Agency Startups

JD Graffam built SimpleFocus as a design agency serving enterprise clients like Oracle and the U.S. Air Force. Rather than building SaaS products from scratch, he acquired six struggling SaaS businesses with loyal customer bases, fixed their technical debt, and improved support—doubling recurring revenue across his portfolio without spending on marketing. His strategy of acquiring underperforming products with strong retention and managing them through his agency team proved more effective than traditional SaaS launches.

Siege Media is a 110-person SEO-focused content marketing agency founded by Ross Hudgens that has grown over nine years serving enterprise clients like Asana, QuickBooks, and Norton. The agency specializes in recurring revenue-based services around search and content marketing, which has enabled predictability and scalability. Ross shares seven critical SEO tips for SaaS companies covering technical optimization, content strategy, and link building.

Bell Curve is a growth agency founded by Julian Shapiro that positions itself as an in-house CMO for startups, managing entire growth funnels rather than just running ads. Julian learned growth tactics while building Velocity.js, an open-source animation library, where he pioneered unconventional marketing strategies like direct outreach to niche blog editors and influencer collaboration. The agency grew through freelance referrals and now primarily serves YC-backed companies.

Design Joy is a productized design service built and run entirely by Brett Williams as a one-person operation. Starting from a side project in 2017 generating $5-6k MRR, it exploded during the pandemic and after a viral tweet to over $130k MRR (over $1.5M ARR) by 2021. Brett charges $4,595-$5,500/month for unlimited design work on a month-to-month subscription basis, serving 40-50 customers simultaneously through extreme specialization and efficiency.

Quiet Light Brokerage is an online business brokerage founded in 2007 by Mark Daust that helps entrepreneurs buy and sell online businesses (e-commerce, SaaS, content sites, affiliate sites). The firm has grown from 3 to 10 team members and closed approximately 50 transactions in 2018, with average deal sizes growing from $225k in 2013 to $2M in 2018. They differentiate through education-focused content, deep financial analysis, and trust-building with both buyers and sellers rather than aggressive sales tactics.

Andrew Pierno launched Cold Email Studio as a service business to generate quick cash flow after a grueling 5-year exit from a security software startup. Using cold email to target YC founders with offers of free pilots, he booked meetings within 30 minutes and signed 7 customers in two weeks. The business grew from $500/month to $14k/month by April 2021, with a 2021 goal of $50k MRR, demonstrating that service businesses can generate revenue faster than traditional SaaS.

Design In DC is a Washington-based digital design agency founded by Ziad Foty, a former university professor, and Rob, an experienced web designer. The agency grew from zero funding by focusing on storytelling and layered narratives to differentiate itself in a saturated market. With revenue in the $100k-$500k/month range, they acquired customers primarily through intent-based directory listings and organic search, while building a strong reputation that generated referrals.

Blackbelt Commerce is a productized service business founded by Tristan King. The company specializes in generating business ideas for entrepreneurs, particularly focused on productized service models that can be started quickly with minimal capital. Tristan has appeared on the Tropical MBA podcast multiple times sharing ideas and strategies for starting service businesses.

Firegang Dental Marketing is a dental marketing agency founded by Jacob Puhl that operates through an apprenticeship model. Corey Ames was brought on as an apprentice and is now preparing to take over as CEO, demonstrating a unique business succession and talent development approach.

Sarah Kornblet attended a Tropical MBA seminar in 2012 with 44 other listeners and subsequently became a successful attorney specializing in legal services for online entrepreneurs. The episode explores her journey since the seminar and emphasizes how business ideas develop and mature over time.

HireMyMom is a well-established agency founded by Lesley Pyle that specializes in placing stay-at-home parents as remote workers for companies worldwide. The company addresses entrepreneurs' hiring challenges by tapping into a talent pool of stay-at-home parents who tend to make reliable team members, as demonstrated through case studies like Louise Gray (former Sony executive) and testimonials from founders like Kiri Masters of Bobsled Marketing.

Anna Wickham started Charm House, a marketing agency, after traveling the world for nearly ten years. Despite building the business, she ultimately decided that entrepreneurship wasn't the right fit for her and chose to leave to pursue a traditional 9-to-5 job instead.

Eat My Words is a naming and branding agency founded by Alexandra Watkins that specializes in helping businesses and products choose effective names. Watkins is also an author of "Hello, My Name is Awesome," a book on the subject of business naming. The company works with founders and entrepreneurs to solve the critical challenge of branding and naming new ventures.

Growth Ninja is a performance-based Facebook ads agency founded by Vincent Nguyen in 2015. Vincent built the company after apprenticing with Empire Flippers, leveraging his experience in performance marketing. The episode focuses on Vincent's journey navigating social pressures while building his business, including hiding his college dropout status from his family.

Content Refined is a content marketing agency founded by Madeleine Lambert. She began the business last year and has grown it to $50,000 in monthly recurring revenue. Her growth was facilitated through serendipitous networking within The Dynamite Circle community, where she won an all-expenses paid trip to DC BKK conference offered by entrepreneur Greg Gerber.

Greg Gerber runs a marketing agency that pioneered cryptocurrency payment acceptance, having accepted Bitcoin as payment since 2013. The agency operates in the cryptocurrency space and serves as a case study for early adoption of digital currencies in business payments.

Booster Stage is a web app development agency founded by Ryan Heneise that specializes in building products for startups. The founder participated in his first official mastermind at a Tropical MBA event in Austin, Texas, where he experienced firsthand the value of peer learning and collaboration networks for business growth.

Monetize More is a 100-person monetization agency founded by Kean Graham that helps online brands optimize their ad revenue. The company emphasizes location independence as a key value and has grown through strategies focused on solving publisher monetization problems. The source provides limited detail on specific traction metrics or growth channels.

China Ecom Boost is an agency founded by Matt Kowalak that helps manufacturers, product companies, and celebrities navigate and market themselves in the Chinese market. The company leverages deep expertise in Chinese supply chains and evolving commerce dynamics to facilitate business expansion. Matt has undergone a major re-evaluation of his business model to focus on the vast opportunities he sees in China.

Coran Woodmass left his corporate job and initially pursued location independence by buying and selling small web properties while based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. After realizing this path wasn't fulfilling, he pivoted to found TheFBABroker, an agency advising and brokering quality deals for Amazon FBA business owners. The business reflects his shift from chasing entrepreneurial freedom to finding work that provides genuine fulfillment.