Agencies

About 24 episodes involve an agency, often as the founder’s backstory rather than the subject. Guests who run agencies praise them as the easiest business to start. Tim Stoddart says you need no capital and are profitable from the first client, and Charlie Chang recommends a service business as a first step. The most repeated complaint, in six episodes, is the ceiling: every few clients need another hire (Stoddart), Andre Haykal’s lead-gen agency stalled at 100K a month, Ivan Nedlekovski calls his seven-figure agency ‘capped’, and Zac says every owner wants more clients without more staff. Several founders burned out or grew to dislike the work: Hunter Hammonds took a six-month sabbatical after his eight-figure agency, and Adam Lyttle’s $300K-profit web agency collapsed when Wix and Squarespace undercut it and his debts came due. The upside is cash. Agencies fund other bets (the animation studio behind its founders’ shorts, Stoddart’s and Isenberg’s holding companies), and Jacky Chou’s agency kept him afloat when his content sites died. Pricing on value helps: Isenberg’s LCA averages $1.5M a year per client, and Mark Vassilevskiy’s design retainers average about 20K a month. Offshore talent (Sri Lanka, the Philippines) is a common delivery model.

Key points

• Agencies hit a scaling ceiling: headcount grows with clients — 6 episodes. (Tim Stoddart · Tim Stoddart (Apr 2024) ▶ 06:50) (Ivan Nedlekovski · Ivan Nedlekovski (Mar 2026) ▶ 14:31) (Andre Haykal Jr. · Andre Haykal Jr. (Jul 2024) ▶ 03:22) +3 more
• Many founders burned out on or came to dislike client work — 5 episodes. (Hunter Hammonds · Hunter Hammonds (Sep 2023) ▶ 04:06) (Adam Lyttle · Adam Lyttle (Feb 2025) ▶ 03:16) (Rob Hallam · Rob Hallam (Dec 2025) ▶ 06:42) +2 more
• Agency cash flow funds content, products and holding companies, and cushions shocks — 5 episodes. (unnamed guest · Henry Belcaster & Dylan Jardon (Oct 2023) ▶ 02:01) (Tim Stoddart · Tim Stoddart (Apr 2024) ▶ 01:45) (Greg Isenberg · Greg Isenberg (Jun 2024) ▶ 01:38) +2 more
• Offshore and remote talent is a common delivery model — 5 episodes. (Ian Myers · Ian Myers (Mar 2025) ▶ 02:27) (unnamed guest · Henry Belcaster & Dylan Jardon (Oct 2023) ▶ 03:46) (Alex Lieberman · Alex Lieberman (Nov 2023) ▶ 13:33) +2 more
• Price on value created, not hours; high retainers mean fewer clients — 3 episodes. (Greg Isenberg · Greg Isenberg (Jun 2024) ▶ 05:55) (Mark Vassilevskiy · Mark Vassilevskiy (Oct 2025) ▶ 02:29) (Alex Lieberman · Alex Lieberman (Nov 2023) ▶ 09:21)
• Niche down instead of offering everything to everyone — 3 episodes. (Ben Leavitt · Ben Leavitt (Mar 2026) ▶ 02:02) (Marcos Ruiz · Marcos Ruiz (Jun 2024) ▶ 01:36) (Karl Hughes · Karl Hughes (Oct 2023) ▶ 13:23)
• Easy to start: no capital, profitable from the first client — 2 episodes. (Tim Stoddart · Tim Stoddart (Apr 2024) ▶ 06:34) (Charlie Chang · Charlie Chang (Feb 2024) ▶ 10:05)
• Winning clients is easier than keeping them — 1 episode. (Alex Lieberman · Alex Lieberman (Nov 2023) ▶ 10:48)

Where guests agree

• Agencies are hard to scale beyond the founder’s and team’s time (Tim Stoddart · Tim Stoddart (Apr 2024) ▶ 06:50) (Ivan Nedlekovski · Ivan Nedlekovski (Mar 2026) ▶ 14:31) (Andre Haykal Jr. · Andre Haykal Jr. (Jul 2024) ▶ 03:22) +1 more

Where guests disagree

Is an agency a good first business? ⚠️

• Yes: low capital, profitable from client one, and it funds later bets (Tim Stoddart · Tim Stoddart (Apr 2024) ▶ 06:57) (Charlie Chang · Charlie Chang (Feb 2024) ▶ 10:05) (Jacky Chou · Jacky Chou (Mar 2026) ▶ 03:28)
• No: it caps you and delays higher-leverage product building (Ivan Nedlekovski · Ivan Nedlekovski (Mar 2026) ▶ 13:57) (Jacob Seeger · Jacob Seeger & Alex (Jun 2025) ▶ 02:49) (Adam Lyttle · Adam Lyttle (Feb 2025) ▶ 03:16)

