CHARTS+DARTS
AGENCY:
CREATIVE DIRECTOR:
Charts+Darts
Steven Stone
From three dudes in a garage to one of Adweek's 2026 Fastest Growing Agencies in eight years flat.
When Charts+Darts got started in 2018, there weren't departments, elaborate processes, or room to hide behind a title. Everybody wore a few hats, everybody got their hands dirty, and we built the plane as we flew.
A few years and a few clients later, we'd graduated to a proper office space. The operation was growing up, but our scrappy mentality kept us growing.
I was there from day one, and I've spent every day since working to grow the agency.
GARAGE BORN
BUILD-A-BRAND
Since we were asking people to trust us with our brand, we had to figure out our own.
Working with long time friend Mike Quinones and our internal team (Aaron Sauceda as AD; Jimmy Brown as CW; Spencer Abrams as Jr. AD; Peter Wang as Dev), we built Charts+Darts an identity from the ground up. Logo, visual language, website, and all the little details that help make people believe in what we were doing.
We wanted something that felt like us. Independent, a little irreverent, and comfortable getting our hands dirty. No borrowed swagger or corporate costumes, just an honest reflection of who we were and the kind of work we wanted to put into the world.
Looking legit was one thing. Building a business that could back it was another.
We chased everything that made sense. Built relationships. Earned trust to take on bigger, more ambitious work.
And as the projects grew, so did the crew. What started as a few people doing a bit of everything became a proper creative department with the talent, processes, and capabilities to deliver. There were growing pains, plenty of trial and error, and a hell of a lot of learning on the fly. But through it all, we did our damnedest to hold onto what made us effective early on: good people who give a shit and aren't afraid to get their hands dirty.
BUILD-A-BIZ
EIGHT YEARS LATER
Not bad for 3 dudes in a garage who were fed up with bloated agencies.
Eight years later, Charts+Darts has grown into an independent agency producing national campaigns, social work, broadcast spots, and creative for some of the biggest names out there.
Along the way, we built a talented crew, earned long-standing client relationships, picked up some recognition here and there, and most recently earned a spot on Adweek's 2026 Fastest Growing Agencies list.
There've been a few hard lessons and a lot of hard work to get here, but I'll always be proud of what we've built, and I'll never forget where we started or that I was there from day one.
