How To Grow A Small Agency Into A Billion Dollar Company (#414)

TL;DR

Andrew Wilkinson bootstrapped a web design agency (MetaLab) starting in 2006, grew it to ~$50M revenue, then used its profits to acquire companies like Dribble and WeCommerce. His holding company Tiny is going public at nearly a billion-dollar CAD valuation, with Wilkinson owning ~71%.

Key insights

• MetaLab’s profit margin was fat because Wilkinson charged Silicon Valley prices while paying Canadian wages (Victoria, British Columbia).
• The acquisition phase only began in 2016; the first 10 years were a slow grind building the agency.
• The portfolio is not evenly distributed—three companies (MetaLab, Dribble, WeCommerce) drive most of the value; the rest are nearly rounding errors.