Agentic Shift

We talk to Chris Goward, manager director of Wider Funnel, a conversion rate optimization and experimentation agency founded in Vancouver. Chris tells us how he got fired from an agency for being too scientific, what he considers the five levers of success in CRO, why test results are often countchrierintuitive, why he believes in the hedgehog principle, why he looks for mavericks with grit when he is hiring team members, and he explains Thursday awesomes and awfuls.

John McKusick is founder of NextLeft, a digital agency based in San Diego. John tells us about his days on the high school surfing team what is was like running a digital agency in 1999, why he is making his agency a B corp, how he created amazing content for a client to get them ranked #1 for the competitive term, baseball bats, and how he came up with the name NextLeft (hint, it is surfing related!)

Jean Ginzburg is Founder of Alpenglo Digital. Jean tells us why she encourages team members to invest five hours a week in learning, why and how she responds to all client requests in 24 hours of less, how she went from being an international relations major to running an agency, and why she was recruited by the CIA out of college (and for the record, we aren’t 100% sure that she isn’t actually in the CIA!)

Matt Quirie is Founder of ROIDNA, a B2B digital marketing agency. Matt tells us why every hire - even his EA - is given classes in ad tech, how client focus drove massive growth, what he means by “bring your whole self” as a core value, why he believes content is the future of marketing, and how he manages campaigns with very long lead to close times.

Martin Woolley is CEO of The What’s Possible Group, a London-based marketing group focused on growing dynamic emerging brands. Martin tells why he embraces making mistakes and the power of black box thinking, why he likes the Goffee and Jones culture model, why he’d say no to Coca Cola (and most other large companies) as a client, why he believes agencies are in the client happiness business, why he emphasizes passion, inquisitiveness, caring and knowledge with his team, and he even recommends a great indie rock band that everything should be listening to!

Martin Woolley LinkedIn

What’s Possible Group Website

Black Box Thinking, a book by Matthew Syed

The Hold Steady Band

Soso Sazesh is the founder of Growth Pilots, a performance marketing agency he sold to Wpromote in 2019. Soso tells us why most agencies aren't equipped to work with startups, why it's hard to scale an agency with startup clients, how firing one of his largest clients created a great culture, what he means by people, partnership, and adaptability, why performance marketers are convinced branding doesn't work and vice versa, and what it was like to sell his 20-person agency to a 600-person agency.

Agatha Chang is co-founder of GRAIN Group, a 40-person data-driven performance agency. Agatha tells us what Type 2 fun means and why she looks for it in hiring, how a brainstorming session about vodka led to the founding of the agency, the importance of architecting data when delivering reports to clients, why she is the first interviewer for every new hire, why she's built a culture that emphasizes collaboration over bosses, and the true story of the indie rock song Agatha Chang by the Eels.

Agatha Chang LinkedIn

GRAIN Group Website

Winning Now, Winning Later: How Companies Can Succeed in the Short Term While Investing for the Long Term, a book by David M. Cote.

The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value, a book by Frederick Reichheld

Prashant Puri is co-founder of AdLift, a 120-person performance agency. Prashant tells us how he signed PayPal as a client in his first year of business, why he interviews 75 people before he makes a hire, why focus is key to agency success, and why he emphasizes empathy and humility as core values.

Prashant Puri LinkedIn

AdLift Website

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, a book by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters

Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't, a book by Simon Sinek

Stephanie Harris is CEO of PartnerCentric, a 60 person affiliate marketing agency. Stephanie tells us the difference between being an agency COO and agency CEO, why her top core value is professional intimacy (and what exactly that means), how to measure speed to value for customers, why she sees negative feedback as a gift, and how to identify people who want to work remote for the wrong reasons.

Links

Stephanie Harris LinkedIn

PartnerCentric Website

Mike Nelson is co-founder of Four15 Digital, a performance marketing agency with offices in Long Beach and Walnut Creek, California. Mike tells us how he went from being a high school math teacher to an SEM expert, why he loves auditing potential clients’ accounts, why he values mindset diversity in this company, how COVID has made people more comfortable with agencies, and why he thinks client relationships would be better if clients that sometimes presented to agencies instead of vice versa. 

Links

Mike Nelson LinkedIn

Four15 Digital Website

Purple Cow, a book by Seth Godin