TL;DR

• ​We're launching signups for the Founding Cohort of a new group for agency leaders.
• We're kicking things off in October with our first quarterly pulse check.
• It's free for members who participate in quarterly surveys.
• Founding Cohort spots are open until the first survey in October.
• Founding Cohort members will have the opportunity to help shape future research.
• Later, we'll layer on optional paid surveys and interviews.
• ​NEW AGENCY SURVEY: Client Lifetime Value - Participate now and get the results.​
• I'm speaking at GatherUp's virtual agency event next week! Come say hi.​

We're exploring best practices for enhancing client LTV

Participate now and get access to the full report once it's ready!

“Most agencies had a fantastic third quarter, but leaders saw weakness in…”

Is what we’d write if there was a quarterly pulse check on the industry.

But, unfortunately, that doesn’t exist.

It’d be great to have some context around what’s selling and to whom.

Then, it’d make it easy for agency leaders to reposition offerings, focus their sales and marketing efforts on another industry, or simply forecast their demand better to help with capacity planning.

That insight would create confidence.

Last time we teased the new agency group we’re working on, and today, we’re opening up signups to the Founding Cohort.

The Founding Cohort for What?

A group of vetted digital agency leaders who can tell us what’s really going on out there.

It’s free for agency leaders.

It’s designed to give participants unparalleled insight into what’s going on in the market every quarter. It’ll finally answer the all too common “is it me, or the market?!”

Most importantly, the data is operator-sourced and verified. These are real insights from real agency leaders who are solving things in real time. This isn’t something that ChatGPT can give you.

All individual information is kept private, and no identifiable information will be shared with any third party for any reason ever.

​If you know us and our quality standards, sign up here. Everyone who signs up and participates before the October survey will be added to the Founding Cohort.

If you’d like more details, read on.

Early & Exclusive Insights

The main thrust of this initiative is to help agency leaders make better decisions faster by understanding what’s happening in the industry.

We’ll be doing this through quarterly briefs and webinars for everyone who’s a member.

The full briefs and invitations to the review webinars are exclusive to group members.

That’s the only way this thing works.

We may publish highlights, top-level stats, or licensable briefs that include some of the information, but to get the full picture, you have to be a member. When we do publish insights outside of the group, it’ll come with a significant delay. It’s critical for us to reward members first and foremost and give you time to act on the insights ahead of anyone else.

Accelerating Change

Things are moving fast.

It’s tough to keep up with the industries you serve, let alone your own industry. We want to make this easier with quarterly briefs.

These aren’t our typical long-form deep dives. Leaders need something faster. We’ll still have those, but we all need data that’s quicker to read, easier to digest, yet still deep enough to make the right strategic decisions from.

That’s the sweet spot we want to hit with these.

This means that we’ll be able to keep members updated on everything, even as the industry’s pace of change increases.

End Market Shifts

It isn’t just the agency space that’s moving quickly. Client industries are being reshaped by their own forces.

As this group grows, and we’re able to slice the data more finely, we’ll be able to provide deep insight into these forces and analyze how they might impact the agencies serving those spaces.

Participation

Membership is free, but we need an active group of agency leaders to provide the most insightful analysis possible. To remain a member of the group, each agency will need to participate in at least one survey each quarter.

Don’t worry, there’s a grace period. Miss a quarter and you keep access. Miss two and access pauses until your next contribution.

Most of the time we only need one submission from someone in a director, VP, or C-level role at an agency, so if anyone on your team can participate, that counts.

​Have your team sign up here to make sure everyone’s on the same page with shifts in your industry.​

Shaping Research

Founding cohort members will be able to participate in shaping future research topics.

They’ll have a direct line to request specific research topics on current trends and themes that are impacting the industry. When there’s enough interest in a new trend, we’ll include it in the quarterly pulse checks.

Twenty-Thousand Pennies for your Thoughts

Finally, in addition to the quarterly pulse checks, we’ll eventually offer paid survey and interview opportunities.

These are entirely optional, and we’re targeting roughly $200/hr compensation rates. Some will be more, some less. Most of our surveys take <15min, and they’re designed to be simple to participate in.

These surveys will be more of our traditional deep-dive surveys on specific topics relevant to agency leadership. Things like: How Digital Agencies Grow, New Shifts in How We Build for the Web, and Clear Leaders & A Crowded Middle.

Sometimes, a SaaS brand wants to understand how agency leaders think about something specific. In this case, we’ll facilitate their research process and loop in group members who want to help shape the brand’s roadmap and get paid for it.

Again, all fully optional.

Join The Network

Join before the October survey to get special Founding Cohort benefits, the quarterly brief, access to the readout for your agency's leadership team, help set what we study next, and make service mix, industry focus, and capacity decisions with live operator signal instead of guesswork.

Membership is free, your team only needs one contribution per quarter with a grace window, and you can opt in to paid studies when they fit.

Sign up now and give your firm a real edge for the quarters ahead.

GatherUp's Agency Back to School Event

I'm speaking at GatherUp's virtual agency event next week about how AI is impacting the agency space.