Drew McLellan Agency consultant and podcast host with over 25 years of agency expertise.

“I think it's about 10 or 15 people. That's when an agency owner no longer knows everything that's going on inside the agency. When you're five people you're like a unit that just moves together, but you get to double digits and all of a sudden you have people working on work that other people don't see. The owner can no longer keep their finger on the pulse, and you need checks and balances that you did not need at four or five people.”

Build a Better Agency Podcast · Agency Business · November 2026

Context

The guest asked at what size agency owners lose track of their numbers. The host gives his rule of thumb from years of working with agency owners.

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Transcript

Build a Better Agency Podcast Around 35:48 into the episode

Drew McLellan

Yeah, you got to have checks and balances for sure. Is there a signal that an agency owner should look for that says that a bookkeeper alone, that financial unicorn is not enough? And they really do need to think about a financial system that doesn't rely on an individual.

Niall Cotter

…have said, once I hit 20 people, I exceeded my RAM and all of a sudden it was confusing to get answers from anything. And I was just glad they did my taxes and did the monthly reporting. And I will answer your question, but I was just interested, like, what's the kind of feedback that you honestly,

Drew McLellan

I think it's about 10 or 15 people. 10 or 15 people is when an agency owner no longer knows everything that's going on inside the agency right and the minute you know when you're five people you're like a you're like a unit that just moves all five of you do everything together but you get to that double digit and all of a sudden you have people working on work that other people don't see and the owner can no longer keep their finger on the pulse of everything and that's the minute when the risk is you because you don't have full visibility you are vulnerable even to sloppy work maybe it's not fraud but it's sloppy work or as you said earlier assumptions that are incorrect or whatever but you need you need checks and balances that you did not need at four or five

Niall Cotter

people yeah i mean i always go back to the owner's questions right so you know you know what questions are going unanswered in your books right uh are you feeling comfortable that you've got proper controls that protect you know the money or the the assets that you have built up over time do you…

Drew McLellan

Yeah.

Niall Cotter

The more difficult ones are, can I rely on my cost to deliver numbers? Right. Do I know how to price? When I go for this loan because I want to grow the company, am I throwing good money after bad? Or am I actually looking for financial assistance because I'm growing and it's going to take a little…

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

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