About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined once again by Kristen Kelly to unpack one of the most persistent friction points inside service businesses: the handoff between sales and delivery. Drawing on her experience working with agencies of all sizes, Kristen breaks down the all too familiar pattern of projects kicking off with a signed contract but no real context, delivery teams guessing at what was promised, and loosely defined scopes that quietly erode margins. She and Marcel explore how misaligned incentives, weak scoping and pricing frameworks, and inconsistent data structures across tools turn every new project into a game of telephone for clients and a source of internal tension between sales, account management, and project teams. From practical fixes like sharing recorded sales calls and involving account managers in late stage sales conversations, to more structural shifts like separating price from scope and using reporting as a forcing function for better alignment, this episode gives agency leaders a clear roadmap to tighten handoffs, improve the client experience, and protect profitability.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined by long-time agency legal expert and Innovative Agency host Sharon Toerek to unpack one of the most urgent but confusing topics facing firms right now: the legal and business implications of AI. Drawing on decades of experience representing creative and digital agencies, Sharon breaks down the real risk areas around generative AI, from IP ownership and infringement to data privacy, contractor usage, and client expectations. Together, she and Marcel explore how fast-moving AI tools are colliding with slow-moving law, what little case law we do have, and why clear contracts, internal AI policies, and a basic grasp of tool terms are now table stakes for operators. They also zoom out to talk about how AI, economic volatility, and founder fatigue are reshaping the M&A market, and why building your own IP gives you options whether you want to sell, stay, or spin off your expertise. If you’re trying to embrace AI without stepping on a legal landmine — and future-proof the value of your agency in a shifting market — this conversation offers a pragmatic roadmap for managing risk while still moving fast.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined by Parakeeto’s own Kristen Kelly to unpack a client case study that will feel very familiar to any agency running on a small core team plus a big bench of contractors. Together, they walk through a video-heavy, just-under-$2M agency that looked “fine” on a cash-basis P&L some months, but was constantly scrambling to cover contractor costs and make sense of its margins. Kristen breaks down how cash-basis books, lumpy project work, over-servicing, weak time-tracking habits, and a half-implemented project management tool were all symptoms of a deeper issue: a business model and unit economics problem, not just an execution or tooling problem. Using Parakeeto’s assessment process and estimator framework, she shows how they reclassified contractors, clarified delivery margin and ABR targets, reset pricing and contracts, and aligned the PM tool after the model was clear. If you’ve ever wondered why tightening your processes and buying new software still hasn’t fixed your profitability, this episode offers a grounded roadmap to finally understand your business model, price work for a 70% delivery margin, and use flex labor without constantly feeling behind on cash.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined by M&A expert and Tower Partners principal Todd Taskey to unpack how agency owners can use mergers and acquisitions as a strategic evolution of their business rather than a final exit. Drawing on two decades of deals in the digital marketing space, Todd explains his “second bite” thesis: helping agencies doing roughly $1–5M in EBITDA sell a portion of their business, take meaningful cash off the table, and then ride a much bigger wave of growth alongside private equity or strategic buyers. Together, he and Marcel demystify investment banking, private equity, and how value is really created in these transactions—from multiple expansion and add-backs to the role of recurring revenue, retention, and EBITDA quality. Through concrete examples of Amazon, CRO, and full-service agencies, they show how the right partner can 10x enterprise value while actually making the founder’s life more fun, and why running a proper process (instead of just reacting to one offer) gives you free “consulting” on what drives your valuation. If you’ve ever wondered whether you should sell, when to start conversations, or how AI, efficiency, and margins are changing the game, this episode offers a practical, founder-friendly roadmap to thinking about M&A like a pro.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined once again by Carson Pierce to unpack one of the most misunderstood topics in agency operations: the relationship between cash flow and profitability. Drawing on real client examples from both ends of the spectrum (profitable but starved for cash vs. unprofitable with plenty of cash in the bank), Carson and Marcel break down why cash flow and profit are related but fundamentally different lenses on your business. Together, they explore how payment terms, deposits, debt, and growth rate can either mask or magnify underlying unit economics, and why agencies need both a clear accrual lens (delivery margin, EBITDA, overhead) and a cash lens (reserves, AR/AP, debt service) to stay out of trouble. From practical tactics to speed up cash collection and delay expenditures, to the traps of invoice factoring, revolving credit, and oversized cash reserves, this episode gives agency owners a grounded framework and concrete benchmarks for managing cash flow without losing sight of profitability.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined by longtime friend and Atarim CEO Vito Peleg to dig into one of the biggest but least measured drags on agency profitability: creative collaboration. Drawing on his journey from touring musician to agency owner to founder of a leading creative collaboration platform, Vito breaks down why working with clients and stakeholders can inflate delivery timelines by 500–700% and quietly wreck utilization, margins, and cash flow. He and Marcel unpack the real reasons projects stall — vague, text-based feedback on visual work, week-long clarification cycles, and slow starts that kill momentum — and then explore how AI is radically compressing build time while making collaboration the new primary cost center. From practical tactics like “two days and a weekend” framing and shipping a tiny first deliverable immediately, to a forward look at AI-driven, agentic creative teams that act like an infinitely scalable delivery bench, this episode gives agency leaders a clear, relatable roadmap to finish projects faster, protect profits, and ride the AI wave instead of drowning in it.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined once again by Kristen Kelly for a grounded, no-nonsense exploration of one of the most debated topics in the agency world: productized services versus custom work. Drawing from their work helping agencies price, scope, and operationalize delivery, Marcel and Kristen break down why neither model is inherently “better,” and why the right approach depends entirely on the value and risk profile of the problems you solve. They outline the real advantages of productization—like faster sales cycles, clearer packaging, and more predictable delivery—while also unpacking the hidden downsides, including rigidity, process debt, and misalignment with complex or evolving scopes. The conversation also highlights when custom work is not only appropriate but strategically advantageous, especially for higher-value, technically demanding engagements, and offers practical guidance on staffing, delivery margin, and pricing models such as abstracted time-and-materials. Whether you’re trying to increase profitability, streamline operations, or simply make sense of how to structure your services, this episode gives you a clear framework for choosing the model that actually fits your agency’s reality.

