Agency Bytes

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Aug 2026

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Agency Bytes is a podcast for owners of creative, marketing, and advertising agencies that packs a ton of important agency information on one topic, from one expert into a 25-minute brief. Why 25 minutes? Because who has the attention span for much more these days, and you can squeeze in a listen between meetings with time for a bathroom break or coffee refill before your next meeting. Agency Bytes is brought to you by Steve Guberman from Agency Outsight. Steve is a 20-year agency veteran who works as a business coach for agencies around the country. He coaches owners of branding, marketing, design, and PR agencies to conquer their goals and overcome their challenges. Learn more about Agency Outsight at www.agencyoutsight.com

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August 19, 2026Episode 16024 min

Ep 160 – David Shriner-Cahn, Smashing the Plateau – You Are Your Own Bottleneck — Here's How to Get Out of Your Own Way

Featuring: David Shriner-Cahn, Smashing the Plateau In episode 160, I talk with David Shriner-Cahn, host of the Smashing the Plateau podcast and founder of the Smashing the Plateau community, which helps consultants, coaches, and other expertise-based business owners grow through structured peer partnerships. We get into why solopreneurs plateau in the first place: underpricing out of fear, spending time on work that doesn't generate profit, and running a business without ever being trained to run one. David breaks down his SMASH framework for setting goals specific enough to act on but not so metric-driven that they choke curiosity, and explains why a trusted group of peers is often the only way to see the blind spots you can't see yourself. If you've ever hit a ceiling and told yourself a story about why you're fine there, this conversation is a useful mirror. Growing a profitable business isn't complicated, just hard, and you don't have to figure it out alone. Key Bytes • Most plateaus don't come from the market. They come from the business owner being the bottleneck. • Underpricing usually isn't a math problem. It's a confidence problem dressed up as a pricing strategy. • You can't see what you don't know you don't know. That's what a trusted peer group is for. • Goals should be specific enough to work toward, but not so metric-driven that they choke curiosity. • Ninety-day objectives are long enough to matter and short enough to stay real. • If your renewal conversation only happens once, you've already lost leverage. Build it into the relationship from day one. • Weekly accountability isn't for everyone, but for solopreneurs, the seven-day cycle just works. • Every person, team, and organization has gifts. Share them and the world prospers. Chapters 00:00 Welcome and introducing David Shriner-Cahn 00:39 From 28 years as an employee to solo consultant 02:39 How the Smashing the Plateau community took shape 03:53 What counts as an expertise-based business 04:53 Why business owners are usually their own bottleneck 09:03 What you don't know you don't know 11:10 Building the renewal conversation into the relationship 14:08 Turning vague goals into ninety-day objectives 21:18 The five steps of the SMASH framework 24:13 Rapid fire questions and a closing piece of advice David Shriner-Cahn is the host of the Smashing the Plateau podcast and the founder of the Smashing the Plateau Community, where experienced professionals building expertise-based businesses strengthen their decision-making through structured peer partnerships. After leaving corporate roles, many accomplished professionals discover that what they miss most isn’t capability — it’s infrastructure: the thinking partners, feedback loops, and shared judgment that help leaders make confident decisions. Through his podcast and community, David helps expertise-based business owners navigate complex decisions, reconnect with their vision, and build businesses that allow them to do more of what they love and get paid what they’re worth. Connect with David on LinkedIn or the Smashing the Plateau website .

