Robert Haas (Symbio): Craft, relationships, and recognition. How to run a company that stays normal, even in the age of AI

“A good CEO today doesn't sit on top of the mountain — he has to run back and forth between base camp and the summit,” says Robert Haas, co-founder of the digital agency Symbio. He talks about a culture built on craft, relationships (love), and mutual recognition (kudos). Instead of tracking hours, he keeps an eye on results — and when it makes sense, ties reward to real outcomes. He openly describes how he builds a “free” core team, why the whole team picks new hires together, and how he builds a ring of top-tier freelancers and alumni around the company. And why he wants Symbio to be an agency for the AI era — not an AI agency.

Awards aren't the goal — they're a byproduct

In this episode, Robert Haas, co-founder of digital agency Symbio, explains that awards aren't the goal — they're a byproduct: if you want the market to notice you, you need to spot, right at the brief stage, where there's a chance to do something genuinely exceptional — and go after it. Choosing people, as a result, becomes a hard, collective discipline: lunch with the team, maybe a week's “trial run” in the office, and ideally a real project that shows where a candidate is genuinely strong and how to tailor a role to fit them. Values don't live on posters — they live in small habits, from regular “noise-cancelling” emails to merch printed with the values as an everyday reminder.

Growth through impact, not headcount

Symbio doesn't want to grow by headcount, but by impact. That's why it cultivates a close circle of gig workers, and runs a program called “Symbio na ex” (an alumni get-together club, named after the Czech toast “na ex” — “bottoms up”) for former colleagues who share the same craft and relational standard. And when it comes to AI, the company isn't just chasing efficiency — it's looking for qualitative leaps: agentic workflows, synthetic research, productized services, and solutions with a clearly carved-out space for human added value.

What else will you find answered in the podcast?

• How Symbio approaches pricing: from fixed-scope contracts to results-based collaborations — including when “proxy” metrics are necessary in place of a direct market KPI.
• What choosing people “as a team” looks like: lunch, a “trial” stay, a real job for a client, and then tailoring the role to fit someone's strengths.
• Why the craft / love / kudos values act as a practical compass, both internally and externally — and how they get reinforced in daily rituals, not on a bulletin board.
• How a “ring” of alumni and top-tier freelancers helps scale quality without inflating headcount.
• How to think about pricing and awards: spotting, right at the brief, where a job has a chance to succeed both creatively and efficiently — and why awards still aren't a KPI.
• What it means to be an “agency for the AI era”: productizing services, agentic prototyping, synthetic research, and a clear role for people.
• What role a CEO should play today: “running” between base camp and the summit — staying hands-on in product, delivery, sales, and with clients, to genuinely understand the nature of the change.