Episodes

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Kimley Cox, founder of Drive Talent, a retained search firm specializing in precision manufacturing. Kimley shares her journey from decades in recruiting to laun...

In this special episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes distills lessons from dozens of conversations with agency founders, consultants, and acquirers into a focused breakdown of what drives agency growth. The discussion ...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Greg Heilers, co-founder of Jolly SEO, an agency focused on earned link building and media placements. Greg shares his unconventional entrepreneurial journey, fr...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Grant Hensel, founder of Nonprofit Megaphone and managing partner at Entrepreneur Capital. Grant shares how he built a highly specialized agency serving nonprofi...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Peter Kang, co-founder of Barrel and Barrel Holdings. Peter shares his 18-year journey in building a digital agency from the ground up, navigating the shift from...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes chats with Will Smith, host of Acquiring Minds and partner at Minds Capital. Will shares how his frustration with startup ideas led him to entrepreneurship through acquisiti...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes talks with Mushfiq Sarker, an experienced entrepreneur and founder of webacquisition.com. Mushfiq shares how he transitioned from flipping content websites to acquiring agen...

In this episode of Retained Trust , host Karl Hughes talks with Mark Bealin, founder of SearchLab, a Chicago-based digital marketing agency specializing in local SEO and PPC. Mark recounts his journey from side-hustle entrepr...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Dan Andrews—entrepreneur, podcaster, and co-creator of the Tropical MBA and Dynamite Circle. Dan recounts his entrepreneurial journey from corporate frustration ...

In this episode of Retained Trust , host Karl Hughes sits down with his co-founder Manuel Weiss for their quarterly update. They open up about recent challenges and wins across their portfolio, especially the contrasting traj...

In this episode of Retained Trust , host Karl Hughes reconnects with Kurt Schnakenberg, founder of adbm.agency, to reflect on the agency’s growth, challenges, and pivotal lessons from its first 1.4 years. Kurt discusses the r...

In this episode of Retained Trust , host Karl Hughes reconnects with Chris Gwinn, founder of Midwest CFO, to explore what he's learned in the first year of building his fractional CFO firm. Chris shares how refining driver-ba...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Jon Schroeder, founder and CEO of Joy Fluent. Jon shares the journey behind BrewJoy, a new plant-based product designed to prevent coffee-related teeth stains, a...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Jake Ward, founder and CEO of Data Protocol, a platform supporting developer education and experience. Jake shares his path from public affairs to tech entrepren...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Derek Delost, who shares his path from digital marketing burnout to agency ownership through the acquisition of DotYeti. Derek explains why starting from scratch...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Christian Banach, a growth consultant for marketing agencies with a background that spans concert promotions, celebrity events, and enterprise sales. Christian s...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Jesse Gilmore, founder of Niche in Control and author of The Agency Owner’s Guide to Freedom . Jesse shares his journey from hustle-heavy entrepreneurship to cre...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes talks with Greg Henry, founder of Push10, about his evolution from solo freelancer to leading multiple specialized agency brands. Greg shares how a focus on higher-quality c...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Greg Hickman, founder of Alt Agency. Greg shares his journey from running a full-service marketing automation agency to building a lean education and consulting ...

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Ross Brown, founder of Flex Ops and former managing director of a fast-scaling influencer marketing agency. Ross shares lessons from helping agencies scale past ...

In this solo episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes walks through the real-world process of selling a digital marketing agency. Drawing on his experience as both a buyer and seller, Karl lays out the key financial concep...

In this episode of Retained Trust, Karl Hughes speaks with Lana Rafaela, founder at Cherry Red Content, a boutique agency focused on tailored content marketing solutions for early-stage, bootstrapped startups. Lana shares her...

In this episode of Retained Trust, Karl reunites in person with partner Manny to break down how they’ve scaled their agencies and the lessons they’re carrying forward. They discuss real growth numbers, sales call improvements...

In this episode of Retained Trust , host Karl Hughes talks with JD Graffam, founder of Simple Focus and operator of a portfolio of SaaS companies. JD shares how he grew from a small-town agency owner to running multiple busin...