Tactics

• Fund your creative work with a service business — An animation agency that matches animators with companies provides cash flow for 10 in-house animators making their own shorts. (unnamed guest · Henry Belcaster & Dylan Jardon (Oct 2023) ▶ 02:01)
• Start with an agency or service business — Learn a high-value skill in a few months and sell it as a service; it needs little capital. (Charlie Chang · Charlie Chang (Feb 2024) ▶ 10:05)
• Batch client content from a monthly interview — Interview each client once a month to get their thoughts out, then a ghostwriter and content strategist create 12 pieces of content per week per client. (Alex Lieberman · Alex Lieberman (Nov 2023) ▶ 09:59)

Stories & examples

• Web agency collapse: His website agency made around $300,000 profit a year at its peak, but he took on $200,000 of credit and car-loan debt for a lavish lifestyle. When Wix and Squarespace let people build a site for $10 a month, he could no longer charge $10,000; lowering prices and working more led to burnout, defaults and losing everything. Lesson: Debt-funded lifestyle and a disrupted service can collapse a business overnight. (Adam Lyttle · Adam Lyttle (Feb 2025) ▶ 03:16)
• Everest and burnout: He grew his agency Everest to eight figures working with brands like Nike and Samsung, but life became calls from VPs complaining; he burned out and took a six-month sabbatical doing zero work. Lesson: A big agency with constrained budgets made him hate the business; the break gave him the energy for Assembly. (Hunter Hammonds · Hunter Hammonds (Sep 2023) ▶ 04:06)
• Offering everything to everyone at the agency: His college-era agency tried to offer everything to everyone and he quickly learned that was a horrible way to run a business; software companies were most open to working with him. Lesson: Focus on a specific client type. (Ben Leavitt · Ben Leavitt (Mar 2026) ▶ 02:02)
• Middle-school montage editors became the team: Jake spent years making montage edits in middle school, discovered he loved video production, and the editors he made Phantom Forces montages with now work at Vector 3. Lesson: Exploring interests builds skills and relationships that can later become a business. (Jake · Cole & Ian (Apr 2025) ▶ 15:35)

Numbers

• LCA average price vs typical agency: 1.5 million/year vs 1,500/month USD (self-reported, approx.) (Greg Isenberg · Greg Isenberg (Jun 2024) ▶ 05:45)
• Agency monthly revenue: 80000 USD / month (self-reported, approx.) (Mark Vassilevskiy · Mark Vassilevskiy (Oct 2025) ▶ 01:05)
• Agency top-line revenue: 2000000 USD/year (‘bucks’) (self-reported, approx.) (Henry Belcaster · Henry Belcaster & Dylan Jardon (Oct 2023) ▶ 01:14)
• Web agency peak profit: 300000 USD/year (self-reported, approx.) (Adam Lyttle · Adam Lyttle (Feb 2025) ▶ 03:16)
• Price he charged per website vs Wix/Squarespace monthly price: 10,000 vs 10 USD (self-reported) (Adam Lyttle · Adam Lyttle (Feb 2025) ▶ 04:41)
• Agency revenue at its peak: 100000 currency unstated / month (self-reported, approx., currency unstated) (Andre Haykal Jr. · Andre Haykal Jr. (Jul 2024) ▶ 03:22)
• Vector 3 revenue so far this month, of which 20–25K from retainers: 36150 USD / month to date (self-reported) (Jake · Cole & Ian (Apr 2025) ▶ 17:04)
• MB Masters agency revenue and headcount: over seven figures; almost 20 revenue (currency unstated); full-time employees (self-reported, approx., currency unstated) (Ivan Nedlekovski · Ivan Nedlekovski (Mar 2026) ▶ 02:56)

Caveats & warnings

• Agencies are hard to scale: every few new clients require another hire. (Tim Stoddart · Tim Stoddart (Apr 2024) ▶ 06:50)
• Five million in revenue ‘sounds like a lot’ but is just a few clients at $1 million each. (Greg Isenberg · Greg Isenberg (Jun 2024) ▶ 07:14)
• Running a profitable agency paid well but had a hard ceiling; in hindsight focusing on it over AI products was probably wrong. (Ivan Nedlekovski · Ivan Nedlekovski (Mar 2026) ▶ 14:31)
• Perfectionism didn’t scale in a client agency. (Dustin Stout · Dustin Stout (Oct 2025) ▶ 01:39)

How much to trust this

• Evidence: 24 episodes, 26 independent speakers (repeat guests counted once; Pat and Gus counted as one voice).

Blueprints that use this

• Services → productised → product