The cobbler's children problem, and why it matters more now
Every agency owner knows the joke: the agency launches products for clients all year and never launches its own. There is always a client deadline, always a pitch, always a reason the internal project slips another quarter. For years that was an acceptable cost. Services paid well, and a product was a nice idea for later.
Later has arrived. AI tools now produce first drafts of copy, creative, reports and media plans, and clients know it. Retainers face pressure, procurement teams ask for line-item justification and some clients move work in-house. Meanwhile the agencies with the strongest positions tend to own something: software, data, a certification, a vertical platform. Every industry is a geek away from being uberized, and agencies are watching it happen to their own model.
The irony is that agencies are well placed to build products. They understand positioning, audiences and channels better than most founders. What they lack is protected time, a product build team and the discipline to test their own idea as ruthlessly as they would test a client's. Fast Start supplies exactly that: build the first version, put it in market, find the offers and channels that pay, establish the real acquisition cost and only then scale.
Fast Start or a joint venture: which conversation to have
Random Income offers agencies two very different paths, and recommending the right one is what makes you a trusted partner rather than a salesperson.
Fast Start is for an agency that wants to launch its own product and own it outright. It carries a higher monthly fee, $32,500, and the agency keeps the whole venture. A Joint Venture build is for an agency that wants a full growth stack to offer clients, built and run together with a team that shares in the venture, at a lower monthly fee of $18,200. Our page on joint ventures for marketing agencies covers that route.
A quick test: if the owner talks about my product, my platform or my brand, it is a Fast Start conversation. If the owner talks about what my clients keep asking for, it is usually a joint venture. When a large idea sits behind either, the Big Idea application at jeff-cline.com/idea lets the owner see whether it qualifies for a larger technology investment.
Who buys, and agency launches worth testing
The decision belongs to the founder, the managing partner or a partner group, sometimes with a head of innovation or a chief operating officer as the champion. These scenarios are hypothetical and show the reasoning only.
- The dashboard clients want to buy. An agency built reporting software for its own accounts, and clients ask to license it. Fast Start tests it as a standalone product sold to companies the agency does not serve.
- The vertical platform. An agency that serves only veterinary clinics, or only credit unions, wants a software product for that niche. Fast Start builds it and measures acquisition cost inside a market the agency already understands.
- The training product. An agency's method is respected, and in-house marketing teams want to learn it. Fast Start tests a course, certification or membership version.
- The agency-owned brand. A creative agency wants to prove it can grow a consumer brand of its own. Fast Start supplies the build and tracking so the experiment is measured honestly.
- The pre-sale move. Partners planning an eventual sale want recurring product revenue on the books first.
Conversation starters for an agency founder
Agency owners are pitched constantly, so ask about their ambitions, not your offer.
What have you built for clients or for yourselves that you have always thought could be a product?
If a buyer looked at your agency tomorrow, how much of your revenue would they see as recurring and owned?
You would never let a client launch without a test plan. What is the test plan for your own idea?
Which vertical do you know so well that you could build the software it is missing?
Partners who know agency founders include fractional chief marketing officers, business coaches who work with agency owners, agency M&A advisers and brokers, CPAs who serve creative firms and agency owners who refer peers in other markets. For agencies and marketing technology more broadly, our referral partner page for marketing agencies and our look at the uberized marketing industry go further.
Referring an agency and how commissions work
You take the free test, get matched and receive a profile page, share link, QR code and back office. Share your link or upload the referral with a short disclosure note. Random Income and the Fast Start team handle discovery, the proposal, the build and the support, and you can see every click, form and quote request on the referral. Many partners give this about two focused hours a week.
Strategic Partners are 1099 independent contractors, never employees, and accounts belong to individuals only, not to agencies. On Fast Start you earn your commission percentage only on the $32,500 monthly SaaS fee Random Income actually collects, for as long as the client keeps paying. There is no equity in the agency or its product, no share of the success fee and no other upside. An investor-funded OPM deal pays a one-time $5,000 referral fee instead. Refunds and chargebacks are deducted. Payouts run on the 21st of the month after we are paid once your balance reaches $500, with smaller balances carrying forward to the next payout cycle. ID and W-9 come first, and we issue a 1099-NEC.
Agencies that should wait
Do not refer an agency that has lost a major client and needs revenue this quarter; a product launch is an investment, not a rescue. Leave out agencies that want Fast Start as an outsourced development shop for client work, owners who will not give the product its own budget and leader, and partner groups that disagree about the direction of the firm.
If you work at an agency, check your employment agreement before referring your employer or its competitors.