August 11, 2026Episode 15926 min

Ep 159 – Courtney Spritzer, Entreprenista - How Courtney Spritzer Built and Sold a Marketing Agency, Then Built a 3,700-Member Community

Featuring: Courtney Spritzer, Entreprenista In episode 159, I sit down with Courtney Spritzer, co-founder of Social Fly and Entrepreneista, to talk about building a marketing agency from the ground up and knowing when it's time to sell. Courtney walks through the early days of bootstrapping Social Fly with her business partner Stephanie Carton, the moment they quit their corporate jobs to go all in, and how one networking connection led to their first big clients. She's candid about what it actually took to prepare the agency for a sale years before making the decision, and why owner dependency is one of the biggest threats to a clean exit. We also get into how she built Entrepreneista into a 3,700-plus member community for women founders, and where she sees AI fitting into a business built on human connection. Agency owners will walk away with a clearer picture of what buyers actually look for, and why building an agency that runs without you might be the smartest move you make. Key Bytes • Courtney quit her corporate finance job and gave herself three months to make Social Fly work before she'd have to crawl back and ask for it back. • The first week in business, she and her co-founder posted an ad on Craigslist and had six interns lined up within days. • Joining an early-morning networking group led to a bartered office space and an SEO agency partnership that got them ranked number one on Google, which is where their biggest clients came from. • Selling a business starts years before you decide to sell it. Recurring revenue, diversified clients, a strong brand, and profitability are what buyers actually look for. • The biggest trap agency owners fall into is building a business that can't run without them. • Social Fly's exit process, from hiring an M&A advisor to closing, took about ten to eleven months. • Entrepreneista grew out of a podcast into a private community of over 3,700 women entrepreneurs, with a goal of 5,000 members by the end of the year. • Courtney's advice for anyone starting out: the decisions you make today shape the life you're living three, five, and ten years from now. Chapters 00:00 Welcome to Agency Bytes with guest Courtney Spritzer 00:38 The spark behind Social Fly and leaving corporate finance 04:34 Networking her way to Social Fly's first big clients 06:01 Why she launched the Entrepreneista podcast in 2018 07:56 Preparing Social Fly for a sale years before it happened 10:27 Inside the process of selling the agency and avoiding owner dependency 13:20 Building Entrepreneista into a community for women founders 16:05 What keeps members engaged and coming back 18:40 How AI fits into a business built on human connection 24:20 Rapid fire questions and where to find Courtney Courtney Spritzer is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, author, and community builder with a passion for creating brands and platforms that empower women to lead, grow, and thrive. In 2012, she co-founded Socialfly, a leading social-first digital and influencer marketing agency. Over the course of a decade, she helped scale the business into an award-winning agency working with Fortune 500 brands and emerging startups, building a powerhouse team and culture along the way. In 2024, Socialfly was acquired. In 2018, Courtney launched the Entreprenista Podcast to spotlight the stories of inspiring women founders. That passion evolved into Entreprenista Media in 2021, a media platform and community supporting women entrepreneurs at every stage of growth. She now co-leads the continued expansion of The Entreprenista League, a membership-driven community and ecosystem for founders. As an angel investor, Courtney supports female-led and mission-driven startups aligned with her vision for a more inclusive and equitable business landscape. She is the co-author of Like, Love, Follow: The Entreprenista’s Guide to Using Social Media to Grow Your Business (2015), a strategic guide for leveraging social platforms to drive business success. Her work and ventures have been featured in Bloomberg, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, and The New York Times. She is committed to championing visionary founders and helping build the next generation of impactful, community-driven businesses. Learn more on Courtney’s website .

August 4, 2026Episode 15831 min

Ep 158 – How Matt Dean Built a Commercial Real Estate Branding Agency by Going All In on One Niche

