Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mike Moore. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Mike thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Talk to us about building a team – did you hire quickly, how’d you recruit the first few team members? Any interesting lessons?

In the early days of Toy Robot I was not a partner. My current partner was doing keynote, and occasionally would ask me for animation help. Mostly stuff I could handle on my own in off hours freelancing in Amsterdam.
As Toy Robot began to grow and the work load increased, it became a full-time job. With that work incoming I moved to LA where i got my start and had a lot of old friends who could help me.
I started super small, basically in a 10×10 laundry shed in Altadena. Rob, my business partner was still running the Design department in Dumbo. I remember having 2 other freelancers in this shed with me, juggling multiple projects. It was hot and summer. I looked around this tiny space and was like, I think we need an office.
At first it was a couple of old friends helping out, but then I had to start finding people I didn’t know. So thru the freelance community I started to branch out, basically on a referral basis. I got burned a few times and had to stay up late to get peoples work done that was either late, or not to a standard I liked.
Everything grew organically, and I formed a habit of practicing lateral leadership. I like to build up peoples confidence, with that confidence I can trust more that people will take their work personally, and be more accountable. While there is still a hierarchy, working here feels more like a team where everyone is working to stregthen their skills and advance professionally.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started my career in the late 90s doing websites for movies and tv shows. I always wanted to take it my design work and work as a motion graphics animator. I got a big break when I worked on a pitch for Xgames in 2003, and ran with sports graphics for years. And spent a decade doing motion graphics projects as a freelancer.

I met my wife in Paris, who was an animator working with my current business partner. After we got married and had a baby, the company they were both working for took a pivot, leaving my business partner with clients and an opportunity to rebrand and service those clients under a different name: Toy Robot.

Slowly the need for Toy Robot to provide animation for tier clients increased, to the point thats all I was doing. But now, I wasnt just animating, I was doing work in realtime animation as well, bringing my previous experience with coding for web and animating into one new interesting disipline.

Toy Robot is a visual communication company, focusing on live event space. When you think of concerts with visuals, interactive media, or corporate theater, thats Toy Robot in a nutshell. We service other areas as well, and are versed in multiple disciplines of visual story telling.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

When I was 10, I got my first computer. My mom was a graphic designer at the time, so she and my step dad gave me some basics to start messing around with. I would spend hours working with macromedia director and photos shop (all in black and white.) I would make single cell animations, basic video games, logos for fictitious companies.
I continued this well into college where I was studying geology and working at a coffee cart. I would do graphics and printing for barter, friends and for party flyers. Then during the web boom, there was a program called Flash, that was a direct descendant of Macromedia Director, which I had a ton of experience with.
My mom introduced me to a company called LA Tonight, an event listing website. I freelanced there to supplement my income, but ended up becoming a creative director, and not having too much time to focus on college.
Then I realized that I was making more money doing my hobby then I ever would have after years of college and graduating as a geologist. I dropped out my last semester and the rest is history.

Any advice for managing a team?

Avoid blame and shame by establishing that your team all have a whole pie, rather than pieces of it. What I mean by that is that responsibility doesn’t end at your specific task, that within a team we all work together to accomplish a shared goal. As well as accolades that come with doing some well together.

My team works from the office 95% of the time. And while there is a big move towards WFH, I think working together is better for creatives. We participate in knowledge share, share our interests, eat lunch together. I cant imagine how someone just getting started can be as succesful and as fast, solely from working in their house. You’ve hired the right people if you like to be around them.

While its not obligatory, spend a little time outside of the office with your team, especially if you have any shared interests. I done everything from frisbee golf to going to concerts with employees

Contact Info:

• Website: https://toyrobotmedia.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/toyrobotmedia
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/toy-robot-media