I started Lucid in New Zealand in 2000—growing to 17 people in 2021.

After moving to New York City in 2016, I had been building the company purposefully and with intention as a global entity with teams in New Zealand and the US. We had continued to grow steadily—investing in people and processes to support a broader range of clients around the world with increasingly diverse and complex needs.

Then the pandemic hit.

Initially, we thrived but, like many businesses, we struggled to find and retain staff and we had had a number of team members—who we loved and respected—decide to go off and pursue new directions.

As we settled into a new reality of endless Zoom calls late into the East Coast evenings and increasingly complex processes to supporting our growing team, I was forced to reflect deeply on the mission and purpose of Lucid. This led me to question whether I was truly creating a work environment that enabled our amazing team to bring their best selves to work, achieve their highest potential, and have fun doing it.

It became clear that, while we had an incredibly loyal, talented, wonderful team, the challenges of working remotely across multiple timezones was taking its toll—and the time had come to make some big changes.

In early 2022, I saw an exciting opportunity for both teams and approached Pocket Square, a Shopify Plus agency headquartered in Auckland, to explore merging our New Zealand team with theirs. Pocket Square is an ecommerce agency specializing in designing and developing ecommerce solutions on Shopify and Shopify Plus for high growth, high complexity retail businesses—and they have similar roots, ethos, and team culture to Lucid.

Part of the deal was that the entire Lucid New Zealand team would be kept together, and for our existing clients that move over to Pocket Square to continue to work with the same people—with the added support of the wider Pocket Square team over time as needed.

Moving forward, Lucid will continue operating as a US-based agency with a smaller team based solely in New York—with a more niche focus on best-practice design, development, and growth of direct-to-consumer brands on Shopify Plus. Learn more about our renewed approach.

As you can imagine, after 21+ years, this is bittersweet for me. But, I am excited to see what opportunities arise for Pocket Square and for the Lucid team here in New York.

Galen
Founder & Strategic Director