E09 w/ Jon Sturgeon: AI changed his agency's model. Should he grow or sell?

Mario Peshev reduced his agency from 60 to 30 employees thanks to his own AI innovations. But almost nobody there is working on landing new clients.

Pouring money into sales means building a machine he has never had. He could sell, but then he has to prove that this agency is worth a lot of money.

Cohost Jon Sturgeon and I dig in: A candid working session including:
- agencies in the world of AI
- why an NPS of 90 proves nothing
- bench time: waste, or a feature clients pay for?
- a live cold-call role-play

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ME ME ME!!!
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STARRING MARIO PESHEV
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DevriX
Personal site
Newsletter
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WITH COHOST JON STURGEON
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Dingus & Zazzy
uhoh.com (an IT company for businesses that don’t have IT problems)
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REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE
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“The Effortless Experience”—Dixon, Toman & DeLisi
Hypergen, cold email

TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - Can AI-run agencies survive the next five years
• (02:21) - Eighteen years building DevriX to a crossroads
• (07:10) - The walk-away number game
• (10:01) - Why productizing DevriX would be a mistake
• (18:23) - One and a half salespeople for a 35-person agency
• (30:45) - Why an NPS of 90 proves nothing
• (36:50) - Agencies in the age of AI: adapt or die
• (50:45) - Bench time: waste or a feature clients pay for
• (01:01:25) - Rebuilding go-to-market from scratch
• (01:24:22) - Live cold-call role-play
• (01:28:40) - Is a 6 million dollar exit even realistic
• (01:40:34) - EBITDA multiples and the AI-narrative buyer
• (01:44:35) - The real path forward: spin off, sell, or stay