Founder Files

He’s generated over a billion dollars in online revenue and worked behind the scenes with some of the biggest brands in direct response.

Today’s guest is Stefan Georgi — a world-class copywriter turned operator, now building businesses across AI, SaaS, eCommerce, and info products.

In this episode, we unpack:

🔥 How Stefan is building full-stack, agentic marketing systems — from ad creative to landing pages to CRO — all powered by AI.

🔥 Why the future of business is operators directing AI systems — not teams.

🔥 How he went from broke, writing $149 sales letters to building and exiting companies.

🔥 Why most founders get stuck in client work — and how to shift into building assets that compound.

🔥 How he evaluates opportunities, partners, and businesses when building toward a nine-figure outcome.

If you want to understand where marketing, AI, and online business are actually going — and how to position yourself ahead of it — this episode is for you.

Chapters:

00:00 - How AI is replacing entire marketing teams

02:22 - Why Stefan went all-in on AI before ChatGPT

06:25 - Inside Stefan’s AI system (“Stefan Brain”)

09:08 - Turning 7 years of data into a competitive moat

10:30 - How AI learns from winning vs losing ads

12:19 - How to get started with AI (even if you’re behind)

15:24 - The biggest mistake: chasing every new tool

17:23 - What happens to marketing teams in an AI world

20:51 - Why agencies still have a massive opportunity

22:35 - Why founder-led brands will dominate in the AI era

24:36 - Staying updated in the fast-paced AI landscape

26:39 - From poker tables to copywriting (Stefan’s story)

29:04 - The poker table moment that changed everything

33:27 - How Stefan became a copywriter overnight

35:11 - From broke to first $298 online

39:19 - Scaling from freelance to agency

40:42 - Why he stopped liking the agency model

43:06 - Agencies vs building your own businesses

45:42 - “Agencies make $50K–$100K/month… but…”

47:04 - Should you focus on one thing or many?

50:39 - Stefan’s real superpower (zero → one)

52:46 - Why network and personal brand change everything

54:14 - Inside Copy Accelerator (CA Pro)

59:23 - How he decides when to exit a business

01:02:45 - Why he would never stop working (even for $10B)

01:04:55 - Product-market fit vs marketing

01:07:24 - Info vs physical products in 2026

01:10:26 - How to build winning offers and funnels

01:11:42 - How to scale: angles, audiences, positioning

01:13:43 - AOV vs LTV: what actually matters now

01:15:53 - What Stefan is building next

Traditionally, agencies run on 30–50% margins — but in 2026, AI-native agencies are hitting 70–90%.

Today’s guest is Romans Ivanov — founder of Big Growth Group, where he helps agencies doing $1–5M a year fix their operations, remove founder dependency, and scale without chaos.

In this episode, we unpack:

🔥 What it actually means to become an AI-native agency — and how that unlocks massive margin expansion.

🔥 Why most agencies get stuck at $1–5M

🔥 The hidden bottlenecks inside agency businesses — from team structure to workflows to decision-making.

🔥 How to remove yourself as the founder from day-to-day delivery without the business falling apart.

If you want to build an agency that scales without you — and understand how AI is reshaping the entire model — this episode is for you.

Chapters:

00:00 - Why AI-native agencies are hitting 70–90% margins

02:11 - The shift happening across the agency industry

05:53 - What an AI-native agency actually looks like

07:28 - How agencies are currently using AI (and where they’re stuck)

09:19 - Why 95% of agencies don’t have real workflows

10:26 - How to “download” your team’s brain into systems

12:03 - The first KPI to track: time, capacity, and utilization

14:43 - Understanding team efficiency and delivery output

19:03 - Becoming AI-native as a founder (not just the team)

20:31 - Tool orchestration and building AI-powered workflows

23:59 - Implementing AI into real agency operations

28:20 - Restructuring your team for AI adoption

33:46 - Romans’ backstory: from factory jobs to entrepreneurship

37:58 - Building multiple businesses before finding agency success

39:25 - The moment agency life stopped making sense

41:00 - What actually drives Romans today (beyond money)

44:54 - Building a self-sustaining business

46:45 - Why most agencies get stuck at $1–5M

48:22 - The real dynamics behind agency growth

53:50 - Balancing innovation and scaling

56:38 - How to set the right growth targets

01:01:03 - Lifestyle vs ambition: choosing your path

01:05:29 - The psychology keeping founders stuck in the weeds

01:08:05 - The hiring mistakes that keep founders stuck

01:10:49 - Fixing operations: audits, workflows, and team structure

01:15:50 - What “good operations” actually looks like

01:19:20 - Hiring A-players and building a recruitment engine

01:25:25 - Using AI to evaluate candidates and remove bias

01:28:02 - Incentives: profit pools and performance bonuses

01:30:09 - Training systems for agency teams (without L&D bloat)

01:32:11 - Why every founder needs a board or external advisor

She helps scale high-ticket funnels to eight figures a year.