Featuring: Matt Dean, Dean&Co. In episode 158, I sit down with Matt Dean, co-founder of Dean & Co., the branding studio he and his wife Jackie built for the commercial real estate industry. Since launching in November 2021, they've grown to a team of fifteen working across seventeen states, with projects like Gasworks, Silo Park, and Austin's Second Street District behind them. Matt walks through the SCAD dorm-room origin of their partnership, the two years they spent testing other industries before realizing their entire pipeline was already commercial real estate, and the decision to go all in on one vertical instead of hedging with a few. We get into what it actually means to be a "development partner" instead of a vendor, how Dean & Co. vets clients before signing them, and the mechanics of firing a client two months into the business. Agency owners will walk away with a clearer framework for niching with conviction, having the candor conversations around scope and pricing before they become resentments, and building a culture where the team can carry the client relationship, not just the founder. Key Bytes • Your entire pipeline will tell you what your niche already is, long before you're willing to admit it. • Chasing every industry that looks fun is a side hustle wearing an agency's clothes. Discipline is choosing one thing and staying choosable for it. • Being vertically integrated but horizontally differentiated means one industry can still hold a hundred different kinds of work. • The word "vendor" should make the hair on your arm stand up. Partners get invited to the table before the brief exists. • Firing a $15,000-a-month client two months into the business was the moment the agency's values became real instead of aspirational. • A referral isn't a consolation prize when you outgrow a client. It's how you let go without burning the relationship down. • Track record is the only leverage you need to have the money conversation. If your team overdelivers, raising your rate is just math. • Network from your first day on campus. You won't know for fifteen years which conversation was the one that mattered. Chapters 00:35 Welcome to Agency Bytes and introducing Matt Dean 01:19 How Matt and Jackie met at SCAD and became a team 03:58 Launching Dean & Co. in November 2021 and setting a goal at 19 05:20 The two years spent testing other industries before niching down 09:05 Discipline versus chasing the dragon 11:57 The pre-development work clients never see, and building a team for the table 14:57 Why "vendor" is the wrong word and "development partner" is the right one 17:05 Do good work with good people: defining the core values 20:56 How Dean & Co. vets a client, and firing a $15,000-a-month client two months in 26:15 Having the money conversation from a position of track record 28:34 Rapid fire: books, gadgets, and advice to 19-year-old Matt Matt Dean is the Co-Founder and CEO of Dean&Co. Matt has built one of the most in-demand branding studios in commercial real estate, working on projects like Gasworx, Silo Park, Austin’s 2nd Street District, and Mosaic. From launching an agency in 2021 to working across 17 states with 15 team members, Matt and his wife, Jackie, have remained focused on their vision, values, and ideal client profile to successfully build the agency they always envisioned. We've built an agency that is led by our values, we have scaled in a way that allows us to keep up with the demand while not going over our skis, and our ultimate mission is to work with great clients and to be able to give our employees a great place to work. There are a lot of topics in here, from saying no to clients/projects that don't fit, to truly understanding bandwidth and when to hire, to looking for key indicators that make great team members and clients of the agency. Connect with Matt on LinkedIn , Dean&Co on LinkedIn , Instagram , or the web .

July 20, 2026Episode 15740 min

Ep 157 – How Sam Shepler Grew StorySnap Through Acquisitions Instead of Retainers

