You know what kills creativity faster than bad coffee? Corporate drama. The kind where grown adults fight over PowerPoint slide animations and who gets credit for choosing the font. Rock Paper Scissors Studio just hit their five-year mark, and they've done it without the toxic nonsense that makes most agencies feel like a reality TV show nobody wants to watch.
While 75% of venture-backed startups fail according to 2025 data, and design agencies face even steeper odds in an oversaturated market, Rock Paper Scissors Studio became part of the rare 20% that make it past the five-year survival mark. No backstabbing over client presentations. No micromanaging creative decisions like they're state secrets. No ego wars that make Game of Thrones look like a friendly neighborhood barbecue.
"We promised ourselves from day one: no drama, no egos, just space where creativity actually works," says Shivendra Singh, Founder & CEO of Rock Paper Scissors Studio. "Most agencies talk about culture like it's a trendy wall poster. We built ours around what we refuse to tolerate - the kind of workplace politics that make people dread Monday mornings." This wasn't just idealistic startup talk from two caffeine-fueled dreamers in Bangalore.
It became the foundation that helped them navigate the brutal reality that 26% of digital agencies didn't experience revenue growth between 2022 and 2023, according to Agency Analytics data. While competitors struggled with internal dysfunction that made soap operas look peaceful, Rock Paper Scissors Studio focused on what clients actually care about: solving real problems through smart design.
This September, the team headed to Nandi Hills outside Bangalore for their annual company retreat. This wasn't some corporate team-building exercise where people pretend trust falls will fix workplace issues. This was a real talk about what works and what doesn't after five years of building a creative agency from scratch without losing their minds or their sense of humor.
They ran structured workshops that asked hard questions, examined five years of wins and spectacular failures without the usual corporate sugar-coating, and had the kind of honest conversations that most agencies avoid because admitting mistakes is apparently harder than admitting you still use Comic Sans unironically.
Four critical insights emerged from those Nandi Hills discussions that fundamentally changed how Rock Paper Scissors Studio operates, and probably prevented several future office meltdowns. First, they learned to ask probing questions instead of assuming what clients want, because mind-reading isn't actually a professional skill despite what some agencies believe.
"Half our early projects failed because we solved the wrong problem beautifully," admits Chandni Chadha, Co-founder and COO. "We were like Netflix in their DVD days - technically excellent at something the market was moving away from faster than people abandon New Year's resolutions. Now we question everything before we design anything, even if it makes us sound like that annoying friend who asks 'but why?' seventeen times."
The second insight involved stepping up as consultants rather than just pretty picture makers. When clients don't know what they need (which happens more often than people admit), Rock Paper Scissors Studio learned to guide them rather than simply executing their requests like a very expensive order-taking service.
This consultant mindset reflects what makes companies like McKinsey valuable - they don't just deliver what clients ask for, they help clients figure out what they should be asking for, preferably before they waste everyone's time building the wrong solution. The third insight focused on confirmation and communication protocols that would make even the most paranoid project manager proud.
Assumptions kill projects faster than bad budgets and unrealistic deadlines combined, so double-checking, triple-checking, and getting everything in writing became their standard operating procedure.
The numbers tell a story that validates their drama-free approach better than any motivational poster could. Design agencies operate in a brutal environment where survival itself deserves a celebration cake. The global design agency market reached $256.7 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $346.7 billion by 2030, growing at a 4.4% CAGR according to recent market research.
But that growth masks the reality that individual agencies face competition more intense than Black Friday shopping and failure rates that make startup statistics look optimistic. Rock Paper Scissors Studio grew from 2 founders working out of a small space in Bangalore to 22 team members distributed across four cities, proving that you can scale without losing your soul or requiring therapy for your entire team.
Their project portfolio reads like a masterclass in choosing meaningful challenges over easy money. Take Finfinity, their fintech lending platform that transformed from idea to live launch faster than most agencies can agree on a project timeline.
The results speak louder than any corporate buzzword bingo: 10,000 monthly impressions, 80% returning customer rate, and 40% revenue increase that made everyone involved look like financial geniuses. Or consider their work with Turtlemint, where they turned insurance buying from an experience that feels like decoding ancient hieroglyphics into something humans can actually navigate without wanting to throw their computers out the window.
Then there's Nuvama, their wealth management platform that proves you can turn financial complexity into something that doesn't require an MBA to understand. Instead of drowning investors in data that looks impressive but helps nobody make actual decisions, they created interfaces that speak investor language rather than financial jargon that sounds important but means nothing to real people trying to manage their money without hiring a full-time translator.
Their distributed model proved prescient during the pandemic and remains competitive in 2025, like accidentally being ahead of a trend that everyone else had to scramble to adopt.
While other agencies rushed back to expensive office spaces where people pretend open floor plans improve creativity, Rock Paper Scissors Studio doubled down on what actually works: daily standups that don't waste time, transparent communication that doesn't require decoder rings, and structured workflows that function across time zones better than most international business meetings.
As Winston Churchill once said, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast," though he probably never imagined it would apply to design agencies trying not to implode from their own internal drama. Rock Paper Scissors Studio proves that culture also eats bureaucracy, ego-driven decision making, and the kind of workplace politics that make people update their LinkedIn profiles at 2 AM.
Their success over five years isn't just about surviving in a tough market where companies disappear faster than free donuts in an office kitchen - it's about creating an environment where creativity thrives because destructive behaviors get eliminated faster than typos in client presentations.
About Rock Paper Scissors Studio
Founded in Bangalore in 2020, Rock Paper Scissors Studio is an independent creative agency specializing in brand strategy, UI/UX, and digital storytelling. The studio’s philosophy — “No Drama, Just Design” — fuels its mission to deliver meaningful, measurable, and human-centered design solutions.
🌐 Website: www.rockpaperscissors.studio
📧 Email: hello@rockpaperscissors.studio
📍 Offices: Bangalore | Mumbai | Pune | Delhi