And has worked with billion-dollar brands like Wayflyer, Linktree, and Kogan.

Today’s guest is Alisha Conlin-Hurd, founder of Persuasion Experience — a performance marketing agency specialising in paid traffic funnels for high-ticket offers.

In this episode, we unpack:

🔥 The funnel structures that actually convert in 2026

🔥 How to diagnose exactly where a funnel is leaking revenue

🔥 The confirmation system she uses to drive 90%+ show rates on booked calls.

🔥 How Alisha approaches market research before spending a single dollar on ads.

🔥 And how she tests creative at scale using her “5 Types of Ads” framework.

If you want to scale high-ticket funnels with paid traffic — without relying on hacks, hope, or hype — this episode is for you.

Chapters:

00:00 - Scaling high-ticket funnels to eight figures

01:50 - How Alisha got into online marketing and lead gen

05:41 - Learning the fundamentals of lead generation

07:45 - Launching Persuasion Experience

10:15 - The biggest mistake agencies make with client selection

12:45 - Why Alisha focuses only on inbound paid acquisition

14:48 - Lead offers vs sales offers explained

17:54 - Structuring offers that actually convert

21:54 - Why discounts often destroy authority

24:00 - Diagnosing where funnels leak revenue

26:32 - The confirmation system behind 90%+ show rates

28:52 - Why agencies lose sales before the call even starts

30:37 - Why market research determines funnel success

33:55 - Funnel structures that actually work (VSL, webinar, book-a-call)

35:32 - Why most marketers write terrible VSLs

37:08 - Simplicity vs over-engineered funnels

43:25 - Paid traffic channels that work best

45:15 - When to diversify beyond Meta ads

46:49 - Why organic content still matters for lead gen

51:59 - The 5 types of ads framework

54:41 - Creative diversity in the Meta ads era

57:05 - Using AI tools to generate new ad angles

59:01 - How Alisha approaches funnel split testing

01:01:40 - Scaling funnels and diversifying strategies

01:06:28 - Lead nurturing strategies that increase conversions

01:10:01 - Why Alisha avoids integrating sales services

01:11:57 - Funnel economics and upsell strategies

01:13:45 - The future vision for Persuasion Experience

01:16:17 - The team behind Persuasion's success

He built an agency.

Then stepped out of it.

And now he’s building a holding company with the goal of hitting nine figures.

Today’s guest is Peter Kang, founder of agency holding company Barrel. He’s also the author of “Holdco: The Practical Guide for Entrepreneurs to Structure and Scale a Holding Company.”

In this episode, we unpack:

🔥 How Peter transitioned from founder-operator to holding company builder.

🔥 What the structure of a truly healthy agency looks like — from margins to management layers.

🔥 How he sources, analyses, and structures acquisition deals.

🔥 And why stepping out of day-to-day operations is the real unlock for long-term scale.

If you want to understand how to turn agencies into assets — and build a portfolio that compounds toward nine figures — this episode is for you.

Chapters:

00:00 – From agency founder to holding company builder

01:59 – The story behind writing his book

04:54 – Peter’s background and early entrepreneurial path

08:30 – Stepping away from day-to-day operations

12:42 – Why founders become the bottleneck

14:15 – Building management layers that scale

17:37 – Accountability structures inside a holding company

19:43 – Hiring externally vs promoting internally

21:32 – Managing CEO transitions after acquisitions

24:35 – What a healthy agency P&L actually looks like

30:01 – Understanding churn in agency models

34:19 – Reinvesting profits to grow agencies

38:36 – Lead generation channels that work

41:28 – Building partnerships with other agencies

45:08 – Diversifying channels vs staying focused

47:06 – Why some agencies decentralize marketing

48:14 – Value-based pricing strategies

53:31 – The airline pricing analogy

55:40 – Single-service vs full-service agency models

59:46 – Acquisition strategies in the eCommerce space

01:03:14 – Preparing agency portfolios for the AI shift

01:05:22 – Why Peter moved from startups to acquisitions

01:08:56 – How he sources and evaluates acquisition deals

01:12:15 – Red flags that kill acquisition deals

01:15:03 – The thought process behind structuring deals

01:18:11 – Advice for agency founders who want to exit

01:21:32 – Scaling toward a nine-figure vision

01:24:47 – The role of mission and values

01:27:03 – The best way founders should reinvest in themselves