Agency Forward

Hosted by Chris DuBois

Business Entrepreneurship Marketing

Website RSS feed

Episodes

123

Latest episode

Aug 2026

Language

About the show

Agency Forward explores the future of agencies as tech and AI drive down the cost of tactical deliverables. Topics include building competent teams, developing strategic offers, systemizing your business, and more. New episodes delivered every Tuesday.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

August 18, 2026Episode 12142 min

121 Bryan McAnulty: Run AI Agents Like an RTS, Not a Chatbot

Hey everyone, today I'm joined by Bryan McAnulty . Bryan is the founder of LatchLoop, where he and his team run AI agents at serious scale, something like 3 billion tokens a month, to get more done without burning out the humans running them. I wanted him on the show because most agency owners are still treating AI agents like a chatbot: you sit there, you watch it work, you prompt it again. Bryan's take is that the mental model is wrong, and once you start running agents like a real-time strategy game instead, everything about how much leverage you get out of AI changes. In this episode, we discuss: The three types of agent workflows: background loops, massive-scope tasks, and tight feedback-loop work How agents went from handling 20-30 minute tasks a year ago to running for hours or days now How to avoid the AI burnout he saw hit developers earlier this year And more... You can learn more about Bryan on LinkedIn . And don't forget to check out LatchLoop . ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgency.Community. ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.

August 11, 2026Episode 12031 min

120 Park Howell: Why AI Makes Storytelling a Bigger Moat

Hey everyone, today I'm joined by Park Howell . Park is a storytelling coach and consultant who helps brands turn their story into a measurable growth engine, using frameworks like And-But-Therefore to make an often-dismissed "soft skill" produce hard, provable ROI. I wanted him on the show because agencies are about to get hit with a wave of AI-generated content that all sounds the same, and Park's argument is that storytelling isn't the thing AI commoditizes, it's the thing that becomes your biggest moat once everyone else is producing generic copy. In this episode, we discuss: Why AI turns storytelling into a bigger competitive advantage, not a smaller one The difference between an intuitive storyteller and an intentional one The And-But-Therefore framework and how it plays to the brain's pattern-seeking, decision-making wiring And more... You can learn more about Park Howell on LinkedIn . And check out StoryCycle Genie for yourself. ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgency.Community. ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.

August 4, 2026Episode 11932 min

119 Rich Matukaitis: The Agencies Winning With AI Aren't Cutting Corners

Hey everyone, today I'm joined by Rich Matukaitis . Rich is a partnerships lead at Rebuy, the ecommerce personalization platform for Shopify brands. He spent four years at Shopify before joining Rebuy, and got his start as a business owner himself, building an online booking system as a hairdresser. I wanted Rich on because he works with hundreds of agencies and thousands of brands through Rebuy's partner program, which gives him a front-row seat to which agencies are actually pulling ahead with AI and which ones are getting left behind chasing shortcuts. In this episode, we discuss: Why the agencies winning with AI are using it to add capacity, not cut headcount How to stay human and keep your critical thinking sharp when everyone has access to the same tools Why trust, not claims of being "the best," is becoming the real currency for agencies And more... You can learn more about Rich Matukaitis on LinkedIn . Also, talk to Rich about Rebuy's Partner Program . ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgencyOS.com/Community . ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.

July 28, 2026Episode 11839 min

118 Nicholas Petroski: The Real Reason Digital Agencies Don't Scale

Hey everyone, today I'm joined by Nicholas Petroski . Nicholas is the founder of Promethean Research and has been researching the agency industry since 2015. He's surveyed and consulted with thousands of agency leaders and built benchmarking reports on margins, operating models, and specialization trends. Where most of us are working from anecdote — our own client base, our own network — Nicholas has the actual industry-wide data. I wanted Nicholas on because he can back up (or challenge) a lot of the advice floating around the agency space with real numbers, not just what sounds right on LinkedIn. Plus, his studies are legitimately great and surface a lot of awesome insights. In this episode, we discuss: Why "scale" and "growth" are different things, and why confusing them sets agencies up for a rough time Why roughly 86% of agencies now identify as specialists Why contractor-heavy staffing has protected agency margins over the past few years despite falling revenue And more... You can learn more about Nicholas Petroski on LinkedIn . ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgencyOS.com/Community . ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.

July 21, 2026Episode 11737 min

117 Mike Montague: How to Stop Making AI Marketing Slop

Hey everyone, today I'm joined by Mike Montague . Mike is the founder of Avenue 9 and the host of the Human First AI Marketing podcast and YouTube channel. He got his start in radio and sales training before running marketing for a large international company with over 200 offices across 29 countries, and now works with agency owners and business leaders on how to actually use AI in marketing. I got to meet Mike at a conference we spoke at earlier this year, and I loved the way he talked about AI. He's tested a real, practical framework for where AI belongs in the content and marketing process and where it doesn't. This, for me, is a relief, because it's not just theory about the future of AI marketing. In this episode, we discuss: Why most AI-generated marketing content turns into "slop," and the strategy work that has to happen first to avoid it The four buckets for deciding what AI should and shouldn't touch in your business How "gifts and invitations" marketing works even better with AI-enabled personalization And more... You can learn more about Mike Montague on LinkedIn . ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgencyOS.com/Community . ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.

