Building an Agency Holding Company w/ Peter Kang

While we’ve had troves of agency founders on this show, today’s guest brings a unique spin to the typical genesis story. Peter Kang, Co-Founder of Barrel Holdings, started out running a website agency some 20 years ago. 

Today, the business has evolved into a sprawling portfolio of agencies, all homegrown under a single holding company umbrella.

How did all this come to be?

Looking back, Peter’s path to a holding company co-founder might make complete sense, yet he got there by chance. 

Peter and his partner were at a crossroads, looking to sunset clients that did not fit their core ICP of Shopify clients, but there was a bump in the road; these were all revenue-generating clients. Luckily, one of their existing employees volunteered to spin these accounts out into a shop of its own, and run it, and so, Barrel Holdings was born.

Tune into the episode as Peter sits down with Corey to recount the story from early days as an agency founder to capitalizing on Shopify and Webflow momentum, all the way to spinning out a thriving holding company, and the leadership lessons Peter has picked up along the way.

"All our holding company agencies are homegrown.” – Peter Kang, Co-Founder of Barrel Holdings

Here’s what we cover in this episode:

- Peter’s journey from an agency founder to holding company builder.

- The role of partners like Shopify and Webflow in scaling an agency business.

- The holding company origin story, and what Peter’s holding company offers today.

- What he’s learned in 20+ years in the digital agency business.

Here are some actionable key takeaways for agency founders:

- Lean into fast growing partners in the ecosystem to drive lead flow.

- Having too diverse of a client pool can be a resource-suck, consider spinning independent divisions to reduce friction.

- Improve margins by developing reusable components to the products you’re selling.

- Make sure incentives are aligned with those who are going to be leading your business for overall success.

The resources mentioned in this episode are:

- Connect with Peter on LinkedIn Here
- Check out Barrel Holdings Here

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