Should You Start An Agency Or A Software Business? (Neil Patel's Contrarian View)

About this video

Sam and Shaan discuss why their guest chose to build a consulting agency alongside software and content businesses, challenging the common assumption that agencies are inferior to software companies. They explore the trade-offs between different business models—software, agencies, content, and e-commerce—and how the guest scaled their agency to nine-figure revenue by hiring experienced operators and focusing on high-value enterprise clients.

Key takeaways

• Agencies are often dismissed as inferior businesses, but they can be highly profitable with good margins and long client lifetimes if structured around high-value contracts; the choice between agency and software depends on personal preferences and goals rather than objective superiority.
• The guest hired a CEO (Mike Gullickson, former president of iProspect) from day one rather than managing the agency themselves, recognizing that surrounding yourself with experienced operators reduces business risk and failure.
• Every business model has distinct trade-offs: software requires building one product then refining it; content requires ‘baking the cake daily’ with less leverage; e-commerce has supply chain headaches; and agencies demand continuous client relationship management—the best choice depends on what you enjoy doing.

Episode details: published May 11, 2022 · 23K views · 12:36 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The business ideas, figures and results discussed are the hosts’ and guests’ own claims, shared as brainstorming and entertainment — not verified facts and not investment advice.

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