Adweek identified seven standout agencies in the first five years of their existence as part of a shortlist for Breakthrough Agency of the Year. Although Atlanta-based Majority ultimately came out on top, the seven agencies in this category represent astounding work across culture, comedy and sustainability. Some like Gut and Special Group U.S. are already expanding their footprints globally, while others have accomplished groundbreaking work across a number of different marketing disciplines.

Along the way, the leadership had to make tough decisions to keep their agencies thriving and meeting the demands of ever-growing client lists. To kick off the year, Adweek asked the founders of these seven agencies about the most important strategic decisions they made in 2022 and how those decisions impacted their businesses.

These responses has been condensed and lightly edited.

Anselmo Ramos, co-founder and creative chairman, Gut

The most important strategic decision that we took in 2022 was to hire a CEO. We’ve been a founder-led company for the last 4 1/2 years, and it’s been amazing. But it got to a point that we need help. So we’ve been looking for the person for the last two years. It wasn’t easy to find. For us it was important for the person to have equal passion for creativity and business because we are in a creative business. And we finally found that person. Andrea Diquez is our first ever global CEO. She just joined like a month ago, and we couldn’t be happier. We have no doubts that Andrea will help us to go to the next level as an indie global network.

Gian Carlo Lanfranco, co-founder and CCO, L&C New York

L&C was founded by two creatives; there wasn’t a business partner from the start. We knew that the only way to get new clients was based on creativity. So, every piece of work we’ve launched needed to solve a business challenge for our clients and be outstanding creatively. Our best new business plan [was] doing great creative work. There is no small project or boring assignment at L&C; we treat every opportunity as if we were doing a Super Bowl ad, and that mindset is the key for our early success. We double down on creativity.

Emily Siegel, president and partner, Lafayette American

From day one, it’s been all about investing [in] our people. Something we’re thinking a ton about is what we do at the end of the year. Do we have profits that we can invest back in the organization? It’s top of mind right now that we’re really trying to put as much as we can—just like we always have done—back into our team, because if they feel fulfilled, if they feel like they’re part of the story, if they feel supported, then they [can] do the best work. They want to show up every day with energy and they want to come back. Our retention rate is super high. The results have been clear. We have a fantastic culture that we just continue investing in and that’s been key to our success.

Omid Farhang, co-founder and CEO, Majority

The most important strategic decision that we made is to make diversity a founding pillar of our company’s foundation. Today every agency knows that diversity is important but not every agency actually knows why. So many companies today view diversity as a risk management strategy. For us, we look at diversity as, yes, an opportunity to open doors for historically underrepresented groups. But more than that as a conduit to more voices in the room, and therefore a competitive advantage for more ideas that tap into culture and land in culture, which is ultimately what excites us most as a company.

Mo Said, founder and creative director, Mojo Supermarket

For the type of work that we make here at Mojo Supermarket, it’s impossible to make alone as the agency and it’s impossible to make alone as the brand. It requires really, really, really intense collaboration and sitting and jamming with your clients. Being a startup and a company that isn’t funded by anyone, it’s really, really hard because this is the point in your life cycle where you start to give in and work with people that you don’t like. The most important decision that we made this year that affected our business was to stick to our original most important decision that’s on our website since day one, which is only work with brands and people that we love, and never work for free. That’s been the secret to our success.

Haley Hunter, co-founder and COO, Party Land

The work we’ve launched this year helps illustrate the strategic priorities we set as an agency for 2022. This year we focused on specialization. Party Land doubled down on our founding goal to be the No. 1 comedy agency in the U.S. Whether it’s yet more work for Liquid Death or pushing dark humor boundaries for Dave’s Hot Chicken or writing and producing a metal anthem for the frozen grocery aisle, Party Land wants to be the flag bearer for comedy in an industry that continues to play it safe.

Cade Heyde, U.S. co-CEO and founder, Special

There were two big conversations that came up repeatedly as we entered the U.S. market. The first was around how we would attract leadership that had a shared belief in using the power of our own culture as a point of differentiation. We have a wonderful promise that we try and live up to every day. And that is that our own business and those within it are our most important clients. The second was around how we design a way of working that was fit for purpose, not just for North America, but that found interesting ways of connecting the talent from right across our group. So some strategic decisions that were important for us were around how we work as a global group, and not just within the confines of our own geographies.