What buyers really look for in agencies - Jeremy Williams, The Agency Coach
Jeremy Williams sold his B2B marketing agency for £11 million, then spent three years in the earn-out trenches. Now he coaches agencies toward exits of their own - and he's distilled everything into seven principles. Revenue growth, profit growth, succession planning, blue chip clients, proprietary IP, transparent numbers, and that cherry on top. This Study Edition reveals the framework buyers actually use when they write the check.
"I hated marketing. I hated sales. Then I found agencies" - Rob Sherwood, The Digital Maze
Rob Sherwood spent years certain he knew what he wanted - until every door he chose led nowhere. Marketing placement? Boring. Telecoms sales? Dry. Amazon FBA? Catastrophic. Then a friend offered an agency role he'd already turned down once, and everything finally made sense. This episode proves the best career moves are often the ones you don't plan.
"It wasn't that it wasn't enough. It was just too much" - Byron de Carvalho, Be Guided Agency
How do you walk away from 350 employees and a JSE listing to start over solo? Byron de Carvalho from Be Guided had the dream exit - then abandoned it. "It wasn't that it wasn't enough. It was just too much." This episode asks: when do you walk away from success? And how do you build a business that serves your life instead of consuming it?
When You Message Your Dream Client and They Actually Hire You - Daisy Whitehouse, Down at the Social
What if landing your dream client was as simple as being honest about wanting to work with them? Daisy Whitehouse proved it works. One DM to her dream client led to the Boddingtons campaign years later. Thirteen years running Down at the Social taught her that PR with purpose beats PR for PR's sake - and challenging clients matters more than saying yes to revenue.
"We build great websites" ...it isn't enough - Adam Shallcross, Cogworks
What happens when you spend 18 years building brilliant websites, become an Umbraco Platinum Partner, help grow a global community from 70 people to thousands, and then realise nobody cares because every other agency is saying the same thing?
Nobody's talking about humans - James Holden, Holden Thinking
Everyone's obsessing about AI transformation… Which tools to use, which processes to automate, which competitors are moving faster…. But James Holden saw what everyone else was missing: it's not about the technology. It's about helping humans flourish alongside it.
“You were in my favourite band” - and now… Simon Douglass, Curated & Tom Hastings, Beta Shift
"My favourite band" turned into "my business partner." Simon Douglass and Tom Hastings approach AI training with completely opposite styles, experimental versus structured, practical versus theoretical. They've never disagreed because productive tension creates better outcomes than comfortable consensus.
Why painful calls become powerful strategy - Dan Hodges, Conscious
What happens when you've been the client avoiding account management calls because they're painful, then you join the agency and find yourself delivering the exact same calls you used to dread? Most people would defend the system. Dan Hodges changed it completely.
Imposter syndrome, gaslighting, and the power of saying no - Aggie Meroni, White Bee Digital
"The more you push back, the more respect you get." Aggie Meroni built White Bee Digital on a counterintuitive truth: boundaries don't lose clients, they earn trust. Why she caps clients at ten, fires anyone who touches the ad account without permission, and refuses to perform success when the reality is crying business owners and cash flow anxiety.
Not just a hire: What culture fit reveals that job titles don’t - Sarah White, Smile Digital Talent
Sarah White spent 25 years in recruitment building a reputation on honesty that costs placements. Her biggest eureka moment? Realising she'd been driving other people's businesses like her own long enough to actually own one. Smile Digital Talent operates on relationships, not transactions.
People Over Projects: A Client Services Director on Boundaries, Creativity and What Really Matters - Stef Lait, OST
Boundaries aren't rigid rules, they're conscious choices. Stef Lait reveals how she protects creative space at OST while managing relentless client demands, why "can this meeting be an email?" respects time rather than avoiding work, and how prioritising people over projects paradoxically delivers better outcomes.
The invisible work that holds everything together - Noémie El-Maawiy, Minty
Operations managers are translators—speaking both the language of creative teams and business metrics. Noémie El-Maawiy reveals how she's transforming Minty Digital from operational chaos to sustainable growth, why structure doesn't kill creativity (it protects it), and what happens when founders escape firefighting mode.
“Don’t work with D!ckhe@d$”: Building a business that lasts - Brant McNaughton, Ecce
"You can control your reactions" — Brant McNaughton's approach to walking away from toxic clients while never burning bridges. After 26 years building Ecce, he's learned that protecting team morale matters more than portfolio prestige. Why the best business decision might be the client you refuse.
From guesswork to growth: How data visibility transformed a professional services firm - Matt Ville and Laura Hudspith, Hiyield
When Hiyield prepared for Employee Ownership Trust transition, they discovered an uncomfortable truth: you can't ask 25 people to think like owners when only three people see the numbers. Matt Ville and Laura Hudspeth share the messy reality of implementing data visibility while developers just wanted to "crack on with the work"—and why they wish they'd started sooner.
Joy, judgement & the AI jungle - Sharon Austin, PKF Francis Clark
In this thought-provoking second episode of That Moment, host Helga Saraiva from Supo tackles the question keeping every professional services leader awake: how do we stay relevant when AI can deliver technical answers faster than humans? Meet Sharon Austin, Partner at PKF Francis Clark, as she reveals why the future belongs to those who can read what clients aren't saying - and why human judgment becomes more valuable, not less, in an automated world.
Don’t blame the band, fix the rhythm - Lee Warcup, Beat Agency
In this transformative third episode of That Moment, host Helga Saraiva from Supo confronts the operational nightmare silently killing agency growth: talented teams drowning in firefighting instead of building for scale. Meet Lee Warcup, founder of Beat and operational transformation expert, as he reveals how agencies can break free from chaos and build growth-ready operations without hiring anyone new.
Margins & mic drops: Performance, profit and the power of stand-up - Jeremy Williams, Stratus
In this game-changing second episode of That Moment, host Helga Saraiva from Supo tackles the brutal reality every business leader faces: doubling revenue while profit barely moves. Meet Jeremy Williams, founder of Stratus Coach and exited agency owner, as he reveals his revolutionary Five Levers model that delivers 50% greater profitability without hiring anyone new.
The push and pull of innovation - Mark Burgess & Mark Hewitson, Ensors
In this explosive debut episode of That Moment, host Helga Saraiva from Supo dives deep into the messy reality of driving change in professional services. Meet Mark Burgess and Mark Hewitson, two leaders from Ensors who are transforming how a traditional 300-person, six-office firm actually operates - not just in theory, but in real time, with real resistance.