Featuring: Sam Shepler, StorySnap In episode 157, I sit down with Sam Shepler, founder and CEO of StorySnap, the holding company behind Testimonial Hero and Product Type. Sam has spent over a decade building B2B video agencies, growing largely through strong operations and strategic acquisitions to a team of more than 50. We get into why Sam has never chased retainers, even though the B2B video world often pressures agencies to convert project work into recurring revenue. He walks through the real math behind lifetime value versus monthly billing, why unpredictability isn't something to be cured, and how his acquisition strategy is built around adding capability rather than just adding revenue. Sam also breaks down the gross margin mistakes he sees in nearly every agency P&L he reviews, and why he considers 60% the new 50% in an AI-driven world. Agency owners will walk away rethinking how they calculate gross margin, why cash accounting hides the truth about project-based businesses, and why pulling revenue forward matters more than the comfort of predictable monthly billing. Key Bytes • Sam doesn't chase retainers in video production because he believes lifetime value, not billing predictability, is the metric that matters. • Unpredictability isn't a problem to solve. For Sam, feast or famine is usually a symptom of insufficient lead flow, which is a marketing problem, not a billing problem. • Sam's best acquisitions have added new capabilities, not just new revenue. StorySnap acquired case study specialists to expand from video into written testimonials. • He calls it "co-opetition": your competitors are often your best referral partners, your best acquisition targets, or your eventual buyers. • A healthy agency needs at least 50% gross margin, calculated in a vacuum. Sam says 60% is the new 50% in the AI era. • In 16-plus agency P&Ls he's reviewed, not one had gross margin calculated correctly. Most owners confuse it with net margin. • Sam pulls revenue forward whenever possible, even quarterly in advance, because liquidating customer acquisition cost quickly lets him keep reinvesting in marketing. • Cash accounting tells you nothing about how a project-based agency is actually performing. Sam runs StorySnap on accrual to see the real picture. Chapters 00:00 Welcome and introducing Sam Shepler 01:07 From film school to first agency: the 2012 origin story 03:53 Turning an acquihire into an acquisition strategy 08:03 Why Sam never forced video production into a retainer model 12:11 Why founders get stuck at the $1-3M plateau, and how Sam got out of the day-to-day 18:03 The 50% gross margin rule, and why 60 is the new 50 20:30 What StorySnap looks for when vetting acquisitions 28:34 The gross margin mistake almost every agency P&L gets wrong 35:24 Cash vs. accrual accounting, and pulling revenue forward 39:42 Rapid fire: books, watches, and Sam's best business advice Sam Shepler is the founder and CEO of Storysnap.com , a holding company that owns Testimonial Hero and Product Hype. A longtime agency entrepreneur, Sam has been building and operating agencies since 2012, with deep expertise in the B2B video marketing space. He has grown primarily through a combination of strong operations and strategic M&A, acquiring multiple agencies to scale Testimonial Hero before launching his second agency, Product Hype, and bringing both under the Storysnap umbrella. Today, Sam leads a team of 50+ and is focused on starting, scaling, and acquiring agencies in the B2B content and creative space. He’s passionate about entrepreneurship, B2B marketing, and helping agency founders build businesses that are both highly profitable and operationally independent — with strong leadership teams that don’t rely entirely on the founder. Contact Sam on the StorySnap website , the Testimonial Hero website , or on LinkedIn .

July 14, 2026Episode 15630 min

Ep 156 – Zack Rosenberg, Qortex – What Your Audience Watches Reveals More Than What They Search

Featuring: Zack Rosenberg, Qortex In episode 156, I sit down with Zack Rosenberg, founder and CEO of Cortex, a video intelligence company decoding the connection between what people watch and what they actually buy. We get into how Zack discovered that buying intent shows up in the content people watch long before it ever reaches a search bar, why nearly 90% of video content is miscategorized, and why he's betting on "data-supported" creative over blind data-driven formulas. We also talk about what AI means for ad production costs, the future of agency workforces, and why smaller shops now have a real shot at business that used to belong exclusively to the hold-cos. If you've ever wondered whether your audience is telling you something your gut instincts haven't caught up to yet, this conversation will change how you think about targeting, creative, and where your next best client might already be looking. Key Bytes • Nike ads perform four times better in cooking content than in basketball content — proof that buying intent rarely follows the obvious audience. • Nearly 90% of video content is miscategorized, which means most "data-driven" targeting is built on garbage. • Buying intent starts long before the search bar — inspiration comes from the content people watch, not what they type into Google. • AI can be random, but it can't be creative — data should inform the work, not replace it. • The industry's obsession with "data-driven" thinking should give way to "data-supported" thinking, where human hunches still lead. • Cheaper AI-driven production doesn't shrink agency costs to zero — human costs are capped, but AI costs scale with every single use. • Smaller, nimble agencies now have a real shot at winning business that used to be locked up by the big hold-cos. • Relationships built through community outlast any single job or client. Chapters 00:00 Intro and welcome to Zack Rosenberg 01:46 The origin story of Cortex and the Nike-in-cooking-content discovery 03:46 Who Cortex actually serves: data teams, brands, and agencies 04:41 From small sports leagues to solving the mis-categorization problem 06:58 Why buying intent starts long before the search bar 08:41 Broad reach vs. micro-targeted creative, and AI-generated ad variations 10:52 Data-driven vs. data-supported, and why identical ads keep winning 16:20 What AI means for creative costs, agency workforce, and hold-cos 22:08 Building the Montclair Media Group community 27:08 Rapid-fire questions and closing thoughts Zack Rosenberg is the Founder & CEO of Qortex, an advanced video intelligence company helping brands identify intent based on what people watch. Qortex analyzes millions of videos to uncover real-time signals that connect content consumption to purchase behavior—powering smarter planning, activation, and performance across digital media. A lifelong entrepreneur from a family of founders, Zack is passionate about building enduring companies and shifting the advertising industry from audience assumptions to content intelligence. He also co-founded Montclair Media Group, a fast-growing community for marketers and founders in New Jersey. Contact Zack on LinkedIn or on their website .

