Agency Growth Summit

Welcome to the event!

Hear what’s coming up, and who’s in the room, before we get on with the day.

We’ll be hearing from the sponsors of this event, Teamwork.

“I’ve spoken to three or four founders recently who were centimetres away from a bad deal,” says Simon Penson. “It’s easy to say yes when someone offers to ‘take the pain away’ – but that’s when you lose something very valuable.”

Simon knows the M&A game inside out. As founder of Scaled, he’s guided dozens of agency leaders through the deal-making minefield. His warning? Don’t let desperation or flattery dictate your exit.

In this talk, Simon will unpick how roll-ups and other deals really work:

• How to protect yourself with smart advice.
• The red-flag deal structures that undervalue your agency.
• What a fair earn-out looks like – and why most fail.

“How do you pull off a successful acquisition?”

That’s the question Becky Simms set out to answer.

Founder and CEO of Reflect Digital, Becky now leads the Human First Collective, a 75-person group that recently acquired Freestyle into LAB. This wasn’t a numbers-only deal. The motivation was people first.

In this session, Becky shares what really happens when one agency buys another – especially for the team being acquired. From timing the announcement to handling mixed reactions, she offers honest lessons on values, communication, and why you’ll never please everyone. A thoughtful, human take on growth without chaos.

“Every hire counts,” says Kate Higham – and she’s learned that lesson first-hand. Since Born Social was acquired by Croud in 2022, the agency has grown from 70 people to nearly 200, with new teams, a US expansion, and a very different operational reality.

In this session, Kate explains why you can’t scale revenue without scaling talent. She shares how to hire at the right time, avoid panic decisions, and build always-on talent pipelines that support sustainable growth. A practical guide to growing without breaking your agency.

“I really believe I’ve grown the perfect lifestyle business,” says Gareth Hoyle.

Gareth runs Marketing Signals, a 30-person, fully remote agency turning over £2m on a four-day, 32-hour week – without the stress most founders accept as normal. This wasn’t accidental. Gareth built clear systems, strong leadership, and outcome-focused processes that allow him to step back from the day-to-day and focus on direction, not delivery.

In this session, he shares how to build a calm, profitable agency that supports your life – without sacrificing ambition or impact.

“How do you pull off a successful acquisition?”

That’s the question Becky Simms set out to answer.

Founder and CEO of Reflect Digital, Becky now leads the Human First Collective, a 75-person group that recently acquired Freestyle into LAB. This wasn’t a numbers-only deal. The motivation was people first.

In this session, Becky shares what really happens when one agency buys another – especially for the team being acquired. From timing the announcement to handling mixed reactions, she offers honest lessons on values, communication, and why you’ll never please everyone. A thoughtful, human take on growth without chaos.

“Every hire counts,” says Kate Higham – and she’s learned that lesson first-hand. Since Born Social was acquired by Croud in 2022, the agency has grown from 70 people to nearly 200, with new teams, a US expansion, and a very different operational reality.

In this session, Kate explains why you can’t scale revenue without scaling talent. She shares how to hire at the right time, avoid panic decisions, and build always-on talent pipelines that support sustainable growth. A practical guide to growing without breaking your agency.

“I really believe I’ve grown the perfect lifestyle business,” says Gareth Hoyle.

Gareth runs Marketing Signals, a 30-person, fully remote agency turning over £2m on a four-day, 32-hour week – without the stress most founders accept as normal. This wasn’t accidental. Gareth built clear systems, strong leadership, and outcome-focused processes that allow him to step back from the day-to-day and focus on direction, not delivery.

In this session, he shares how to build a calm, profitable agency that supports your life – without sacrificing ambition or impact.

Founder of Friday Solved, Ryan Hall will talk you through three case studies and give you all the tips and tricks to unlocking that next layer of growth.

“Every time I thought about selling, it just felt wrong,” says Adam Hill, founder of Designate.

After 33 years of resisting acquisition, Adam built an independent agency designed for flexibility, not exit. In this session, Adam and MD Miriam Boote share how independence became a strategic advantage – allowing Designate to pivot, shrink, and rebuild through turbulent years.

From consciously choosing a smaller, sharper team to recognising long-earned leadership from within, they explore what growth looks like when it’s on your own terms, and why independence can be a powerful path forward.

The day will round of with Hackers’ own, Ian Harris.

He’ll round off the day with the key takeaways.