How We Started: Once Agency’s Launch Story and the Projects That Kicked It All Off

🕘 Editorial Note from Once Agency (2025):

This interview was originally published in 2018, when Once Agency had just begun its journey. Back then, we were four people with a few clients, a few projects — and a lot of ambition. This article is a candid look at our beginning: how we found our business model, our view on design, and how we approached client work.

Much has changed since then. Today, Once Agency means hundreds of projects, experience across industries, and a tight-knit team of 10+ people with even more drive. But this story still matters — because it’s where everything started. A reminder: you can build something big if you start with a clear “why” and belief in your team.

Once Agency, 2018

This is the story of how Once Agency found a business model that made agency life exciting for top-level specialists and made complex strategic and design projects accessible to clients.

The founders — Anton Yatsenko, Anton Zotov, Uliana Shved, and Viktor Grudakov — spoke with MMR about why they launched the agency, what makes it different, and what methods they brought into their work.

Tell us who you are — in ten sentences.

We launched Once in late April 2018. In just six months, we had already created three new brands, four digital products, and helped launch a real estate project with a digital-first concept.

There were four of us, each owning one area: strategy, design, creative, and UX/UI. We don’t plan to grow in traditional departments — instead, we scale through project-based teams.

We work closely with clients — deep in the business, often uncovering unexpected opportunities that lead to entirely new joint ventures.

We tested different methodologies and landed on a few we truly believe in:

• Value Proposition Design helps us segment users and define (or create) real value;
  
• Google’s Design Sprint lets us quickly generate and test bold ideas;
  
• and Service Design is our go-to when building or reinventing services and products.

Our business model makes agency life exciting for strong professionals — and high-level creative work more accessible to business clients.

Команда Once Agency

Why start an agency? Isn’t the market full already? Why not join an existing team?

Anton Yatsenko:

Pragmatically — because we saw a business model that solves real pain points. And also… it was a bit of a gamble. But the good kind.

Anton Zotov:

In my past work, I saw too much shallow design — too many middlemen, not enough depth. You hand off the mockups and that’s it. That kind of design dies before it’s born.
So I dreamed of a team of like-minds, working directly with clients, building things that evolve. Because design is never done.

Viktor Grudakov:

Sure, you can always make a beautiful picture. But when the idea is born from strategy and a shared business vision — that’s when magic happens. I wanted that kind of freedom, depth, and partnership.

Uliana Shved:

I joined after the launch. I had worked with Anton and Viktor before and knew we were on the same wavelength — driven to create meaningful, impactful work.
And I was definitely not ready to join another coffee-machine-worshipping agency. 🙂

Where did the expertise come from? What helped you start your own company?

Anton Yatsenko:

I wouldn’t call myself an expert — things change too fast. But I am passionate about understanding human behavior and finding better ways to solve problems. That’s why I love design thinking — and use it in everything.

My agency experience helped. I had worked at places that scaled from 5 to 50+ people. Legally, starting a small business in Ukraine was simpler than we expected.

Uliana Shved:

I never called myself an “empathy and creativity expert” — but it’s a funny title 🙂
I’ve been on both the client and agency side, and I’m now diving deep into psychology and behavioral biology.

Anton Zotov:

After 7 years, I’d say I know how to build interfaces that feel human — and help businesses grow.

Viktor Grudakov:

To keep it short: I’ve been in art and design for nearly 15 years.

What makes your agency different?

There are plenty of agencies on the market. But we wanted to create something else.
On one side — we aim to make high-level strategic work more accessible to small and medium businesses. On the other — we wanted to make agency life exciting again for experienced professionals.

In many agencies, senior talents leave. They move client-side, go freelance, or switch to IT — because traditional agency models don’t offer growth in income or career.

Clients, meanwhile, are often stuck. Either they’re given a big strategy document that no one can implement, or they’re told to “just trust the process,” which rarely connects with real business needs.

So what did you build instead?

An agency is people. No people = no brand, no revenue.

We stripped away the fluff, built lean, and redistributed profits fairly. Senior team members at ONCE are also partners — owning their part of the product.

For example, our designers receive 60–70% of a project’s value — not 10–30%, like in traditional agencies. That makes it their business.

A small percentage goes toward the office, a reserve fund, and training or development. That’s it.

Because of this model, more clients can afford high-quality strategic services — and our team feels real ownership.

Accountability over hype

Anyone can pitch a bold idea. But not everyone is ready to take responsibility when it doesn’t work.

Most strategies today are sold as “final documents” — but in reality, they’re just starting points. We believe in building together, iterating fast, and (sometimes) tying our compensation to results.
This happens in media agencies. But in strategy and creative — it’s still rare.

How much did you invest at the start?

Our only investment was time and experience.

We launched with clients already in hand — people who trusted us and were ready to pay. Later, we rented an office and reinvested profits into growth.

How do clients find you?

To be honest, building an agency without any client base is risky.
We each had long experience in marketing and IT — and we had people ready to work with us from day one.

Then came referrals. Clients recommended us to their friends. Then those friends did the same.
Recently, we’ve even had inquiries via Facebook and Behance — even though we’ve only published one project, it got featured by curators and gained great visibility.

Who won’t you work with?

We won’t take on religious topics, political campaigns, or clients who want to mislead people.
We avoid closed-minded managers or those who “just need something for show.”
We work best with clients who want to create meaningful things, move fast, and collaborate honestly. If there’s chemistry — we’ll click.

Who’s your competition?

Let’s face it: everyone competes with everyone.
Freelancers, in-house teams, IT firms, consultants — it’s all one big marketplace now.

But we’re not afraid of competition. We truly believe: there’s enough work for everyone.
The only real competitor we fear? Inaction. When a business is afraid to change — nothing moves forward.

What have you achieved in six months?

Some of our early flagship projects:

Smart Group — B2B tech distributor rebranding:

Daily Dose Of — naming, brand strategy, and identity for a gastro bar in Lviv

goodwine — UX for a loyalty app with m-commerce features for a premium grocery brand

What advice would you give to founders starting out?

Maybe it’s too early for us to be giving advice 🙂
But here are three thoughts:

• Don’t start with a fancy office or expensive overhead — we designed an office, but still don’t use it.
  
• Focus on the essentials: who you are, what makes you valuable, and who you’re here to help.
  
• Even if you’ve got clients already — start marketing right away.

What does your own marketing look like?

We encourage our clients to experiment and communicate real value. We do the same:
From paid Facebook posts, media features, and speaking gigs — to co-creating interactive projects with clients.

We know many business owners don’t read marketing media or care about awards. So we’re building industry-specific packages — like “Rebranding for Developers,” “Branding for Law Firms,” etc., with everything they need in one place.

We’re even exploring influencer collaborations.

Any plans for expansion?

We want to make complex creative services simple, clear, and accessible.
That’s our growth plan for the Ukrainian market — reaching businesses that don’t yet know how to build stronger brands or better experiences.

We’re open to global work. But we’ll talk about that when the time comes.

Agencies that inspire us:

Ueno, Ustwo, Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, KesselsKramer, Unstuck, DesignStudio, Wolf Olins, Big Spaceship.