Libsyn Directory

Our Approach to Agency Acquisitions: Valuation Drivers and Deal Breakers | EP2

Release Date: 07/15/2025

The Six Levers of Profitable Client Engagements | EP20

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Running an agency is an exercise in risk management. In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim break down the most significant threats that can jeopardize an agency's survival. They move beyond daily annoyances to focus on the high-impact risks that can truly put a business in danger. Using a simple risk matrix framework, Peter and Sei-Wook categorize and explore nine critical vulnerabilities, from founder burnout and partner conflict to client concentration and strategic misalignment. They provide actionable advice on how to identify, prepare for, and mitigate each risk, sharing...

Learning From Other Agency Owners | EP19

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Great agencies are not built in isolation. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim explore the transformative power of community and peer learning for agency founders. The hosts share their personal journey from working in a silo to actively seeking mentorship and joining dedicated communities, revealing how these connections helped them avoid blind spots, gain crucial perspective, and accelerate their growth. Peter and Sei-Wook break down specific communities that have been instrumental to their journey, including Bureau of Digital, Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA), and Collective 54....

Why Agencies Rely on Referrals But Few Treat It as a System | EP18

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Most agencies say they rely on referrals, but few treat them as a system. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim dismantle the "hope-based" approach to referrals and lay out a strategic framework for building a consistent pipeline. Drawing from the book The Referral Code, they redefine referrals as a transfer of goodwill and share actionable tactics for intentional referral generation. Peter and Sei-Wook cover how to identify the right people to ask, the critical importance of timing your ask within a "state of appreciation," and how to craft effective, open-ended questions. They also...

How Agencies Should Think About and Manage Risk | EP 17

The AgencyHabits Podcast

In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim break down the six fundamental levers that drive profitability across all client engagements, whether you run fixed-fee projects, retainers, or long-term service programs. Drawing from real challenges within their own portfolio at Barrel Holdings, Peter and Sei-Wook provide a practical framework for diagnosing and fixing margin compression. They start by defining gross margin and then explore each lever in detail: from pricing and scoping to staffing, engagement design, scope management, reusable IP, and the role of automation and AI. The...

Scaling Your Agency Beyond $2M | EP 16

The AgencyHabits Podcast

In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim dissect why agencies hit this wall and what you can do to break through. They explain how founder-centric systems that work at a smaller scale become the primary constraint to growth, leading to breakdowns in client delivery, team management, and financial visibility. The hosts share actionable solutions, from improving onboarding and implementing debrief processes to strategically hiring for your weaknesses and deepening financial rigor. They also introduce the Agency Systems Playbook, a framework of five core systems that drive a scalable agency....

How Agencies Can Be Better at Marketing Themselves | EP 15

The AgencyHabits Podcast

In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim tackle a common agency pitfall: treating marketing as a short-term, reactive effort only when leads dry up. They argue for a fundamental mindset shift, framing marketing as a long-term investment in reputation and awareness, similar to the compounding benefits of consistent exercise. Peter and Sei-Wook first outline the "basics" of agency marketing: from social posts and case studies to newsletters and events, and then dive deep into six specific, unconventional examples. They share their own experiences with a 24-hour website challenge and...

[REPLAY] Why & How to Prune Your Client Roster for Agency Growth | EP 19

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Holding on to the wrong clients can stunt your agency's growth, drain your team's morale, and cripple your profitability. This statement holds value for agency owners who are overwhelmed by client demands, feel trapped by early, problematic clients, or are struggling to focus their service offerings for maximum impact. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim tackle the difficult but essential practice of proactively reviewing and pruning your client list. Drawing from Barrel's own journey of specialization, they provide a clear-eyed framework for evaluating which clients are worth...

[REPLAY] How Much Cash Should Your Agency Keep on Hand? | EP 18

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Profit on paper doesn't pay the bills. Learn the best practices for designing payment terms and invoicing cadences to create a smooth, predictable cash flow. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim tackle one of the most critical yet misunderstood aspects of running an agency: cash flow management. They break down the dangerous gap between your P&L's accrual-based profitability and the real money in your bank account, explaining why even "profitable" agencies can face insolvency. Peter and Sei-Wook share hard-earned lessons from their own journey, including how much cash reserve is...

