Relentless Clarity: How a 25-Year Agency Survived Every Tech Cycle by Adapting Early
Interview: Building a Resilient Dev Agency Through Change, Clarity, and Relationships
Behind the Agency Podcast with Rishi Khanna, CEO of ISHIR
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Prefer the highlights? Key takeaways and summary below.
TL;DR – Key Takeaways
Longevity in agency life isn’t about chasing trends, it’s about staying relentlessly adaptable.
ISHIR has survived the dot-com bust, 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, and COVID by embracing change early.
“Relentless clarity” is their core philosophy—for clients and employees.
Their Innovation Acceleration process de-risks projects before a single line of code is written.
Referrals work best when they’re fueled by real relationships, not transactional partnerships.
AI is breaking time-based pricing—and forcing agencies to rethink value and outcomes.
Custom software is making a comeback as companies try to protect their “secret sauce.”
Culture, alumni relationships, and in-person connection are still unfair advantages in a remote world.
Meet the Guest
Rishi Khanna is the CEO of ISHIR, a global development agency that helps startups, mid-market companies, and enterprises design and build custom software products. Over the past 25 years, Rishi has led ISHIR through multiple economic and technology cycles by staying focused on customer outcomes, resilient team culture, and constant innovation.
Before ISHIR, Rishi entered the agency world during the dot-com boom, learning early that survival depends less on tools and more on mindset.
Episode Summary
1. Starting in the Dot-Com Boom—and Surviving the Bust
ISHIR was founded in 1999, right in the middle of the dot-com gold rush. Early clients were dot-com startups building web products and portals. When the bust hit (followed closely by 9/11), many agencies collapsed.
Rishi leaned into global talent early—building a remote team in India to solve talent shortages and stay flexible when the market shifted.
2. The Real Challenge: Constant Change
From web → mobile → cloud → AI, the tech stack never stops moving. Most agencies struggle because they over-optimize for what’s hot now instead of preparing for what’s next.
“What kept us going all these years has been our relentless focus on being resilient and adaptable to change.”
3. Solving the Right Problem (Not Just the Requested One)
Rishi is blunt about a common agency failure: building exactly what the client asks for—even when it’s the wrong solution.
“A lot of providers will just build what you tell them. We ask: why do you need this at all?”
This mindset led to ISHIR’s Innovation Acceleration approach—designed to slow things down before speeding execution up.
4. The Innovation Acceleration Framework
This process blends three core methodologies:
Design Thinking – to deeply understand the problem
Lean Product Development – to test and validate early
Agile – to iterate fast once clarity exists
The goal: product-market fit, risk reduction, and a roadmap everyone believes in.
Importantly, this isn’t a one-time workshop. ISHIR revisits it regularly as markets, data, and customer needs evolve.
5. Relentless Clarity, for Employees Too
Most agencies talk about clarity for clients. ISHIR applies the same idea internally.
Rishi believes every employee has:
Unique strengths
Personal goals
Career aspirations
By getting clear on those, ISHIR builds better retention, stronger culture, and teams that care about outcomes—not just tasks.
6. Why Their Referral Engine Actually Works
Rishi breaks referrals into four real sources:
Happy customers
Customers who change companies and bring ISHIR with them
Employees and alumni
Adjacent partners (PE firms, MSPs, VCs, accountants)
The common thread? Long-term relationships, regular check-ins, and in-person connection whenever possible.
No gimmicks. No “referral programs.” Just staying human and top-of-mind.
7. Rethinking Pricing in an AI World
Time-and-material pricing is cracking.
AI allows teams to deliver more value in less time—and customers don’t want to pay more just because you used fewer hours.
ISHIR is experimenting with:
Outcome-based pricing
Shared upside models
IP ownership variations
There’s no perfect model yet, but Rishi is clear the old one won’t survive.
8. Why Custom Software Is Making a Comeback
As SaaS costs rise and differentiation disappears, companies are rebuilding internal tools and proprietary systems.
AI lowers development costs, making custom solutions viable again.
“If everyone uses the same SaaS, no one is differentiated.”
That shift plays directly into ISHIR’s strengths.
Notable Quotes
“Relentless clarity is making sure we’re solving the right problem before we build anything.”
“Referrals only work if relationships come first.”
“Time-based pricing breaks when AI changes how long things take.”
“Your secret sauce shouldn’t live inside someone else’s SaaS.”
Learn More / Get in Touch
Visit → https://ishir.com
Email → RKhanna@ISHIR.com
LinkedIn → Rishi Khanna
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