Ideas Worth the Risk
Agenciadoo is a blog about the real startup grind. I write about tech, founders, agency life, and the unfiltered journey of building something from nothing. No fluff, no overnight success myths — just honest takes on AI disruption, pitch decks, pivots, and the bold (and sometimes stupid) decisions we all make along the way. If you’re a builder, a dreamer, or just trying to figure it all out, this space is for you.
Start Small. Think Loud. Move Fast.
- Why Agency Models Are Being Disrupted by AI
I run in circles where agencies used to be king. Creative, branding, copywriting, design, dev — bundle it up, bill it big, scale with people. That’s the model I came up in. I’ve worked for them, with them, and even built one myself.
But now I’m watching that model quietly — and sometimes not so quietly — fall apart. The culprit? AI.
And I don’t mean the flashy demos on Twitter or the “write me a poem” fluff. I’m talking about real tools replacing real services.
Clients Are Asking New Questions
Two years ago, a founder might’ve asked, “Can you build me a pitch deck for investors?”
Now? They ask, “Can ChatGPT do this?”
And the answer is: kind of. But even kind of changes the math.
When clients can generate a brand voice, summarize a market report, write 30 Instagram captions, and mock up a homepage wireframe in under an hour — the question becomes, “Why am I paying an agency $10K+ for this?”
It’s not that AI always gets it right. It’s that it gets it close enough to challenge the value proposition of agencies built on time and deliverables.
What Used to Be Billable Isn’t Anymore
I’ve seen agencies whose entire model was based on content calendars, ad copy, product descriptions, and blog post packages. Now those things are half-automated. Clients still want human polish — but they expect speed, scale, and AI-enhanced pricing.
Same goes for UX flows, visual design options, brand strategy docs. We used to bill for discovery phases, brainstorming sessions, and early iterations. Today, AI can produce 80% of those raw materials in seconds.
That shifts client expectations. Dramatically.
Team Structures Are Changing
Agencies were built to scale with people — more work meant more headcount. But with AI, the ratio breaks. I’ve seen one-person brand shops run circles around five-person creative teams because their AI stack handles first drafts, outlines, email sequences, moodboards, and more.
I’m not saying people are replaceable. I’m saying AI changes the leverage. A strategist with a prompt library is more dangerous than a team without one.
Agencies that don’t lean into AI augmentation are going to get outpaced — not because they’re less creative, but because they’re slower and more expensive.
So, What’s the New Value?
If you run an agency (or are thinking of starting one), here’s the shift I’m betting on:
- From labor to leadership — clients don’t just want you to do the work, they want you to guide it.
- From deliverables to direction — AI can generate content, but it can’t decide what’s worth saying. That’s where strategy lives.
- From headcount to headspace — your agency wins when it becomes the thinking partner, not just the output factory.
Final Thought
AI isn’t killing agencies. It’s killing lazy ones. It’s killing bloated ones. It’s killing the ones that charged for things people can now get in a Chrome extension.
But the ones who adapt — who build faster, think deeper, and lead smarter — those are the agencies of the next wave.
I’ve stopped selling time. I sell clarity, systems, and outcomes. The future’s not less human. It’s more augmented. And it’s already here.
- Lessons From Failed Startups No One Talks About
I’ve been part of a few startups that didn’t make it. Some fizzled quietly. Others crashed harder than I care to admit. And while every podcast loves to glorify the pivots, acquisitions, or epic comebacks, there’s a whole world of uncomfortable truths no one really shares about failure — especially in early-stage startups.
So here’s the stuff I wish someone had told me.
1. Momentum Hides Problems
When things are “busy,” it’s easy to feel like you’re succeeding. Meetings, prototypes, user feedback, launches — it all feels productive. But momentum isn’t traction. One of my first startups had energy and buzz, but not a clear value proposition. We were moving fast… in circles. If your calendar is full but revenue isn’t growing, something’s off.
2. Founders Drift Apart
This one hurts. You start out excited, aligned, and full of shared vision. Then priorities shift. One co-founder starts treating it like a side project, another wants to raise money immediately, and suddenly you’re not on the same page. Communication breaks down, resentment brews, and eventually someone ghosts. We don’t talk enough about founder breakups — but they’re one of the most common reasons things fall apart.
3. Building the Wrong Thing Really Well
One of my most polished MVPs flopped. We had slick UI, a solid tech stack, great performance… but the wrong feature set. We built what we thought users needed instead of what they actually wanted. I skipped the painful user interviews in favor of “moving fast.” Big mistake. The result? A beautifully useless product.
4. Nobody Cares Unless You Make Them Care
You can have the best tool in the world, but if your story doesn’t resonate — no one will click, sign up, or pay. In one failed startup, we focused 100% on the product and 0% on the brand, the messaging, or the positioning. We couldn’t explain why we existed in one sentence. That’s death in a world flooded with noise.
