Joe Conway grew a dev shop to $24M, sold it, and came back with Treya, software built to close the operational gaps between the tools agencies already use. The technical-to-CEO shift, the 18-month enterprise deal, and the forward metrics every dev shop should track.

Sam built a high seven-figure agency almost entirely on project revenue, because MRR is a billing mechanism rather than a growth strategy. He has also never seen an agency P&L with correct gross margins, and thinks 50% is the floor before you spend anything on marketing.

Chris hired on a hope: full-time people, on the assumption he would figure out lead gen next. He rebuilt around a collective of trusted freelancers instead. Also the content day that filled sixteen slots in about twenty-four hours.

Dev agency growth isn't a numbers game, it's a quality-of-conversations game. Steve Hennigan on winning the clients who want to whiteboard alongside you rather than hand over a spec, and why productization is clarity for the buyer rather than convenience for you.

We use best practices is like saying I eat vegetables. True, and mostly not done. Mike Stone on packaging the work into Ideate, Ignite and Embed, the first-year bug-free warranty almost no dev shop offers, and shipping production code in week one.

Most failed software projects don't fail in development. They fail before development starts, when everyone jumps straight to estimates and requirements. Jeff Francis on creating clarity before code, and why a smaller first step converts better than a big-build pitch.

Saying yes to everything early is how you build a business with no identity. David Wall on standardizing the process rather than productizing the outcome, and why that's outside scope has to become a normal sentence in your agency.

Most agencies don't have a predictable enough revenue engine to forecast, so the forecast just manufactures false confidence. Ryan Watson on separating budgeting from forecasting, and why cash reserves exist to bridge timing gaps rather than fund months of losses.

Travis McAshan on one-page proposals, a four-day week, and a close process 90% faster, built by running a purpose-led agency without burning the team out.

Kyle Bush on scaling a video agency with profit, process and a make-it-cool-to-care culture, and why retainers beat living on the project rollercoaster.

JP Holecka built Power Shifter because he was tired of the agency-knows-best routine when he sat on the client side. Direct to Expert puts his people and the client's people in the same room with no gatekeepers, which means showing work early, often, and sometimes ugly.

Most agencies put 3 to 8% of revenue into sales and marketing while high-growth companies spend 15 to 25%. Tony Wilson on why underfunded marketing almost always looks like a bad idea when it was really just starved of budget and time.

Time tracking isn't for billing. It's for knowing which clients and services actually make money, and most agencies badly undercount management time. Kristen on the 80% compliance target, and why perfect tracking is a fantasy worth giving up.

If a client shows up asking for a tactic, they're price-shopping you against everyone else. Max Traylor on why strategy is the only thing implementation can't commoditize, and the simplest place to start: charging for the plan you already give away in proposals.

Most agencies don't fail from a lack of leads. They fail from operational indigestion, with every client buying a different menu. Greg Hickman on the 5 Ones framework that got him to seven figures in 11 months without adding headcount.

Warschawski was built on a rare idea: make the agency you would actually want to hire. Sam Tomlinson on why clients shouldn't pay for your training program, and why standing out comes from financial accountability rather than louder marketing.

Growth can hide a profit problem instead of solving it. There are three dials on agency profit, and the one most owners never touch is efficiency. Why profit per client is the number to know, and where the easy money actually sits.

Kevin stopped scaling the team and built a deconstructed agency: he sells strategy and leadership, then brings specialists in without marking up delivery. Why selling advice and execution together quietly breaks trust, and how to phase it in without burning the ships.