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When we wrote the CIMPLY: YEAR ONE letter in December of 2022, we had exceeded our revenue forecast and set ourselves up for growth in 2023. We successfully delivered on our mission to empower marketing leaders with expert consulting and comprehensive agency services receiving a perfect Net Promoter Score in our first year of service.
Early in 2023, rapidly changing market conditions in the form of rising interest rates and supply chain issues created headwinds for the general market and some of our clients. Instead of rapid growth, many businesses, both large and small, began cutting costs, reducing employee count, and focusing on efficiency. While long-term, this is great for our business value-proposition, in the short run, budget constriction in both public and private markets prompted us to re-evaluate our business model and adjust our go-to-market strategy.
Up until this year, Cimply was built entirely on referrals, with limited formality in our sales acquisition strategy. While this can be a successful foundation for a lifestyle business, it offers little opportunity to scale as a startup. As founders, we are determined to position Cimply as a Brand with influence on the marketing industry at large. We aim to change the world, in some small way, by helping our clients in our area of expertise and guiding them through a better path forward.
We had also positioned ourselves as “specialized generalists”, a sort of catch all for any marketing problems our clients might encounter. While this is accurate given our breadth and depth of experience, we found that it does not speak effectively to prospective client issues or clearly describe our business. We realized quite quickly that if we are going to solve client issues, we need to describe our offering in a more sophisticated and concise manner.
We often say that market downturns are the best times for challenger brands to gain market share. While competitors are contracting, we believe in shoring up resources, strategizing, and doubling down on good investments. With a strong financial position from 2022, we were able to focus our attention on the first steps to scaling Cimply and to minimizing the impact any single client can have on our business. We have built our 2024 go-to-market strategy around these ideas and are excited to continue our journey. Our plan can be broken down into three areas:
In reflecting on the performance of 2023, our second year in business was an overwhelming success. While 2023 started slower than planned, our resilience and patience paid off by mid-year. The second half of 2023 produced a 65% year over year increase in our monthly run rate, and our improved cash management has left us with a 148% increase in free cash flowheading into 2024. We also saw a 15% increase in the total number of customers served in 2023 when compared to 2022.
With this effort on growth, diversification, and scale, we have kept client satisfaction and measurable results front and center. Our commitment to empowering CMOs with expert consulting and agency services that drive marketing excellence remains our number one priority. As a testament to the trust and satisfaction that our clients have placed in us, we have achieved a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 10/10 for the second year in a row.
When reflecting on this past year, we ultimately believe that 2023 has propelled Cimply forward to make prudent changes in how we operate our business and manage long-term planning. We look forward to 2024, building new client relationships and supporting our client’s most ambitious projects. Thank you to all our clients, partners, and the extended Cimply team. Your trust and collaboration have been the cornerstone of our success.
Here’s to another year of excellence and growth in 2024!
Mark and Dan
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