Why Huge Has Spun Out Two Startups

Six months of frustration nearly capsized the effort early on, Huge CEO Aaron Shapiro said during a talk at the Digiday Agency Summit in Miami. The problem: Huge tried to do the labs initiative on the side. That’s tough to pull off in client-service organizations where billable client work will always come first.

“You quickly learn client works always wins and products never get built,” he said.

Since then, it has incubated two startups — a ‘“reddit for corporations” called Honey and event-marketing tool Togather — that are now separate companies trying to make it on their own. Huge provides the startups work space, infrastructure and client connections, but it acts as an investor.

“These are real companies,” he said. “We think that model – where they’re much more independent rather than side companies – is much more successful.”

Watch the three-minute clip of Shapiro’s thoughts on Huge Labs below.