July 2, 2026Episode 15527 min

Ep 155 – Jessica Rhodes, Interview Connections – How to Land Agency Clients Through Podcast Guesting (Without the Spam)

Featuring: Jessica Rhodes, Interview Connections In episode 155, I sit down with Jessica Rhodes, founder of Interview Connections and the entrepreneur who launched the world's first podcast booking agency back in 2013—long before podcast guesting was on anyone's radar. Jessica shares how a door-to-door canvassing job and a virtual assistant gig for her dad turned into a company that's booked more than 50,000 interviews for over a thousand coaches and business owners. We get into her recent return to the CEO seat, why she eliminated the sales role entirely, and the uncomfortable truth that not everything in your agency needs to be scalable. For agency owners, this one is a practical look at guesting as a growth channel: how to pitch without sounding like AI spam, why being a guest beats launching your own show (at first), and how to turn a single interview into referrals, repurposed content, and the occasional short-cycle six-figure client. Key Bytes • The best pitches aren't scalable—AI blasts fill spots but burn bridges with the hosts worth knowing. • Podcast guesting moves buyers past price-comparison paralysis by letting them hear your story and personality. • Nobody else has your story, your values, or your personality—that's what makes you a category of one. • Be a guest for a few months before launching your own show; they're two different strategies with different payoffs. • The shortest sales cycle comes from listeners who show up already ready to hand over their money. • Not everything has to be scalable—know your goal and your timeline before you optimize for growth. • Get outside your own industry, and you'll be the only marketing agency on that HVAC or manufacturing podcast. • People hire agencies they're referred to, and podcast hosts make powerful referral partners. Chapters 00:00 Meet Jessica Rhodes and the first podcast booking agency 00:54 Right place, right time: from stay-at-home mom to founder 05:11 Stepping back into the CEO seat after eight years 07:34 Why she eliminated the sales role (and why not everything scales) 09:40 What makes a great podcast guest in the age of AI pitching 11:56 Turning guesting into education, authority, and new business 15:27 Own show vs. guesting: which to start with and why 19:32 Keeping a podcast fresh 12 years in 23:22 A final guesting strategy for agency owners 25:06 Rapid fire: ChatGPT, thriller novels, and "follow the money" Jessica Rhodes founded Interview Connections, the world’s first and leading podcast booking agency in 2013, back when no other agencies like it existed. Since its founding, Interview Connections has booked over 50,000 podcast interviews for over 1000 coaches! Jessica is passionate about helping coaches who feel like the best-kept secret grow their business online through genuine, human-to-human connection. The podcast interviews Jessica and her team have booked have helped their clients generate millions of dollars in sales, sell thousands of books, and transform countless lives. Contact Jessica on LinkedIn or on their website .

