Phase Zero Design offers architecture, design, planning, graphic design and branding, and strategic consulting and research. Is this diversity in services difficult for a new company to accomplish? Wouldn’t they be better off focusing on one or two areas?
Our business model is a blend of design, technology, strategic consulting and research. Most of our services are traditional offerings, however, we believe that our strategic consulting and research capabilities differentiate us in the marketplace and reinforce the Phase Zero Design brand position.
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What made you focus on Simsbury for your fourth office? Granted, a principal lives there, but is it an indication of a boom in the Farmington Valley?
There are a number of reasons why we chose Simsbury. First of all, we are very bullish on the Farmington River Valley. Simsbury is a great location and it has strong ties to the business community. We believe a number of our future clients either work or live in Simsbury. We are also very excited about Simsbury’s desire to implement smart growth initiatives to revitalize their town center. According to our research, most of the development to occur in the next 3 to 5 years will be driven by public/private partnerships working together to repurpose distressed commercial properties or to revitalize suburban town centers. As a firm, we embrace the ideals of sustainable development and hope we can play a role not only in Simsbury’s future but also in the future of the cities and towns in Connecticut moving in a similar direction.
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Your website says, “We start every project before the beginning.” Sounds almost existential. How does a project start before the beginning?
That’s a great question. We’ve been getting that a lot since we founded the firm. The concept of “phase zero” was developed in the life sciences industry to precede the traditional phase one clinical trials. The goal of a phase zero clinical trial is to streamline the costly and time-consuming drug development process, helping to deliver good drugs to people who need them more quickly. We believe that this approach can be incorporated into how we deliver our services to our clients. Phase zero is initiated before the project begins by the project champion and involves all the key stakeholders including of course the client. The purpose of phase zero is to identify the important factors that need to be considered for the project and to select the best ideas while eliminating the ineffective ones. The phase zero design approach allows our clients to have more ownership in the design process, teach them to think more creatively in the context of what they do and it can also accelerate subsequent phases of their project. This innovative approach provides our clients with tangible value and reinforces our core value of customer advocacy.
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What are the long-term plans for the company? Does it stay regional or is there thoughts of going bigger? What’s going to drive your long-term plans?
The long-term plan for Phase Zero Design is for the firm to be positioned as an expert in the markets we serve. We have a strong foundation in the retail, corporate, institutional and residential practice areas. Clients today want to hire experts. It is a strategic imperative for the firm to continue to build upon our foundation and sustain our growth. Our growth plans will be primarily driven by our clients and our ability to leverage our expertise to develop relationships with new clients. Geographically, our projects are located all over the country. We’ll go wherever our client needs us. However, we firmly believe that “owning your own backyard” is important to the success and longevity of our firm. Our plans include growing our local practice from Boston to New York.
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