[REPLAY] How Specialization Impacts Your Agency’s Growth, Margins, and Valuation | EP 16

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Is your agency a "jack-of-all-trades, master of none"? In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim dive deep into the transformative power of agency specialization. They break down the critical difference between internal specialization and external positioning, and reveal why narrowing your focus is the ultimate growth accelerator for agencies under $10M in revenue. Peter and Sei-Wook share Barrel Holdings' own journey from a generalist agency serving investment banks and nail salons to a specialized leader in the Shopify CPG space. They provide a clear-eyed view of the trade-offs...

[REPLAY] Are You Calculating Your Agency’s Profits Correctly? | EP 15

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Agency profitability isn’t always what it seems. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim break down how to really evaluate your agency’s profit. The hosts also talks about why two agencies reporting the same margins can mean totally different things. They unpack the difference between EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) and SDE (Seller’s Discretionary Earnings), showing how owner salaries, distributions, and “normalization” adjustments can completely change the story. Whether you’re thinking about selling your agency or just want a clearer...

More Episodes

In this episode of Agency Habits, Peter Kang interviews Sei-Wook Kim on the inner workings of agency acquisitions and valuations at Barrel Holdings. They break down the exact criteria they use when evaluating whether to acquire an agency and explain the logic behind their valuation framework: what increases the price, what brings it down, and how seller goals shape the final deal.

If you're building an agency with the intention to sell (now or years from now), this episode will help you understand how experienced buyers actually think: what they're measuring, what red flags they catch fast, and what signals a business is built to last.

They also discuss the emotional side of selling, legacy, and the difference between cashing out and compounding long-term value.

Key Moments
1. Why Barrel Holdings pivots between building and buying agencies
2. The evolution of their acquisition criteria and "buy box" parameters
3. How specialization drives both defensibility and higher valuations
4. The critical importance of recurring revenue and client diversification
5. Why proprietary technology can actually hurt agency valuations
6. How seller motivations dramatically impact deal structure and pricing
7. The emotional side of agency sales and preserving legacy

Real Talk Takeaways
1. Recurring revenue and retention unlock higher multiples.
2. Agencies with clear positioning and playbooks stand out fast.
3. Client and lead source concentration are silent risks buyers notice immediately.
4. Founders who’ve stepped back (and trained successors) are more valuable.
5. Legacy matters. Some sellers will trade upside for story.

Timestamps
00:00 – Welcome to Agency Habits
00:33 – Why buy versus build? The acceleration advantage of acquisitions
02:08 – Inside Barrel Holdings' "buy box" criteria: $2-10M revenue, 15%+ EBITDA
03:23 – How deal size and structure constraints shape acquisition strategy
03:41 – The power of specialization: why niche agencies win
05:14 – Platform plays: riding the growth wave of Shopify and Webflow
05:31 – Top value drivers: what makes agencies worth more
06:44 – The importance of predictable, recurring revenue streams
07:10 – Revenue consistency vs. growth: why stable beats volatile
08:20 – Client concentration red flags: the 15-20% danger zone
09:30 – How agency reputation manifests in organic deal flow
10:08 – Business development diversification: avoiding single-source risk
10:49 – Team retention, margin efficiency, and operational excellence
12:17 – The nuance of employee retention: performance vs. loyalty
13:18 – What's less important: proprietary tech and unsustainable growth
16:07 – How seller goals affect valuation and deal structure
17:37 – Risk pricing: why seller involvement impacts multiples
18:28 – The emotional side: legacy, brand preservation, and life circumstances
20:26 – Wrapping up: the complexity beyond pure numbers

Notable Quotes
"Consistency helps give us the confidence that future years will look like the past years."
“Specialization isn’t just for SEO, it’s your valuation strategy.”
“High revenue with low margin? That’s not scale, it’s a red flag.”
“Legacy isn't soft. It shapes how sellers price the future.”
“The emotional story behind the numbers tells us more than the deck ever will.”

Links & Resources
Peter Kang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkang34/
Sei-Wook on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seiwookkim/
AgencyHabits Website: https://www.agencyhabits.com/
AgencyHabits on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/agencyhabits/
Barrel Holdings Website: https://www.barrel-holdings.com/
Barrel Holdings LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/barrel-holdings/

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