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