A Different Way to Work
Fixed Timeline.
Variable Scope.
Stick Works runs on six-week cycles, not open-ended projects. Every engagement is shaped around your most important business goal. No scope creep. No wasted time. No surprises.
Why Traditional Agency Models Fail
Most Agencies Sell Deliverables. Deliverables Don’t Solve Business Problems.
You’ve been through this before or you’ve heard the version from peers who have. Someone writes a scope document. The scope grows. The timeline slips. Deliverables arrive, but the actual business problem — the investor who needed to see a credible brand six weeks ago, the partnership conversation that still doesn’t have a clear story, the marketing leader who inherited a mess and needs something solid before she can scale anything — remains unsolved.
Traditional agency models are structured around deliverables because deliverables are easy to price and easy to hand off. A logo. A website. A brand guide. But the most important work in building a brand for a climate tech company or mission-driven organization isn’t deliverables. It’s decisions. And decisions require focused time, a clear goal, and a partner who understands what’s actually at stake.
“The most important work in building a brand isn’t deliverables. It’s decisions. And decisions require focused time and someone with a stake in the outcome.”
The Cycle
Six Weeks. Three Phases.
One Business Goal.
Every engagement at Stick Works is built from cycles. A cycle is a six-week sprint structured around a single, clearly defined goal: the most important thing your organization can do in the next six weeks to move the business forward. Not a list of deliverables. A goal.
Weeks 1–2
Shape
Define the goal. Pitch the approach. Bet on what’s worth building. This is where strategy happens before a single deliverable is created. What’s the real business problem? What outcome would close the gap between where you are and where you need to be? What scope of work is achievable in six weeks and actually moves the needle? Shaping is not discovery. It’s a disciplined process of deciding what the right work is before committing to building it.
Weeks 3–4
Execute
Design, develop, and build with the goal in focus. With the goal clear and the scope defined, execution moves fast. No revisiting the brief, no scope expansion, no waiting on answers that should have been settled in the shaping phase. The work is focused because the goal is specific and the decisions have already been made.
Weeks 5–6
Measure
Test, optimize, and assess impact against the original goal. What was the goal? Did the work achieve it? What data confirms it? What adjustments would make it stronger? The measurement phase closes the loop and feeds directly into the shaping of the next cycle.
Fixed Timeline. Variable Scope.
Most agencies fix the scope and let the timeline expand, which is why most projects run late and over budget. Stick Works fixes the timeline and lets the scope flex, ensuring every cycle delivers completed, high-quality work in a predictable six-week window. This is the same principle at the core of the Shape Up methodology, developed by the team at 37signals (the company behind Basecamp and HEY). Fixed timeline, variable scope is not a constraint, but a quality guarantee.
The Core Engagement
Two Cycles. Twelve Weeks. Your Brand and Website
Done Right.
The Bounce-Proof Impact System is Stick Works’s flagship engagement: a complete brand identity system and custom conversion-ready website, delivered across two consecutive six-week cycles. It’s how a mission-driven organization goes from a brand and digital presence that isn’t working to one that closes the gap between where they are and where they need to appear, in a single, integrated engagement.
Cycle 1
Weeks 1–6
Brand & Growth Strategy
Your value proposition is immediately understandable to every audience: investor, customer, partner, municipality, and potential hire. No jargon. No buzzwords. Just a clear story about who you are, what you do, and why it matters right now. Clarity is the foundation. Without it, every other brand investment underperforms.
Cycle 2
Weeks 7–12
Website Design & Development
Design, messaging, and digital experience that signals “serious organization” to risk-averse investors and strategic partners. In climate tech and social innovation, trust is everything. Your brand either builds it or erodes it — there’s no neutral. Credibility is earned through consistency, authenticity, and visual sophistication that reflects the importance of your work.
The Bounce-Proof Impact System starts at $30,000. Flexible payment options available. The full cost of the Brand Bounce Test credits toward the engagement if you proceed within 30 days.
After the Project
The Work Doesn’t Stop at Launch. Neither Do We.
The most common mistake organizations make after a brand project is treating launch as the finish line. A new website and brand guide don’t automatically compound into growth, they need to be used, tested, optimized, and evolved. After the Bounce-Proof Impact System, Stick Works offers ongoing growth retainer cycles — the same six-week, three-phase model applied to whatever matters most next.
Cycles
3-Month Retainer
From $18,000
Your value proposition is immediately understandable to every audience: investor, customer, partner, municipality, and potential hire. No jargon. No buzzwords. Just a clear story about who you are, what you do, and why it matters right now. Clarity is the foundation. Without it, every other brand investment underperforms.
Cycles
6-Month Retainer
From $30,000
Two consecutive cycles every quarter. Builds momentum across half the year. Recommended for teams actively scaling a marketing function, preparing for a capital raise, or heading into a high-stakes period.
Cycles
12-Month Retainer
From $48,000
A full year of strategic cycles. For organizations treating marketing as an ongoing growth engine, not a one-time project. The highest-leverage option for teams that are ready to move fast and want consistent execution across the year.
The Intellectual Foundation
A Method Built for Complex Work with Real Constraints
The cycle structure at Stick Works is built on the Shape Up methodology, developed by the team at 37signals, the company behind Basecamp and HEY. Shape Up was created to solve a specific problem: how do you build high-quality things when the work is complex, the stakes are high, and the scope could expand indefinitely without a hard constraint stopping it?
Fix time. Let scope flex.
In a traditional project, scope is locked and time expands to accommodate it. Deadlines slip. Budgets grow. The original intent — the actual business problem the engagement was supposed to solve — gets buried under revision rounds and scope negotiations. Shape Up inverts this. The six-week window is the constraint. Work gets shaped to fit that window. If something can’t be built well in the available time, it’s simplified or moved to a future cycle. For mission-driven organizations navigating real inflection points — a capital raise, a market launch, a leadership change, a policy moment — this matters. You need a partner who has made a clear, specific bet on the most important thing your organization can do in the next six weeks. And then follows through.
A Note on Who This Works Best For
This model works best for organizations that have a specific business goal — not just “we need a better website” — and are ready to bet on focused, six-week execution to achieve it. It’s a partnership, not a production service. That requires a certain kind of client: one who trusts the partner to shape the right work, engages in the shaping process, and can move at the pace of a focused sprint.
It also requires a minimum investment. The Bounce-Proof Impact System starts at $30,000. Growth retainer cycles are structured based on scope and duration. If you’re not yet certain whether a brand investment is the right move for where your organization is right now, the Brand Bounce Test was designed exactly for that moment: a strategic audit of your current brand and website, scored across five categories, delivered in five to seven business days, starting at $1,200 — with the full cost credited toward the Bounce-Proof Impact System if you proceed.
Retainer cycles are structured and paid for in advance. Each cycle begins when the goal is shaped and the invoice is settled. No open-ended retainers running whether work is happening or not.