Key Takeaways

• Kyle and his co-founder launched their business as affiliate marketers using credit cards, eventually scaling into a 175-person agency.
• Early success came from landing page arbitrage and optimizing conversion rates by upgrading server speed.
• Pilot House is now split into four business units: the core agency, the DTC newsletter/media platform, Labs (product incubation), and Warp Drive (their tech stack).
• Warp Drive builds optimized shopping funnels and is now evolving into a modular app builder layered on top of Shopify.
• AI is being explored in different parts of the agency, though implementation at scale has been slow due to size and complexity.
• Kyle emphasizes the importance of a team-first mindset, fostering internal entrepreneurship and enabling the business to run independently of the founders.
• The agency scaled quickly, hiring 100 people in 8 months, using a structured, culture-first screening process.
• One of the biggest lessons learned: address toxicity in your organization early—delays have widespread cultural consequences.
• Kyle attributes a lot of Pilot House’s success to timing, rapid decision-making, and having a bold, strategic mindset during uncertain periods like COVID.

Where We Can Find the Guest

• Website: pilothouse.co
• LinkedIn: Kyle Hitchcox

Get the Growth Spotlight Vault for free and start turning casual client convo's into referrals:
https://www.agencyuplift.co/vault

Sean’s Links:

🔗 Sean Lang on LinkedIn
🌐 Agency Uplift Skool Group
🛒 Social Commerce Club

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Dmitry runs two agencies: AdTribe (for DTC brands) and Haven (white-label media buying for agencies).
• Haven uses the same team and processes as AdTribe, but exclusively services agencies to avoid direct client headaches.
• The white-label model sacrifices margin for long-term retention and stability.
• Operational scaling is the biggest challenge, especially as they approach 100+ managed accounts.
• Communication, not performance, is often the main source of churn—especially with direct clients.
• Dmitry bootstrapped his agency journey from freelancer to a team of 10+ in less than a year.
• Early mistakes included hiring full-time staff too quickly without predictable revenue.
• Media buyers are compensated via base + account-based bonuses to balance security and performance.
• Strong client relationships and proactive communication systems are more critical than just results.
• Investing in personal brand and LinkedIn content is something Dmitry wishes he had started earlier.

Check out Dmitry's agencies here:

Haven

Adtribe

Get the Growth Spotlight Vault for free and start turning casual client convo's into referrals:
https://www.agencyuplift.co/vault

Sean’s Links:

🔗 Sean Lang on LinkedIn
🌐 Agency Uplift Skool Group
🛒 Social Commerce Club

Key Takeaways:

• Grant started GrantBot after honing his automation skills as the first employee at Hampton, optimizing workflows to scale small teams.
• Before finding his groove in agency life, he tried launching a sports betting hedge fund and a SaaS AI writing tool — both learning experiences that led him to his current model.
• GrantBot focuses on creating “10x employees” by automating repetitive work so teams can focus on creative problem-solving.
• Client experience is just as crucial as results; automation plays a key role in improving communication and delivery quality.
• Early-stage agencies often underestimate the time it takes to define a strong, scalable service offering.
• Grant emphasized the need for agency owners to find mentors or advisors who can fast-track learning and help avoid common pitfalls.
• Most of GrantBot’s work involves deep workflow assessments for marketing agencies, streamlining CRMs, onboarding, project management, and invoicing.
• ClickUp is a core tool for GrantBot — Grant highlighted its project management power when configured correctly.
• Many automations are simple but powerful — like using Slack notifications to speed up action when deals move stages in a CRM.
• Automation success is tied to strong foundational processes; AI and automation won’t fix broken systems.
• Grant is building a remote-first culture, focusing on collaboration and connection across time zones.
• Core values and team culture are a growing focus at GrantBot, as the team scales rapidly from 2 to 8 in the first year.

Check out Grant's agency here:

https://www.grantbot.co/

Get the Growth Spotlight Vault for free and start turning casual client convo's into referrals:
https://www.agencyuplift.co/vault

Sean’s Links:

🔗 Sean Lang on LinkedIn
🌐 Agency Uplift Skool Group
🛒 Social Commerce Club