Honest answer. It wasn't some grand mission moment. It started with frustration. A specific, personal frustration about watching good businesses get ignored by an industry that only cares about you if you're in the right zip code.
I grew up around small towns. I know what it feels like when a local business closes and takes part of the community with it. And I know most of those closures aren't because the business was bad. They were bad at being found. In 2026, being found means being online.
"I kept asking myself why nobody was building for these people. And then I realized the answer was pretty obvious. Nobody thought it was worth it."
The pitch that changed things
I tried getting work done through established agencies. You know the type. Nice offices. Fancy portfolios of big brands. And a very clear unspoken rule that small-town clients with budgets under ten grand aren't their problem. I understand it from a business angle. But I kept thinking about all the businesses just getting left behind.
So Emile and I decided to do it ourselves. We're 23 and 24. We don't have decades of agency experience. What we have is a real belief that a hardware store in a small Wisconsin town deserves the same quality of digital work as a tech startup in San Francisco. Maybe more, because that hardware store is what keeps a community alive.
Why Mule
A mule is stubborn. Works hard. Doesn't quit. And honestly, it's underestimated. That felt right for what we're building and what kind of businesses we want to work with. Rural businesses aren't glamorous to the marketing world. But they're the backbone of entire communities and that deserves to be taken seriously.
We're not trying to be the biggest agency. We're trying to be the right one for a specific kind of business that's been told for too long that digital isn't really for them. That's wrong and we're here to prove it.
If you're running a business in a smaller market, know this. We built Mule for you. Not as an afterthought. Not as a side thing. As the whole point.