July 14, 2026Episode 11640 min

116 Emily Hatton: How to Build an AI Operating System for Your Agency

Hey everyone, today I'm joined by Emily Hatton . Emily is the founder of AI in Agencies and also runs the Female Founder AI Space. Before founding her own practice, Emily was Head of Operations at Webtopia, a digital advertising agency — which means her perspective on AI comes from having actually run agency operations, not just consulting from the outside. Emily built a proprietary AI OS framework that embeds AI into operations, services, and culture. I wanted Emily on because most agency founders are either ignoring AI or experimenting with it randomly. Emily's approach is different: systematic, ops-first, and built around making the whole business AI-ready before any tool gets installed. In this episode, we discuss: The biggest AI mistake agency founders are making right now What AI-ready operations look like before any tool gets installed How to build team capability with AI instead of replacing it And more... You can learn more about Emily on LinkedIn . ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgencyOS.com/Community . ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.

July 7, 2026Episode 11541 min

115 Dustin Riechmann: The Five Ps of Profitable Podcast Guesting

Hey everyone, today I'm joined by Dustin Riechmann . Dustin runs Seven Figure Leap, where he helps agency owners, coaches, and consultants turn podcast guesting into an actual growth channel instead of a box to check. He's coached hundreds of people through the process of getting on the right shows, and he's also on the other side of the mic as a host himself, so he sees the good and bad pitches from both directions. I wanted him on the show because (1) I really like Dustin. He's a genuinely great person. And (2) I get a flood of guest pitches every week and almost all of them are terrible. Dustin's actually built a repeatable system for doing this well, and it goes way deeper than "send more emails." In this episode, we discuss: Why generic cold pitches and podcast booking agencies rarely land, and what a good pitch actually sounds like Why treating podcast guesting like account-based marketing beats playing a numbers game How to turn a single strong appearance into a call to action people actually remember And more... You can learn more about Dustin Riechmann on LinkedIn . And get his playbook at 7FigureLeap.com/playbook ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgencyOS.com/Community . ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.

June 30, 2026Episode 11437 min

114 Tom Lee: How to Turn GEO Into a New Agency Revenue Stream

Hey everyone, today I'm joined by Tom Lee . Tom is the CEO and co-founder of Visto , a VC-backed platform built specifically for agencies to track and improve their clients' visibility inside AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews. Tom came from product roles at Apple, Walmart, and Lockheed Martin before building Visto. I wanted Tom on because GEO is becoming a real service line — but there's a lot of noise and very little substance. Tom cuts through the speculation with actual data on what moves the needle. In this episode, we discuss: What we actually know moves GEO (versus what's speculation) Whether to bolt GEO on, bundle it in, or reposition the whole retainer Which industries are getting AI citations fastest right now And more... You can learn more about Tom on LinkedIn . ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgencyOS.com/Community . ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.

June 23, 2026Episode 11339 min

113 Roger Nairn: How to Build a Branded Podcast That Actually Works

Hey everyone, today I'm joined by Roger Nairn . Roger is the founder of JAR , a branded podcast agency that has spent a decade helping enterprise brands like Amazon and Wharton create shows that actually do something. JAR recently rebranded from "JAR Audio" to "JAR Podcast Solutions" — a shift that reflects how much the industry has evolved. I wanted Roger on because branded podcasts are having a moment, but most of them are terrible. Roger has a point of view on why that is, and more importantly, what it takes to build one that works for both the brand and the audience. In this episode, we discuss: Why most branded podcasts are glorified press releases nobody listens to How JAR's advertising background shapes how they build shows How to prove podcast ROI to a CMO who only thinks in MQLs And more... You can learn more about Roger on LinkedIn . ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgencyOS.com/Community . ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.

June 16, 2026Episode 11235 min

112 Davidson Wicker: Why Your Project Management Tool Isn't Working

Hey everyone, today I'm joined by Davidson Wicker . Davidson is a work management expert and the CEO of Ravetree , helping agencies and professional services firms get more out of their project management systems. He's seen the same patterns play out across hundreds of teams: the tool gets implemented, nobody adopts it properly, and the founder ends up back in spreadsheets within six months. I wanted Davidson on because most agency owners have a project management tool. Very few have a project management culture. There's a difference, and that gap is where most delivery problems live. In this episode, we discuss: The number one work management mistake agencies repeat over and over What agencies considering a new PM tool get wrong before they buy How to enforce consistent usage across a team without micromanaging And more... You can learn more about Davidson on LinkedIn . ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgencyOS.com/Community . ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.