Laura Humphreys
Built her agency from scratch to more than $10 million in billings, won Agency of the Year, and sold it to Ogilvy. Then built and sold a second business.
Agency 2.0 Operating System™
Build the agency you really want… faster
For established agency or consultancy founders who've hit the ceiling of what got them here… and want a business that grows, pays, and runs without them.
Introducing
The Agency 2.0 Operating System™
Agency 1.0 got you this far.
You built it with everything you knew: your experience, your instincts, your ability to win clients, do great work, and solve problems as they turned up. And it worked.
Until the next stage started to feel much harder. New business takes more effort than it used to. Margins aren't where you want them. The team has grown, but too much still comes back to you. You can see the next version of the business: better clients, recurring revenue, stronger margins, a team that runs more of it without you. The ambition isn't the problem. Getting from here to there is.
"You only know what you know."As one of our members put it
And the ground is moving. AI is commoditising the agencies that look like everyone else, and quicker than they expect. The ones that come through it will be clear about where they add real value, have something genuinely different, and won't depend on the founder to make everything happen.
That's not a reason to panic. It's a reason to redesign now, while you still have the clients, the team, and the cash flow to do it properly.
Our Goal
Build you an agency that wins better clients without you driving every deal, keeps more of what it earns, and runs without you doing everybody else's job. Valuable enough to sell. Good enough to keep.
What that looks like in numbers
+$1m
added revenue
20%+
net profit
25%+
recurring revenue
25–50%
of founder time in the CEO seat, off the tools
Not everyone hits all four in year one. But these are the numbers that make an agency scalable, valuable and saleable, and they're what we design your plan around.
After 180+ agency owners
Here's what's actually true
After working with more than 180 agency owners, we see the same three problems every time:
Weak positioning.
You're good, but you look like everyone else. In an AI-disrupted market, that's dangerous.
No consistent growth system.
New business happens in bursts, driven by referrals or by you personally.
The owner is still too hands-on.
The business can't perform without you, which caps its growth and its value.
Fix one and you get a temporary lift. Fix all three, in the right order, and the whole business changes gear. You don't need to work harder at Agency 1.0. You need a new design for Agency 2.0, and people beside you who've built it before.
Your experts
Who's beside you
This isn't delivered by career coaches.
Phil Goodman
Co-founded Brandwidth, built it to £16 million and around 100 people, and led it through a merger and exit.
Livia Esterhazy
Ex-CEO major globals Saatchi, Ogilvy, Clemenger, plus small independent Assignment Group.
Between us we've built agencies, scaled them, led large teams, and exited them. We know the decisions you're making because we've made them.
The framework
The Agency 2.0 Flywheel
Seven strategies, three outcomes, one agency that moves under its own power.
Strong Positioning
A clear picture of the agency you're building, your own IP that makes you harder to replace, and exactly which clients you want more of.
Consistent Growth
A repeatable system for attracting and winning the high-value clients you actually want, and a deliberate plan to grow the ones you have.
Self-Managing
The team, structure, and leadership that let the agency perform without everything depending on you, and the handful of value drivers that tell you whether it's working.
The method
How we build it
Design once. Then build.
01 · DESIGN
Positioning, offer, and the plan
02 · GROW
A repeatable way to win better clients
03 · BUILD
Structure, A-players, the right numbers
04 · LEAD
You in the CEO seat, not the delivery seat
Phase 1 · Days 1–60
Design
Most agency strategy work dies because it takes forever, in fits and starts between client emergencies. So we rebuilt how it gets done.
For each of the seven strategies there's an AI Designer that prompts your thinking and turns it into a properly designed strategy in a fraction of the time. Then a real human who's built and sold an agency reviews it and tells you what's strong, what's soft, and what they'd change. Seven strategies, seven rounds of expert feedback. The Designers make you fast. The Experts make you right.
Then it all comes together into your Agency 2.0 Blueprint: one agency, one plan, one direction, pressure-tested in a private session with your Expert, and turned into your first 90-Day Plan.
And you don't wait for the Blueprint to see results:
Sanket · Melange Digital · India
$1.4M in new business during the Design phase
“We've closed $1.4 million in three months. That used to be my 12-month revenue.”
Tony · Shepherd Group · UK
Landed a £283,000 contract
Put his new positioning in market while still designing.
“Our first proposal after Agency 2.0 landed us the biggest contract we've ever won.”
Phase 2
Grow
We turn your positioning, ideal clients, and IP into a working commercial engine: a repeatable way to identify, approach, and win the clients you really want, and a plan to grow the gold hidden in your existing portfolio.
Mike · Whippet Digital · NZ
New proposals in market at 3x previous rates
Tightened niche. Clarified IP Engine. Targeted at ideal clients. Winning formula.
Lindsay · Natterjack Marketing · UK
Turnover doubled within her first year with us
Had lost two major clients and was ready to give up.
