I've made expensive mistakes while growing an agency. These days, I help owners work through pricing and growth.
I advise agency founders on pricing and finding their next clients. As president and partner of Foundry, a custom software agency, I scaled the team from 3 to 50 people and led it through two Inc. 5000 appearances.
I've advised more than 150 agencies. Through Schmidt Consulting Group, I work with owners who want to grow beyond referrals or get out of every sale. I also run the Solo Club, a paid community for entrepreneurs. My short background page has more on my experience and how engagements work.
Before agencies, I was a professional BMX freestyle rider. I co-founded Standard Byke Company with Rick Moliterno and Bill Nitschke.
My agency career took me to The Nerdery, where I built its first project management office and later became Director of Strategy. Then came Foundry and the chance to run an agency myself.
A creative agency asked me why profit kept shrinking while revenue held steady. When we reviewed its last dozen projects, we found small client requests the team had handled for free because they wanted to avoid an awkward conversation. Those requests were costing the agency more than $40,000 a year.
The agency's margin recovered after it added a change-request step that clients accepted.
If you're considering Kurt, come ready to accept new ideas and change. You'll have a great partner, even when you stumble.
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Conversations about growing agencies, studios, dev shops, and consultancies.
Each week, I talk about growing an agency and the work behind it.
If referrals have slowed or every sale still needs you, I'd like to hear what's happening. We'll spend 30 minutes looking at your positioning and pipeline, then discuss what to do next.
