Building a 150-Client Agency on Referrals, Focus, and Great Work
Interview: How Jet Fuel Agency Scales Without Chasing Leads
Behind the Agency Podcast with Edwin Choi, Founder of Jet Fuel Agency
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Prefer the highlights? Key takeaways and summary below.
TL;DR – Key Takeaways
Jetfuel.Agency was built by combining in-house growth experience with agency execution
Edwin believes results are a distribution channel, not just an outcome
The agency has intentionally narrowed its services to paid media + retention
Their primary growth engine is still 100% referral-driven
Edwin is aiming for 150 clients without outbound sales
The business is run against four core metrics, not vanity KPIs
Professional development is treated as a retention strategy, not a perk
A great agency is built by protecting focus and investing in people
Meet the Guest
Edwin Choi is the Founder of Jetfuel.Agency, a performance marketing agency helping e-commerce brands grow through paid social, paid search, and retention marketing.
With over 15 years in digital marketing, Edwin has worked agency-side, led in-house growth teams, and scaled an e-commerce business from $5M to $30M in annual revenue. Today, he applies that same speed and rigor across multiple client businesses through Jet Fuel.
Before founding Jet Fuel Agency, Edwin built deep experience in media buying, full-funnel marketing, and team leadership — experience that heavily shaped how he runs his agency today.
Episode Summary
1. From reselling as a teen to building an agency
Edwin’s path into agency life started early. He’s always enjoyed selling — buying something for $1 and selling it for $3. That instinct carried through a three-part career:
Agency employee
In-house marketing leader
Agency founder
The turning point came after scaling an in-house e-commerce team at speed.
“It felt like a game. We were learning, testing, and executing every day.”
Jet Fuel Agency was born from a simple question:
Can you recreate that level of momentum and learning across multiple companies?
2. The real challenge with starting an agency
Jet Fuel didn’t start from zero.
Edwin leveraged:
A long-standing freelance network
Prior agency and in-house relationships
Due diligence work with venture capital firms
Those VC relationships, in particular, turned into early clients almost immediately.
“We didn’t start from square one.”
3. Why referrals still drive the business
While early outreach played a role, Edwin is clear about what actually compounds.
“When you have results, that’s almost a channel in itself.”
To this day, Jet Fuel’s primary source of new clients is referrals — driven by consistently strong work and word of mouth.
The goal?
150 clients, built entirely on referrals.
4. Focus beats flexibility
Jet Fuel originally offered more services, but Edwin learned quickly that profitability and sanity require restraint.
Today, the agency focuses on three core pillars:
Paid social
Paid search
Email & SMS (retention)
Everything else is handled through partners.
“You need to be world-class at a few things and let everything else fall away.”
5. A simple framework for running the agency
Rather than chasing dozens of metrics, Edwin runs Jet Fuel against four core measurements:
Top-line revenue growth
Margins (EBITDA / efficiency)
Employee tenure
Client retention & NPS
These metrics create optionality — whether that leads to acquisition, a holding company, or a long-term lifestyle business.
6. Learning from past agency mistakes
One lesson Edwin carried forward from a prior agency role:
Over-expanding services creates inequality inside teams.
When a few services drive most revenue, other teams get neglected — leading to burnout and disengagement.
Jet Fuel is intentionally designed to avoid that dynamic by:
Limiting service sprawl
Investing in every team’s growth
Making professional development a core priority
7. Why professional development isn’t optional
For Edwin, professional development solves two problems at once:
Client results — marketing changes constantly
Employee retention — people stay when they’re growing
“It’s not the perks. It’s not the office. It’s whether you’re helping people grow.”
Jet Fuel provides structure and support — but expects individuals to take ownership of their learning.
Notable Quotes
“Results are almost a channel in themselves.”
“You need to be world-class at a few things and let everything else fall away.”
“When people are growing, they’re generally happy.”
“If you focus on those four metrics, you create options.”
Learn More / Get in Touch
Visit → https://jetfuel.agency
LinkedIn → Search Edwin Choi
Also check out Agency Accountant → https://agencyaccountant.com
(Bookkeeping and finance services built specifically for agencies)
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