“I honestly don't know if the business would still exist. But here we are, thriving.”
Phase 3
Build
Winning better clients is only useful if the business underneath can handle it. This is where the right structure goes in: A-players in the right seats, clear accountability, work and decisions moving away from you, and where you finally get the right numbers in front of you. The handful of value drivers a buyer would look at if you sold, and that decide whether growth turns into profit if you don't.
Deanna · Notice & Co · Australia
From break-even to a 25% net profit margin within one quarter
Restructured the team, repriced, stopped over-servicing.
“I went to Bali last month and for the first time ever, it was business as usual without me.”
Jenni & Bryan · Fox & Owl Marketing · USA
Biggest recurring-revenue client ever
50% of clients moved to higher-value packages.
“Now 10X doesn't even feel big enough.”
Phase 4
Lead
You can redesign the agency, fix the growth engine, and build a stronger team, but if everything still comes back to you, you haven't changed the business. This is where your job changes: from delivery and firefighting to strategy, leadership, and the decisions that move the agency forward. With the rhythm to hold it: your value drivers in front of you, 90-day priorities, protected time to work on the business.
Darryl · DCA Architecture · NZ
Strongest year for profit and growth
Still on the tools after 20 years, revenue plateaued, all partners heavy in projects, feeling restricted by regional location. Today he leads as CEO while his partners lead project teams. Five offices across the Pacific, in a down market where competitors are laying people off.
Agency 2.0 is not just a business that doesn't need you. It's one that grows beyond you.
The investment
How it works
Your first 30 days
$1,000 (until October 31st, 2026)
Agency 2.0 is a 12-month program, but try us for 30 days first to see how it fits.
You start with the Agency 2.0 Growth Scan, benchmarking your agency against all seven strategies so you can see exactly where the gaps are.
Then your private 1:1 mapping workshop with an Expert to decide where to begin.
Then we move fast:
- Open your first AI Designers and get your first strategies designed and reviewed
- Join the weekly implementation sessions and meet the community
- Act on the first opportunity we spot: most members find one in the first fortnight
The goal is momentum, a clear starting point, and making sure we're a fit.
30-day implementorship
Love it or leave it
By the end of the first 30 days, we'll both know. If either of us decides it isn't the right fit, you leave with no further commitment. No conditions, no hoops.
This is what can happen in 30 days… the agency owners below were both 2 weeks in when sharing the wins below:
The year
$1,000/month
Everything below is aimed at the same four numbers: +$1m revenue, 20%+ net profit, 25%+ recurring, and you 25–50% in the CEO seat.
If we're both in after 30 days, we keep going. Here's what that looks like:
- Seven AI Designers, seven rounds of expert feedback - Every strategy designed and validated by someone who's done it.
- Your Agency 2.0 Blueprint - Pulled together and pressure-tested 1:1.
- Weekly implementation sessions - Bring whatever you're working through, leave with a decision.
- A private 90-Day Accelerator every quarter - 1:1 with your allocated Expert: review progress against your four value drivers, decide what matters most next, leave with your next 90-Day Plan.
- Tools and resources for every strategy, and the Agency 2.0 community - Agency owners across the UK, US, NZ, Australia, South Africa, India, Singapore and Europe, plus the annual in-person meet-up.
A couple of hours a week, plus thinking time. As one member put it, "you'll spend more time on Netflix than it takes to do this properly."
Note
2026 pricing: $1,000/month until 31 October.
$1,200/month from 31 October.
$1,500/month from January 2027.
Your rate is locked for your first 12 months.
Fit check
Is this you?
Built for you if:
- You've owned your agency for around five years or more, with a team and clients in place
- You've built something you're proud of, and it's stalled
- The business is still far too dependent on you
- You've reached the end of what you already know how to do
- You want a clear plan for the next stage, and possibly an exit
- You're ready to be challenged, and to act on what you hear
Not for you if:
- You're at start-up stage: join Agency Reinvent and come back when you have a team to redesign
- You want someone to run your agency rather than help you lead it
- You want tactics and hacks rather than a redesign
- You're not prepared to hear some home truths
- You won't protect a couple of hours a week to work on the business
We keep the numbers deliberately small, so we're selective about who we accept.
Ready to start?
Your Agency 2.0 starts with 30 days
01
Start your 30-day trial.
Take the Assessment, have your mapping workshop, open your first Designer.
02
Get moving.
You're designing Agency 2.0 in week one.
03
Decide.
If it's right, you're already underway. If it isn't, you leave with no further commitment.
Question first? Message Laura on LinkedIn or email laura@smash.global. No call required.
To your success,
Laura, Phil & Livia
Agency 2.0
P.S. Every year you spend optimising Agency 1.0 is a year you're not building Agency 2.0. You only know what you know: that's not a criticism; it's the reason most agencies plateau, and it's the one thing we can fix quickly.