What happens when a design agency that poured its identity into a physical studio suddenly can't use it — and realises it doesn't want to go back?

Adam Telford, founder of Maya, joins Rahul from Cosmos to tell the story of going fully virtual. Maya is a 9-person UK design agency that built its small studio into something that felt like the brand — clients walked in and instantly "got" Maya. Then the pandemic emptied it for nine months, and the team was left juggling meeting links and missing the vibe.

Adam names the three pains exactly: tool fatigue (too many links, too many apps, everyone needing a different download), lost identity (the studio felt like Maya, but Zoom just looks like Zoom), and the diary problem (five-minute conversations booked as hour-long meetings). A client recommended Cosmos — and Maya rebuilt their studio as a space, not a video tool: design team around a table, dev team in the corner, a conference room tagged "welcome to my TED talk," and lockable client meeting rooms upstairs.

Hear how the Maya day runs (10am stand-up with a funny question, then everyone scatters — some behind a tree, some on a rug — in listening mode all day), why they cancelled the lease for good, and the outcome nobody expected: at least three of Maya's clients have since built Cosmos studios of their own.

What you'll hear:

- The three reasons a design agency ditched Zoom, Teams and Meet

- How to make a virtual space feel like your brand, not a meeting room

- Why "listening mode" beats always-on video for a small team

- Running client meetings — and client breakout rooms — in a virtual studio

- What it actually takes to cancel the office lease and not look back

- Why clients started building their own Cosmos spaces

About Maya:

9-person design agency based in the United Kingdom. Cancelled its physical studio lease and now runs fully remotely in a custom Cosmos space. Founder: Adam Telford.

Read the full case study → https://cosmos.video/case-studies/maya

Try Cosmos free → https://cosmos.video

(00:00) Meet Adam & Maya

(01:41) Switching from Zoom & Teams: the three problems

(02:39) Losing the studio's identity

(03:28) Five-minute chats booked as hour meetings

(04:43) How the team feels about Cosmos

(06:01) Describing Cosmos & the client "surprise factor"

(08:04) A day in Maya's virtual studio

(09:43) Clients dropping in & breakout rooms

(11:40) Cancelling the lease

(12:57) Flexibility, culture & still meeting in real life