How Brooke MacLean Built an 80-Person Agency with Zero Debt

👉 Want to build referrals systematically instead of relying on luck? Grab my book 📘 Relationship Sales at Scale: https://salesschema.com/book

--
In this episode, Dan Englander talks with Brooke MacLean, CEO of Marketwake, one of the Southeast’s fastest-growing digital agencies and a five-time Inc. 5000 honoree. Brooke shares how she bootstrapped Marketwake from a solo consulting gig into an 80-person powerhouse serving clients like Yamaha, University of Georgia, and Machete Jewelry — all through relationships, trust, and disciplined growth.

They dig into the nuances of business development, leadership, and scaling without losing your creative spark.

🧭 What You’ll Learn

• Bootstrapping an 80-person agency: how Brooke built Marketwake with no funding and no debt
• The 15% rule: why no client should ever represent more than 15% of your revenue
• Bringing your team into sales: how involving account leads early shortens cycles and builds trust
• Time as a sales lever: why real urgency beats fake scarcity every time
• Account-based marketing, redefined: how Marketwake blends data, relationships, and timing to reach dream clients
• Referrals, chemistry, and “the spark”: how authentic connection drives growth more than any funnel hack