In this episode of Local Marketing Secrets, Dan Leibrandt interviews Robin Alex, one of the three co-founders of HighLevel (also known as GoHighLevel), a comprehensive sales and marketing platform tailored for agencies serving small businesses. As of 2024, HighLevel has over a $1.3-1.5 billion valuation, and Robin and his co-founders received the Southwest Award for Entrepreneur of the Year in 2024.

Dan and Robin explore Robin's journey before HighLevel, when he was running a local marketing agency serving about 200 customers with 25 people around the world. The biggest problem he faced was the disconnect between driving leads and actually closing sales. Agencies could bring attention to businesses, but there was always the gap where clients would say "you gave me a bunch of leads but no sales were actually coming in." This required duct-taping together 10-15 different tools through APIs and Zapier to manage the entire process.

The conversation covers how HighLevel grew so fast through being product-led rather than sales-led. Robin explains they didn't have a traditional distribution model - they just delivered such a great product that customers felt obligated to tell five other people. They would constantly check in with customers to ensure success, and when customers found success, they'd naturally ask "do you know other people that would like this?" The affiliate program emerged organically from customers requesting it, not as a planned strategy.

Robin dives deep into the power of the three co-founder partnership. Officially Sean is CEO, Robin is COO, and Varun is CTO, but they were "just forced to have titles" when the company got to a certain size. The real secret is they don't have boundaries or walls - there are landmines everywhere and whoever's available jumps on them. They all have different parts of the business they're passionate about, but that doesn't stop anyone from jumping in wherever needed.

Robin Alex, Co-Founder Of HighLevel:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinalex/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therobinalex/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexrobint/

HighLevel: https://www.gohighlevel.com/

Dan Leibrandt, Host of Local Marketing Secrets:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/DanLeibrandtOfficial  

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/danleibrandt/   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanLeibrandt   

Website: https://danleibrandt.com 

Local Marketing Secrets Platforms:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LocalMarketingSecrets 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1TCL0LhZbsJS6mzanqnnT1?si=224075c9fbda42f5  

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/local-marketing-secrets/id1741176782 

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0bb5254-5d6c-4940-8211-085157cc1239/local-marketing-secrets 

Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/The-Local-Marketeer/B0D1FCN28S?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp 

Podcast Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Robin Alex

05:35 The Birth of High Level

12:27 Finding Co-Founders and Building a Team

23:22 Leveraging AI in Business Operations

29:01 Core Principles for Scaling a Business

34:30 Challenges in Business Growth

38:08 Starting a Successful Business

40:56 Lessons Learned in Entrepreneurship

#gohighlevel #marketingagency #localmarketing #localbusiness