About this Episode In this Agency Profit Podcast episode, Marcel sits down with Dr. Matthew Jones, clinical psychologist, founder of Co-Founder Clarity, and author of The Co-Founder Effect, to unpack why co-founder relationships are uniquely complex and how to manage them with both an operational and interpersonal lens. They explore the biggest red flag—recurring disagreements that signal unspoken emotional dynamics—the difference between operational trust and personal trust, and practical structures like “containment,” written feedback protocols, and reflective dialogue to keep conflict from contaminating execution. Matt shares his Co-Founder Satisfaction Index and three-phase Conflict Navigation System, plus a cadence of co-founder syncs and “dates” to maintain alignment. They also cover how to handle amicable separations, including negotiation sequencing and the often-overlooked grief and emotional debt that surface when partnerships change, so agency leaders can protect both the business and the relationship.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel sits down with long-time Parakeeto consultant Carson Pierce to pull back the curtain on a real (anonymized) client assessment and show exactly how agencies can diagnose stubborn profit issues. Drawing on insights from 100+ assessments, Carson walks through the step-by-step process—starting with a simple benchmark “agency model,” then layering in messy P&L and time data, stakeholder interviews, and practical adjustments (like recognizing PM/account management as delivery, fixing time-tracking compliance, and correcting for prepaid revenue). Together, he and Marcel unpack the real culprits behind weak margins—top-heavy teams, bottlenecked delivery (hello, overworked design), and underpriced work—and why the right solution isn’t always “cut”; sometimes it’s “grow out of the constraint” (e.g., hire to relieve a bottleneck and raise utilization). Expect a clear roadmap you can reuse: focus on leading indicators first (model utilization, ABR/pricing, forecast vs. plan), then install cadence and coaching to turn clarity into action—and predictable profit.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel Petitpas sits down with Simo Lemhandes, founder and CEO of Folk CRM, to explore how AI is reshaping go-to-market strategy for small consulting firms and agencies. Drawing from his experience at McKinsey and Morgan Stanley, Simo shares how Folk was built as an AI-native CRM—a single source of truth across LinkedIn, WhatsApp, email, and calls—designed so the CRM works for you, not the other way around. Together, they unpack how social selling, account-based marketing, and personalization are converging to redefine sales for SMBs, why simplicity at the interface and complexity in the backend is the future of product design, and how AI enables “an army of assistants” that automate research, summaries, and follow-ups. The conversation expands to the platformization of SaaS, the shrinking but stronger boutique agency model, and why in the AI era, true expertise and point of view will command the highest value.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined by operations strategist Kristen Kelly to demystify annual and quarterly planning so it actually moves the business forward. Drawing on real client patterns and Parakeeto’s own cadence, they walk through a practical sequence—set a clear mission, anchor goals to measurable targets (AGI, delivery margin, overhead/AGI, operating profit), and use a simple, flexible model to pressure-test scenarios in real time. Together, they unpack why planning derails (static spreadsheets, arbitrary revenue targets, opinion-driven debates) and show how to flip it: start with the numbers, focus on a few OKR-style priorities, and over-communicate so the plan cascades into weekly execution. From running lightweight scorecards to using a FUD survey to surface misalignment, plus smarter budgeting and alternative ways to lift ABR beyond just raising prices, this episode gives agency leaders a clear, repeatable playbook to enter Q4 aligned, confident, and ready to ship.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel sits down with Stephen, CEO & Founder of Predictive ROI and author/podcaster with 30 years in the industry, to unpack how agencies can win in a low-trust, AI-noisy market by selling with authority. Stephen shares why trust now starts below zero and how to rebuild it by narrowing your niche, diagnosing real business problems, and codifying a named methodology that’s easy to teach and prove. He walks through Predictive ROI’s “trust architecture” sales process—Help Me Understand → Align & Prescribe → Meet & Greet → Conceptual Agreement—and shows how to turn that same methodology into a clear content blueprint (Grow, Nurture, Sell) that fuels consistent, long-form, repurposable content. Listeners will leave with a pragmatic playbook to attract right-fit clients, shorten sales cycles, and scale credibility through systems, data, and visible expertise.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel sits down with Parakeeto’s Kristen Kelly to tackle a common myth in agency ops: that a new project management or PSA tool will magically fix profit problems. Drawing on real client patterns, Kristen explains why tools help you do the work but rarely deliver trustworthy reporting on their own, and why agencies need to sequence the solution as Framework, Data, then Process. Together they unpack how to define the exact metrics you care about, build a simple ETL pipeline to clean and join time data with a payroll and project grid, and avoid the “precision trap” that crushes time-tracking compliance and erodes trust. If you want clearer utilization, margin, and forecasting without turning your PM tool into a Rube Goldberg machine, this conversation offers a practical path to reliable profit visibility and calmer delivery teams.

