Lead Like You Aren't There

Founder Mode Is All The Rage

You’ve heard about it - Silicon Valley CEOs getting rid of senior employees and going “founder mode” - where they have their hands in everything…

That might work in tech businesses where you are building product - but in the world of agencies, “founder mode” really just means put everything on your plate and generate misery in every direction. You need to lead like you aren’t going to EVER go into founder mode.

FOUNDER MODE AIN’T IT

Your Agency’s Biggest Growth Problem? It’s YOU.

You have to learn to lead a team - because you CAN’T do everything - sales, marketing, client delivery, account management - it’s too much and your biz grinds to a halt.

Here’s a harsh truth: 

Most agencies aren’t growing—not because they aren’t good at what they do, but because they’re stuck in a cycle where the CEO is a bottleneck for EVERYTHING.

And the data from my WTF Agency Assessment proves it:

📉 Out of all the agencies I assessed:

• Only 4 are bringing in more new clients than they’re losing (most are flat).

• Only 1 of those 4 is generating enough to hit its growth goals.

So, WTF is this happening?

🔍 I dug deeper, and it turns out…

• Less than 10% of agencies have a sales process where the CEO isn’t critical.

• Less than 30% of agencies have marketing that doesn’t require the CEO’s constant involvement.

• Less than 40% of agencies can handle account management without the CEO in the mix.

• Less than 50% of agencies can deliver client work without the CEO being hands-on.

This is why growth stalls. Agencies in founder mode aren’t built to scale—they’re built to stay dependent on the founder.

You want to get to the point where:

✅ Your agency can bring in clients without you selling every deal.

✅ Marketing runs without your personal involvement in every campaign.

✅ Account management doesn’t rely on you to keep clients happy.

✅ Your team can execute without needing your approval.

If you want to break the cycle, you need to stop being the center of everything.

A couple of suggestions:

1. Take The WTF Assessment: It’s free and it will give you REAL insight into what you need to prioritize to allow your agency to grow.

2. Check Out GEN+: This is a management framework disguised as a lead gen & demand gen workflow that is built on the total opposite of founder mode.

3. Come To WTF Friday: Every Friday afternoon come and ask questions about agencies, growth, management, whatever…

News & Notes

A Couple of Shoutouts to People/Tools Who I Think Are Awesome:

1. DiviUp Agency: I’ve been working with Rachel Woods and her team for a bit - and they make AI stuff easy and fun. Also, check out their abfab AI community, The AI Exchange.

2. Copy.ai Free Tools: CopyAI is an enterprise AI platform - but they have a few free tools that you 100% need to check out:

   1. Account Plan Builder: Slap in your URL & your target client URL & this spits out sales idea and angles.

   2. Contact Intelligence: Deep dive into what makes your target decision makers tick (based on what they say and write)

3. ChatGPT: If everyone on your team doesn’t have a ChatGPT Plus account, you are being penny wise and pound foolish.

4. Carson & Doyle: This GenZ creative agency had a live chat during this week’s Super Bowl. Here are their takeaways.

5. Kendrick F’ing Lamar: Thank goodness the NFL got rid of the end zone markers proclaiming “End Racism” to assuage certain sensitive office holders. While I am sure that almost all of the symbolism, imagery and cultural references went over that official’s head, Lamar’s halftime show was a cultural statement that was profound. He’s got Grammys, and a Pulitzer Prize - this halftime show put the issues and Lamar’s artistry in a completely different light (even without the Drake diss). Special shoutout to my young 20s kids who got me up to speed on the Drake stuff, the significance of Serena doing the crip walk, while I talked to them about Gil Scott-Heron, Malcolm X, Black Panthers, The 1619 Project and systemic racism. Best damn football I’ve ever watched - and apparently there was a game on either side of Kendrick’s Guernica.

Thanks to Our Sponsor - The Rundown AI

Learn how to make AI work for you

AI won’t take your job, but a person using AI might. That’s why 1,000,000+ professionals read The Rundown AI – the free newsletter that keeps you updated on the latest AI news and teaches you how to use it in just 5 minutes a day.

Sign up to start learning.

Our sponsorships are ads (obviously). But some of the companies or services linked in our content may pay us a minimal commission if you buy something from them. Potential payment is never a factor in what we link to, and we have direct experience with every company or service we mention in our content.