June 26, 2026Episode 15435 min

Ep 154 – How Mike Bodkin Built a Sellable Agency — and a Smarter Way to Hire

Featuring: Mike Bodkin, Talent Scout In episode 154, I sit down with Mike Bodkin, former co-founder of the full-service digital agency Giant Propeller and now co-founder of Talent Scout, a niche recruiting firm placing full-time remote senior marketing, creative, and operations talent across Latin America. Mike walks me through nearly a decade running Giant Propeller — the doubling years, the partnership friction that eventually led to a buyout, and the acquisition that landed in his lap and pulled him onto a corporate executive team. We get honest about what a real exit feels like, why post-acquisition integration is never a clean puzzle piece, and the lessons he'd carry into any future partnership. Then we dig into the near-shore talent model he built out of necessity and now offers to other agencies: why time-zone alignment changed everything, why he hires virtual specialists instead of VAs, and how AI-fluent talent is reshaping who actually gets hired. If you're thinking about your team, your exit, or both, this one's worth the listen. Key Bytes • If there's smoke, there's probably fire — Mike let partnership friction drag on far longer than it should have. • Once you stop doubling revenue, stagnation can quietly turn a great partnership into a tense one. • Most agencies aren't sellable, so the ones that exit usually built something worth buying on purpose. • Post-acquisition integration is never a perfect puzzle piece, and expecting friction is half the battle. • Networking isn't soft — a single relationship is what put Mike's entire exit in motion. • Time-zone alignment, not just cost savings, is what makes distributed teams actually feel cohesive. • Mike places virtual specialists, not VAs — senior people fully embedded into the agency like W-2 employees. • The most valuable hire isn't AI, it's the specialist who knows how to use AI to enhance real craft. Chapters 00:00 From blockbuster films to founding Giant Propeller 01:10 Becoming a full-service agency by saying yes 06:30 Partnership friction and the structured buyout 10:26 Hindsight lessons on choosing the right partner 12:14 What film production taught him about running teams 15:10 The exit that landed in his lap 17:44 The messy reality of post-acquisition integration 21:20 Discovering the Latin American talent model 26:00 Why he hires specialists, not VAs 27:25 AI-fluent talent and who actually gets hired now 34:59 Rapid-fire questions and closing thoughts Mike Bodkin is a former agency co-founder and operator who built and successfully exited Giant Propeller, a full-service digital marketing agency, after nearly a decade of growth. His journey included navigating a partner split and closing a last-minute acquisition just days before payroll would not have cleared — a defining moment in his entrepreneurial career. Prior to agency ownership, Mike worked in film production on major studio projects, developing a unique blend of creative vision and operational discipline that would later shape his approach to building and scaling an agency. Today, Mike is the co-founder of Talent Scout, a hyper-niche recruiting company focused on placing full-time, remote senior marketing, creative, and operations professionals in Latin America. He helps agencies rethink team structure by prioritizing high-quality talent, meaningful cost savings, and timezone alignment — ensuring distributed teams still feel integrated and collaborative. Learn more about Mike and Talent Scout on their website .