About This Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel sits down with Casey Brown—bestselling author of Fearless Pricing and founder of Boost Pricing—to tackle the real hurdle agencies face after deciding to charge more: actually winning and defending higher prices with confidence. Casey explains why pricing lives at the intersection of data and psychology, and why mindset and sales execution often drive most of the ROI. Together they walk through practical moves you can use right away, from running a quarterly pricing meeting that tracks leading indicators like win rate and planned margin, to segmenting price-increase communications for different client types, to preparing your team with role-plays, objection handling, and value-first messaging. They also dig into packaging and contract mechanics, when to use fixed fees or abstracted T&M, and how to avoid filling excess capacity with discounted work. If you want clearer pricing decisions, stronger sales conversations, and better client profitability, this conversation gives you a simple playbook to charge—and earn—what your work is worth.

About This Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined by longtime collaborator and agency operator Carson Pierce to tackle a deceptively simple headache for service firms, recognizing revenue in a way that actually matches the work getting done. They unpack cash versus accrual accounting in plain English, why cash makes month-to-month metrics useless on projects with deposits and lumpy delivery, and how to shift toward earned value so AGI, ABR, utilization, and profit reflect reality. Carson and Marcel walk through four practical ways to estimate percent complete, time versus timeline, time versus budget, burndown or story points, and a quick monthly PM check-in, plus when to phase projects to match real effort curves. They also flag the ripple effects for bookkeeping, from journal entries and deferred revenue to payroll timing and pass-through costs, along with simple cost and schedule performance indices that spotlight projects at risk. If you want cleaner monthly reporting, better forecasting, and fewer “why do the numbers look weird” conversations with your accountant, this episode gives you a clear playbook for aligning revenue recognition to delivery, without grinding your team to a halt.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined once again by operations expert Carson Pierce to unpack one of the most misunderstood but critical revenue models in the agency world: retainers. Together they trace the history of retainers from professional services to modern digital agencies and explain why the popular “bucket of hours” approach often creates hidden debt, cash flow strain, and operational chaos. Using Parakeeto’s pricing model quadrant, Marcel and Carson outline how agencies can match retainer structures to risk and value, whether that means time and materials, flat monthly deliverables, or performance-based fees. They also dig into account management nuances, from “yes and” flexibility with T&M to “yes but” tradeoffs in fixed scope and share profitability levers like the “3 Rs” (recapture, rescope, replace). For agency leaders who rely on recurring revenue but struggle with sustainability, this conversation offers clarity on how to structure retainers that protect margin, support proactive planning, and strengthen client relationships.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined once again by Carson Pierce to unpack one of the trickiest dynamics in running a service business: utilization. While many agency owners understand the surface-level math of underutilization, Carson and Marcel dig into the hidden and often overlooked costs that come with it: from over-servicing clients and bloated internal projects, to lost efficiency, disengaged team members, and a dangerous “new normal” of lower productivity. They also highlight the long-term financial and psychological impacts, such as reduced enterprise value, diminished cash reserves, and a leadership mindset that shifts from playing to win to playing not to lose. Through real-world analogies, candid lessons from Parakeeto’s own journey, and a clear framework for modeling utilization, this conversation gives agency leaders practical tools and perspective to spot and manage the true costs of low utilization before it quietly erodes profit, culture, and growth potential.

About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined by Mike Grinberg, founder of Proofpoint Marketing, to dig into one of the most misunderstood levers of agency success: positioning. Drawing on his experience helping boutique firms stand out against industry giants, Mike introduces a risk-based lens for positioning and shows why differentiation without de-risking often backfires. Together, he and Marcel unpack why many agencies grow “in spite of themselves” during boom times, only to stall when markets tighten, and how true positioning goes beyond messaging into operations, service design, and client experience. From Mike’s risk perception matrix to his framework for aligning functional, intellectual property, and promotional differentiation, this episode offers agency leaders a practical playbook for reducing buyer hesitation, escaping commoditization, and competing with confidence.