Episode 50: Building Software With Clients, Not For Them

Interview: Why Growth in Dev Agencies Is a Relationship Game (Not a Numbers Game)

Behind the Agency Podcast with Steve Hennigan, Chief Growth Officer at 7 Hills Technology

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Prefer the highlights? Key takeaways and summary below.

TL;DR – Key Takeaways

Dev agency growth isn’t a numbers game—it’s a quality-of-conversations game.
7 Hills wins when clients want to collaborate, not just hand over a spec sheet.
Whiteboarding, user story mapping, and strategy sessions are where the real value shows up.
Productization is about clarity for buyers, not convenience for agencies.
The biggest growth lever right now? In-person relationships and trust.
AI and offshoring increase the value of what can’t be automated: strategy, UX, and product thinking.
The best partnerships are specialist-driven, not generic “you send me leads, I send you leads.”
Playing the long game beats chasing quick wins—especially in custom software.

Does This Sound Familiar?

You came up in sales somewhere that had a real pipeline. Volume in, conversion rate, forecast out. Then you brought that playbook to a custom software firm and the numbers stopped behaving.

So you add more activity, and the close rate gets worse rather than better. The deals that land keep coming from a conversation you couldn't have templated.

Steve Hennigan runs growth at 7 Hills Technology and says it plainly. This isn't a numbers game, it's a quality-of-conversations game. And he'll tell you exactly which conversations, because 7 Hills wins when the client wants to build something with them rather than hand over a spec.

That shows up in what they do early. Whiteboarding, user story mapping, strategy sessions. The work that decides whether a project is worth doing at all, which is also the work that's hardest to offshore or automate.

Now, his ideal client is specific enough to be useful to you. Companies of 100 to 150 people with a clear sense of who they are, because a client who knows their own identity can collaborate. And his view on partnerships is that the good ones are specialist-driven rather than a generic swap of leads.

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Meet the Guest

Steve Hennigan is the Chief Growth Officer at 7 Hills Technology, a custom software development firm that helps organizations design and build software products collaboratively. With a background in tech sales and marketing, Steve now helps companies build better products by focusing on process, people, and long-term relationships.

Before joining 7 Hills full-time, Steve spent years in the Cincinnati tech scene, building relationships, mentoring teams, and staying close to how real software decisions get made.

Episode Summary

1. From Tech Sales to Chief Growth Officer

Steve started in classic tech sales—where volume, funnels, and close rates rule everything. But when he moved into the custom software world, that mindset broke fast.

Custom software isn’t a repeatable SKU. Every deal is different. Every buyer is different. And trying to brute-force growth with volume just doesn’t work.

2. The Core Tension: Spec Sheets vs. Collaboration

Most agencies struggle because they accept the wrong kind of work.

Clients who just want to toss a spec over the fence? Bad fit.

Clients who want to think, explore, and build together? That’s the sweet spot.

“We really excel when we can roll our sleeves up in a whiteboard session and build the product alongside the client.”

3. The 7 Hills Approach: Build the Plan Together

Instead of expecting clients to show up with everything figured out, 7 Hills encourages the opposite.

They love:

Blank canvases
Half-formed ideas
Big questions

Through user story mapping and collaborative sessions, they help uncover what actually matters—before a single line of code is written.

That’s where the “aha” moments happen.

4. Productization Without Killing Creativity

Steve was refreshingly honest here: productization is hard.

The goal isn’t to turn custom software into a rigid box. The goal is to give buyers something they can understand and enter through.

Think of it like this:

Guardrails, not handcuffs
Structure, not sameness

Design sprints and strategy sessions become a clear starting point—not the entire journey.

5. The Big Mistake: Treating Agency Growth Like SaaS

This was one of the strongest moments of the conversation.

Steve admitted he tried to run agency growth like SaaS sales early on—and it didn’t work.

In SaaS:

Volume wins
Price is the main objection
Speed matters

In agencies:

Trust wins
Fit matters more than price
Time is unavoidable

Trying to shortcut relationships just backfires.

6. Why In-Person Still Wins (Especially Now)

AI is everywhere. Content is everywhere. Noise is everywhere.

Which makes real human connection more valuable, not less.

Meetups, conferences, whiteboard sessions, lunches—these aren’t “nice to have.” They’re strategic.

“There’s always a moment where the light bulb goes off—and it only happens because we’re in the room together.”

7. Long-Term Growth, Not Hypergrowth

Steve isn’t chasing a 500-person agency.

The goal is something closer to 100–150 people, built on:

A clear brand identity
Strong case studies that attract similar work
Flexibility to adapt as AI and offshoring shift the market

Growth, yes—but on purpose.

Notable Quotes

“It’s not a numbers game. It’s a quality-of-conversations game.”

“We love a blank canvas and a good idea.”

“People collaborate with people.”

“If you’re in this industry, you have to play the long game.”

Related Episodes

Learn More / Get in Touch

Visit → https://www.sevenhillstechnology.com

Email → steve@sevenhillstechnology.com

LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevehennigan

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