Do you have a clear understanding of the client acquisition channels needed to grow your agency? Is your agency vulnerable to leadership or a client leaving? Today’s guest built his agency working with venture capitalists and private equity firms and found great success in that area, so much so that he never worried about client acquisition again. More recently, however, he’s been focusing more on setting up the channels that guarantee his agency’s growth and continued success. Learn more about his unconventional path to agency ownership and his commitment to quality over rushing to ship subpar work. David Baeza is the founder and CEO of Buttered Toast, an agency that works with the world's leading Venture Capitalists and Private Equity firms. They focus on growth architecture and lead generation, delivering powerful website designs, data-driven whitepapers, compelling ads, and customer testimonial videos. David shares his journey to becoming the founder of his own agency, his unique approach to pricing, and his areas of focus for future improvement. In this episode, we’ll discuss: Creating multiple acquisition channels. Charging on tangible results. Mastering client acquisition.  Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. Leaving a CMO Job and Starting an Agency to Serve Clients Creating an agency was never David's plan. However, his role as CMO at a venture-backed company in Boston demanded extensive daily commuting, especially as he was starting a family. When he eventually left that position, a VC board member invited him to join as a consultant and help some of their tech companies. With time, the same client asked him to build a company around that consulting gig. It took a little convincing from friends, but he ended up creating his company and once that first client opened up their VC network and portfolio, the work started to pour in. With only his prior knowledge in hiring agencies but enough experience building a marketing department, he set out to do just that and built a marketing department that venture-backed companies could reach to as needed. Embracing the Challenge of Creating Multiple Client Acquisition Channels Given the specific moment in time when he started his agency, for a long time, David didn’t have to worry about client prospecting. Clients just kept coming. Even once he started to remove himself from operations and spent the majority of his time in business development, it kept working. This continuous client flow remained the same during the pandemic while many other businesses were struggling. However, after 2022 the economy took a turn, and VC referrals dried up. His agency was left vulnerable and so they started focusing on their client acquisition strategy. Suddenly, David became very aware of the need to have multiple client acquisition channels in place to ensure a steady flow of clients. Now he has an upcoming book in the hopes of getting future speaking gigs, as well as a podcast, and weekly YouTube videos. Even though he now understands the importance of having an inbound channel, strategic partnerships, and outbound channels to balance the agency's client acquisition efforts, he wishes he’d started these efforts sooner to safeguard against potential disruptions and maintain a consistent flow of clients. However, the best time to start developing those channels if you haven’t already is RIGHT NOW, so he knows he’s on the right track. Charging Based on Delivering Tangible Results Since the beginning, David had a unique approach to pricing his agency's services, emphasizing charging for outcomes, rather