June 18, 2026Episode 15331 min

Ep 153 – Juliana Marulanda, Scaletime – You Can’t Scale Chaos

Featuring: Juliana Marulanda, Scaletime In episode 153, I sit down with Juliana Marulanda, founder of ScaleTime, who's helped over 1,000 agencies turn themselves into lean, profitable businesses that don't depend on the owner being in every room. We get into what "scale" actually means once you strip away the buzzword — her SCALE framework for seeing what's happening, building a baseline, amplifying with systems and AI, leading and delegating, and designing an exit on your own terms. Juliana shares why so many agencies stall at the same revenue marks, why managers without systems can't move the needle, and how to bookend AI with human strategy and human review. If you've ever felt chained to a business you started because you loved the work, this one's about getting your choice back. Juliana makes a grounded case that freedom isn't a vague promise — it's the ability to decide what you do with your day, and to build a business that runs whether you're there or not. Key Bytes • Scale isn't a vanity word — it's the ability to choose what you do with your day instead of being chained to the work you started. • Most owners stall around $1.2–1.3M because they overthink instead of just doing the sales and getting cash in the door. • Crossing $3M takes managers, but managers can't manage without systems to run and performance to measure. • Reaching eight figures takes leaders who can set direction without you — which means delegating strategy, the scariest handoff of all. • AI isn't set-it-and-forget-it; it's create, manage, and iterate, with a human bookending both the strategy and the quality check. • Build to sell even if you never sell — because the exit isn't always your choice, and a sellable business is a well-run one. • Running on guesswork and gut catches up with you; visibility and metrics are what let managers manage and owners step back. • Freedom of choice beats "freedom" as a slogan — design the business around the life you want, not the other way around. Chapters 00:00 The ScaleTime origin story 01:13 From Wall Street to running million-dollar event ops 04:30 Why nobody wants to manage 05:43 The trends reshaping agencies right now 10:23 The four levels of AI adoption 13:00 Bookending AI with human strategy and review 14:02 Defining scale and the SCALE framework 19:09 Optionality and designing freedom of choice 22:18 The inflection points where agencies get stuck 28:30 Rapid-fire questions and closing thoughts With over 20 years of experience across Wall Street, the nonprofit sector, technology startups, and family-owned businesses, Juliana Marulanda, founder at ScaleTime, has served over1k+ digital agencies. Featured by Forbes and Entrepreneur, Juliana helps uplevel businesses into lean, mean, profitable machines. On average, she and her team create ways to free up at least 30 hours per week for her clients so they can have successful agencies that run without them. Founders can find themselves saying “I do what I want, how I want, whenever I want” - Now that is freedom. Juliana is passionate about providing audiences with invaluable tools that they can use instantly to start improving their business. Her wealth of agency growth secrets and expertise in growth management will put agency owners and marketers on the path to scaling a business. Connect with Juliana on LinkedIn , YouTube , Instagram , Facebook , her website , or get her Scale Map here .

June 9, 2026Episode 15238 min

Ep 152 – Michael Perry, Tavern – Why Relationships — Not Design — Actually Grow Your Agency

Featuring: Michael Perry, Tavern In episode 152, I sit down with Mike Perry, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Tavern, a Brooklyn-based creative shop building brands in food, beverage, hospitality, and sports. We get into the philosophy that drives everything Tavern does — what Mike calls "modern heritage," the practice of mining a brand's past for its real equity and modernizing it for today's consumer without falling into retro, nostalgia, or flash-in-the-pan rebrands. He shares why he's writing a how-to book on it, how Tavern embeds with clients like a fractional chief creative officer, and the story behind HyperBlast, the high-octane drink brand he's launching as his own client. For agency owners, this one is a clinic on real niching — Mike argues expertise isn't your portfolio, it's whether you actually care about the category your clients live in. We also land on the thing he wishes he'd leaned into earlier: this is a relationship business, full stop, and the deepest relationships make the best work. Key Bytes • Real niching isn't about your portfolio — it's whether you genuinely care about the category your clients live in. • Modern heritage means mining a brand's past for its equity and modernizing it for today, not slapping a retro filter on it. • Timelessness is impossible to fully achieve and fragile to keep, which is exactly why brand guardianship matters. • The founder who launched the agency to design should still be moving pixels — leadership and hands-on craft aren't mutually exclusive. • Being your own client removes the convincing, the stakeholders, and the sell — every answer is just yes. • Internal practice work stops being a luxury when you funnel it into real brand-building that levels up the whole team. • The biggest fallacy of Mike's career: that "nobody's drinking" — the numbers tell a very different story. • This is a relationship business — the deepest, longest client relationships are the ones that produce the best work. Chapters 00:00 Welcome and introducing Mike Perry and Tavern 00:47 Failing fast: the agencies Mike tried to start too early 02:06 Big agency vs. small agency and the 40-person sweet spot 03:46 Tavern's trajectory and the client roster 06:27 Why deep category expertise is really empathy 09:01 Staying hands-on as a founder and CCO 12:54 What "modern heritage" actually means 16:59 Writing the book and killing the gatekeeping 23:22 Launching HyperBlast and becoming his own client 32:16 The freedom and discipline of self-client work 35:51 Rapid fire and closing thoughts Mike Perry is founder and chief creative officer of Tavern, a Brooklyn-based global creative agency crafting timeless brands across food, beverage, hospitality, and beyond. With more than 15 years at the forefront of brand building, Mike’s earned a reputation as a certified creative powerhouse. His career includes leadership roles at top global studios such as Stranger & Stranger, Design Bridge, JKR, and Quaker City Mercantile, as well as media giants NBC Sports and TikTok. He is the creative mind behind some of the industry’s most recognizable rebrands for clients including Burger King, Budweiser, and Diageo. Driven by Tavern’s Modern Heritage philosophy, Mike blends legacy and innovation to create dynamic brands that flex with the lightning-fast pace of culture. In a world of trend-chasing, Tavern focuses on what lasts: commercially powerful, future-ready brands and ambitious experiences that resonate at every touchpoint. Tavern is behind the rebrand and restaurant design that reignited the American steakhouse Sizzler, as well as the custom-built bar for Beam Suntory’s Old Overholt. Other collaborators include Chick-fil-A, Old Grand-Dad, and New York City FC. Contact Mike at their agency website or @tavern.agency on the socials.