5. You’ll Burn Out Faster Than You Think
I used to think burnout happened after years. Nope. It can show up six months in. Especially when you’re wearing 10 hats and getting little return. One failure taught me that rest is strategic — not a reward, but a requirement. Without it, your decision-making gets worse and your product suffers.
6. Failure Feels Personal — But It Isn’t
This is the hardest one. When your startup dies, it can feel like you failed. You weren’t smart enough, fast enough, scrappy enough. But that’s rarely the full truth. Startups fail for a million reasons — timing, market fit, team dynamics, luck. If you don’t separate your self-worth from the outcome, the aftermath can wreck you.
What I Take With Me
Every failed startup gave me skills I wouldn’t trade. I learned how to build faster, listen better, manage expectations, and spot warning signs earlier. Those losses were expensive tuition — but they weren’t wasted.
So if your startup didn’t work out, you’re not alone. You’re not broken. You’re learning — and if you’re paying attention, you’re getting sharper.
Fail smart. And try again. I did.
- What It’s Really Like to Build a Startup from Scratch
Building a startup from scratch feels like bolting wings to an engine while already in the air. From the ground it looks daring; inside the cockpit it’s mostly duct tape, caffeine, and stack traces.
Day 0 – The Spark
My story began with a nagging problem: small creative agencies drowning in admin work. I drafted a one-page sketch for software that could automate proposals and hand-offs. At 2 a.m. I bought a domain and told myself I’d “validate fast.” Spoiler: nothing about the next year was fast.
Month 1 – Validation Is Awkward
Validation means begging strangers to poke holes in your idea. I booked twenty Zoom calls; eleven ghosted, five loved the concept but “weren’t ready,” and four grilled me until my pitch finally made sense. Those four became beta users. Ego scarred, vision sharper.
Month 3 – Code, Coffee, Chaos
I’m a designer by trade, not a 10 × engineer. I learned TypeScript the same week I set up Stripe. I shipped an MVP held together by TODO comments and prayer. Deploying at 4 a.m., I’d refresh the dashboard with my eyes half-closed, convinced any click would throw a 500 error.
Month 6 – First Dollar
A boutique agency in Brazil paid $29 for a year. After Stripe fees and hosting, I still lost money, but psychologically everything changed: a stranger valued my work. I screenshotted the receipt and set it as my phone wallpaper.
Month 8 – The Great Refactor
Growth meant rewriting the code that barely worked. During a “quick” migration I emailed 300 users a duplicate invoice—twice. Sunday was apologies; Monday was adding “Are you sure?” modals everywhere.
Month 10 – Investor Speed-Dating
Pitching VCs is like speed-dating where charisma is measured in TAM slides. One partner asked why I wasn’t at $100 K ARR; I explained I was still fixing the undo button. He didn’t laugh. No check.
Month 12 – First Hire
Support tickets, marketing, and coding burned me out. I hired Alex, a part-time developer eight time zones away who wrote cleaner code in one commit than I had in six months. For the first time I slept through the night.
Year 2 – The Plateau
Revenue hit $4 K MRR, then stalled. Churn rose, a competitor launched a free tier, and my motivation tanked. I interviewed forty churned users, learned they needed team roles, and spent three months building them. Growth resumed—not a hockey stick, more a steady incline. Steady pays rent.
Balancing Life on a Knife-Edge
Friends think startup life is glamorous; they see flexible hours and latte photos. They don’t see the 14-hour days or me muting birthday group chats to fix a production bug. Relationships need maintenance just like servers. Now I block out “non-negotiable downtime” every Friday night—phone off, brain off, pizza on the couch. Without it, burnout knocks quickly and drags creativity with it.
Financing the Dream
I bootstrapped with savings, freelanced on weekends, and put expenses on a low-interest credit card I pray stays low-interest. Venture money would be nice, but independence lets me build the product users want, not the one a board demands. It’s scarier and slower, but the trade-off is waking up excited instead of obligated.
The Mental Marathon
Imposter syndrome screams louder than Slack pings. Some days meditation helps; other days it’s chips and late-night doomscrolling. I’ve learned the founder’s mental battery is the company’s single point of failure.
Five Lessons So Far
- Celebrate micro-wins. Momentum is built from tiny dopamine hits.
- Ship ugly, iterate often. Perfect launches never launch.
- Talk to users when it hurts. Pain points are product maps.
- Protect energy. Your calendar and your sleep are strategic assets.
- Define success as staying alive and learning faster than you burn cash.
Today and Tomorrow
We’re at $9 K MRR—ramen-profitable if I brew coffee at home. Alex is full-time; I finally pay myself a modest salary. An AI feature that drafts client proposals is in beta. Will it 10× growth or break everything? Probably both.
That’s the deal: perpetual uncertainty in exchange for the chance to create something meaningful. Some mornings I feel like I’m soaring; others I’m just tightening bolts mid-flight. Either way, the plane is still airborne—and for now, that’s exactly where I want to be.