The micro-agency boom is going to create some INCREDIBLY profitable businesses.
By Johnghiorso · November 10, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
The micro-agency boom is going to create some INCREDIBLY profitable businesses.
AI is fundamentally changing the economics of running an agency. You can now build a business with significantly less headcount, lower overhead, and potentially MUCH higher margins.
But most of what we've learned about building and scaling great agencies over the last 20 years still applies.
I built and sold Orca Pacific under the traditional agency model, and now I'm helping build and scale a new generation of highly specialized, AI-powered micro agencies.
And there are a few things I'd be looking for in any agency business, regardless of how much AI it's using.
First, you need to solve a difficult, ongoing problem that clients are willing to pay an outside expert to solve year after year.
You need some kind of defensible advantage. That might be proprietary data, deep expertise, industry relationships, or strategic partnerships.
And you need to operationalize both growth and delivery. A business that can consistently acquire customers, deliver excellent results, and retain them without the founder being involved in every decision.
AI makes it possible to do all of this with a MUCH smaller team.
The opportunity to build real enterprise value with a fraction of the traditional overhead is incredible. But realizing that opportunity still depends on the same fundamentals that made great agencies successful in the first place.