May 28, 2026Episode 15130 min

Ep. 151 – How Mark Homer Buys & Sells Agencies Without a Pile of Cash

Featuring: Mark Homer, Grandin Holdings In episode 151, I sit down with Mark Homer, founder of Grandin Holdings and a serial technology and marketing entrepreneur who's scaled and exited multiple agencies over more than 30 years at the intersection of marketing and tech. Mark and I demystify the world of M&A for agency owners — the headspace blockages, the myths about needing piles of cash, and the surprisingly creative ways deals actually get structured. We talk through his own exit in the legal marketing space, why your network is your richest source of deal flow, and how building real systems (including handing off sales) is what makes a business both sellable and worth keeping. If you've ever assumed M&A is too expensive, too complex, or only for the people making headlines, this conversation will change how you think. Mark shows that most deals are quiet, creative, and life-changing in ways that have nothing to do with a Forbes cover. Key Bytes • Buying out a partner is an M&A transaction — most owners have already done a deal without realizing it. • Your network is a bigger source of deal flow than any sourcing system; just tell people what you're looking for. • A lot of owners want to sell for reasons that have nothing to do with how your business is running. • Building systems and handing off sales is what makes a business both sellable and worth keeping. • Optionality means a profitable, well-run business you can sell — or happily hold onto. • Removing discount factors like client concentration and founder-led sales is how you capture maximum value. • Most deals are creative structures with little cash down, not the headline-grabbing windfalls everyone trumpets. • Time at your desk never equaled success — and now that everyone's virtual, the numbers are all that matter. Chapters 00:00 Welcome and Mark's M&A journey 01:34 Why buying out a partner is already an M&A deal 03:48 Inside Mark's legal marketing agency exit 05:30 Two LOIs and how the deals took shape 07:00 Your network is your real source of deal flow 10:45 Why owners sell for reasons that surprise you 11:25 Handing off sales by building a real process 15:38 Optionality: building a business you can sell or keep 19:51 Demystifying the mindset walls around M&A 22:19 Creative deal structures and the acqui-hire 27:10 Rapid-fire questions and closing thoughts Mark Homer is a Serial Technologist and Marketing Entrepreneur. He scaled and exited two agencies. On top of my agency experience, I have been at the intersection of marketing and technology for over 30 years. I was fortunate enough to be a consultant at IBM in 1995 when this little thing called the “World Wide Web” was starting out. This put me on projects building not just basic websites, but full online applications connecting to back-end systems for some of the largest brands. From there, my career included running R&D for a VC-backed company in San Francisco, Product Marketing Manager for a software company(with an exit), to helping start a company that upended the event-based marketing industry by introducing technology that helped drive people from live events to online properties that has now become an industry standard. I also wrote a couple of books along the way. The last agency I sold was in the Legal Marketing industry. Contact Mark on LinkedIn , his HoldCo website, or his agency