Thread by @chburdett

I accidentally spent $250,000 to explain why you should spend $200 on a deck of cards. Was it worth it? Please watch and tell me.

But how did we get here?

The first deck, Workshop Tactics, was just a little side project to help a colleague run workshops without me around to help them.

My colleague Nick loved the first prototype. Except he kept asking me which card to use next.

So I improved the product until he used the deck without bothering me! Success!

Seeing the potential - I ran a pre-sale for a print run to a small mailing list. I was just having fun. No great ambitions. Just following my curiosity of making something cool and useful!

Would people buy this? What if I get it made to the highest possible quality?

We sold out in days. And seeing how much steam Workshop Tactics was gathering, the question was "what will the next deck be?".

Enter @steverawling and Storyteller Tactics, raising $100k on Kickstarter. It was only then did I realise I could quit my job and go full-time Pip.

When Pip Decks was just me, I could go fast. I was doing everything. All the branding, product development, operations, marketing, customer support - it was all on my shoulders. And growing fast on your own sucks.

Now we have an incredible team across the world. Doing work far greater than I could on my own. And together we smoothed out these growing pains.

Now Pip Decks has thousands of customers across the globe, with a growing library of products and a maturing brand. We had arrived

And to let everyone know we've arrived - I wanted to create a legendary brand video. We had always done all our marketing in-house, but for this I knew I needed some legendary outside help.

I wanted to tell a simple story: how our unique products create valuable outcomes.

I've admired @sandwich for a while. They have an uncanny ability to create funny, compelling videos that help explain new brands and businesses. But when I approached them with what I thought was a handsome budget of $20k, I soon learned that was not even close to what I needed.

When we sell Pip Decks, we aren't selling a deck of cards. We are selling confidence. And I realised that working with an industry legend like @sandwich - we aren't buying a video. We are a new brand buying credibility. And how much is that worth to us?

If you told me three years ago I would be spending quarter of a million dollars on a video for the little side project idea I had - I would've laughed in your face.But here we are.

But you tell me, was it worth it?

(P.S. our most anticipated new Pip Decks are revealed in the video! Strategy Tactics and Innovation Tactics)

oh and check out pipdecks.com - video is on the homepage too