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RBL 10 year Anniversary! - #49
“Play Long Term Games with Long term People.”
- Naval Ravikant
Ten Years of Round Barn Labs
Where were you in April 2014?
You might have been reeling from the greatest hits of streaming TV, from True Detective Season 1 to House of Cards to Game of Thrones Season 4.
You might have been enjoying the sweet sounds of Iggy Azalea’ “Fancy,” Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off,” or Pharrell Williams's “Happy.”
Perhaps you were playing the mobile game Flappy Bird, using a selfie stick, or posting videos on Instagram for the ALS Iceberg challenge?
Where was I?
I was in San Francisco at my 5th start-up, contemplating launching my own.
I cannot believe it was ten years ago.
As I sit here, reflecting on the ten-year journey of Round Barn Labs (RBL), I'm overwhelmed by the tremendous support and congratulations we've received.
April 8, 2024, marked a significant milestone—the tenth anniversary of RBL.
Roots in Resilience: The Round Barn Legacy
The name "DeGrange" echoes my family’s heritage, meaning "From the Barn" in French. I grew up next to a historical round barn in Santa Rosa, CA—a structure that symbolized efficiency and innovation, providing more space with the same amount of material. Despite losing this architectural gem in the 2017 Tubbs fire, the spirit of the round barn lives on through RBL, reflecting our commitment to innovative and efficient solutions in growth and performance marketing. Here is my original post on why I started RBL.
San Francisco: A Crucible of Innovation
My time in San Francisco during the golden era of the tech boom was formative. Working at AdBrite, Commission Junction, eBay, and Plum District prepared me. I was fortunate to be surrounded by talented friends, colleagues, and tech giants like Airbnb, Square, Twitter, Uber, Slack, and Stripe.
I shared an apartment with a good friend, a tech attorney, and fellow club rugby player, Beau Epperly; I was at the heart of a technological revolution.
This environment shaped my vision for RBL— to collaborate with top talent and offer our clients unparalleled value in growth marketing, regardless of their industry.
Early Days and Rapid Growth
RBL’s journey began in a San Francisco apartment filled with lively discussions and the thrill of starting something new. I was starting a new business, and Beau was too.
Our first office was shared with Beau and fellow entrepreneurs on top of Wells Fargo on Geary Street in the Richmond district of SF.
You can only imagine the late-night discussions, “power lunches,” and continuous Glen Garry Glen Ross references as the sobering reality of whether we can pull off building a business from scratch.
Beau and I at our first event in San Francisco after launching.
RBL attracted startups early on, helping founders grasp growth and performance marketing, increasing their chances of success. This necessitated the hiring of key players like Neil Richler and Alessandro Ricciardi. Our operations moved from a WeWork space on Second & Mission to the much fancier thoughtbot offices, thanks to a good old-fashioned barter arrangement. This period of intense learning and adaptation was punctuated by a wise fellow founder's advice on the inevitable "hills and valleys" of business growth.
Some people were very instrumental and supportive in our early days
I cannot thank them enough for their steadfast support from our early days. I am grateful for their trust and collaboration.
I particularly appreciated the early support and discussions with Brian Balfour while he was at HubSpot and for being an early active participant in the Reforge community. No other “growth thinker” captured the essence of growth and articulated it as clearly as he did.
Of course, my wife has been and continues to be a steadfast support. Thank you, Blaine.
A Brief Stint at Amazon and a Return to Roots
The opportunity to lead acquisition marketing for an Amazon division was too hard to pass up. It required moving away from “home” and trying a new adventure with Blaine in the Pacific Northwest to Seattle.
It did not work, and that sucked.
Although it didn't go as planned, it was an invaluable crash course in leadership principles, documentation, testing, and the importance of User Experience (UX).
It prompted deep soul-searching, underscoring the value of what I built at RBL and my determination to leverage my expertise in affiliate marketing and create an even better version of the company.
I immersed myself in becoming a better marketer and improving how product plays a role in acquisition, retention, and monetization with Reforge and Product School.
A New Chapter with a Lifelong Friend
In August 2018, I teamed up with a childhood friend—Mike McElhaney— who also grew up in Santa Rosa — home of the historic round barn—to chart a new course for RBL.
From my WeWork space in South Lake Union, Seattle, whiteboarding our plans to his modest office in Solvang, CA, we devised a strategy focused on affiliate and paid marketing, which has since become the core of our operations.
Mike and I are with Sezin, one of our favorite clients.
Mike has been instrumental in improving our standards, culture, client management, time to value, and ROI for our clients.
Hundreds of experiments, witnessing various marketing challenges, the rapid growth and power of social media, and discussions with brands of all sizes informed my vision for the RBL flywheel — a better way to think about a paid marketing growth loop.
In the last five years, the flywheel concept has exploded as brands of all shapes and sizes seek social proof and authentic third-party recommendations as part of their paid advertising creative and media mix.
It’s now the namesake of this newsletter and informs how we improve performance for our valued clients.
Celebrating Success and Looking Ahead
Significant achievements have marked the past decade, including landing and innovative companies like Nextdoor, Hired, Live Nation, Hopin, Hatch, Meta Quest, thredUP, Future Fit, Atlassian, Ritual, and Grammarly.
Some of the results we have driven for our clients:
>$500M in revenue
200M in traffic
>$100M in media spend
10k affiliate and influencer partners in our database
3.6 years average client retention
Our approach has evolved; we are focused on securing trusted third-party placements and enhancing them through paid marketing, emphasizing the power of influencer trust over traditional advertising.
As RBL continues to grow, our commitment remains steadfast—to operate with integrity, push the boundaries of performance marketing, and maintain the innovative spirit of the round barn.
Trust is a key focus for us and has allowed us to operate more like an extension of our client’s team rather than a vendor.
Trust is paramount for each of our hires and teammates.
Trust is why we are so focused on affiliate, influencer, and partner marketing; it performs so well as part of a brand’s performance marketing mix. Why?
Because consumers want to hear from peers, influencers, reviews, and recommendations, not just ads.
Being a finalist at the US Partner Marketing Awards this week in Miami at PI Live is just the beginning.
Here's to another decade of growth, innovation, and success at Round Barn Labs.
As we look forward to the future, I am filled with gratitude for our team, our clients, and the journey that has shaped us. Here's to continuing to innovate, grow, and excel together.
Always Be Testing!
Here is to the next 10 years!