I’m targeting the twenty-somethings because I might be able to better explain how I got by on paying myself a lot less when my personal expenses were lower. (not that you can’t keep expenses down when you get older… but you get the idea)
3 Limited to five people.
1 Oct 2012
“I have a four-year-old daughter and I want her to think that anything is possible, that no career in out of bounds,” she says. “If any other comparable industry had a female workforce of only 17% there would be an outcry.”
Enjoyed this article... but got a chuckle from, ""Developers tend to be good, straightforward sorts with a refreshing lack of ego, who genuinely enjoy collaborating."
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