We started lhcreative.studio independently owned, with no outside investors, on purpose. A year in, the thing that has mattered most is not funding or headcount — it is that we get to say no to work that does not fit, without asking anyone's permission first.

That has meant turning down a few larger engagements that would have pulled us away from Romeo, in favor of smaller ones that kept the studio's actual priorities intact.

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It has also meant every product we ship has to justify itself directly to the people using it, not to a board — which is a higher bar in some ways, and a much clearer one.

Year two is mostly about Romeo leaving early access. More on that as it happens.