Magnus Bråth back as CEO

On January 1st, 2014, I handed over the CEO position at Brath to Maria. Now we are switching roles again.

Maria and I complement each other and have worked as a team since the start of Brath. We divide tasks between us based on who is best suited for the job rather than what traditionally belongs to the role.

Maria has done an incredible job in the CEO role, through both good years and difficult ones—2020 was not fun. One of the major goals has been to get all routines and processes in place to allow us to grow into a larger company than we are today. When I was still leading Brath before 2014, we were a small company without much structure; today, we are a much larger agency, with that structure firmly in place.

It’s time for a new phase

Maria and I are switching roles today because the company is ready for it. The CEO role at a larger company can be very different compared to the CEO role at the agency Brath has been until now. This doesn’t really change how we work—we will continue dividing tasks between us based on who is best suited for each job. Rather, this shift better reflects the responsibilities we each have in the company as it stands today.

What we thought in 2014

The truth is that being CEO at a company as small as we still were then was still largely about managing the daily operations. Making sure deliveries were made, that new customers came in, and that the budget was right. It was certainly a very enjoyable job, but I was convinced that in order for us to take the next step, I also needed time to focus on other things. SEO is constantly changing—what works best today may not be best tomorrow, and we wanted to ensure we maintained our position well into the future. We had placed ourselves at the forefront when it came to delivery, and to remain a cutting-edge agency, we needed to constantly update, just as Google continuously updates.

Today, the situation is different. We have a well-functioning structure for SEO, SEM, and social media advertising. We have several models that work well, continue to develop, and we are steadily recruiting and training new analysts and specialists. My involvement in every part of delivery is much less needed today.

For you as a client or blog reader, it should not make much difference—I will continue blogging, and Maria will continue being as structured as she has always been.