"The reality is, in my experience, a lot of those shiny companies are actually harder to work with. They're more volatile."
How do you build a recruitment agency that not only scales but survives the founder’s eventual exit? On this episode of Carrot & Stick, host Derry Holt dives deep with Sam Crisp, the former founder of the highly successful SaaS recruitment agency, Orama.
Sam shares his explosive journey of growing a business to 60 people and then making the strategic decision to step away. The discussion tackles the critical mistakes in early-stage scaling, the hidden dangers of the 'shiny client' syndrome, and why process, systems, and data integrity are the true architecture of long-term success.
What we cover in this episode
Agency to Founder: The 'Why'
The path from consultant to owner requires shifting focus from immediate revenue to building repeatable, sustainable systems.
The Architecture of Scale
Structuring your business (defining roles, progression, legal/IT) must precede rapid growth to prevent major operational issues.
ICP vs. DCP
Avoid chasing 'shiny' brand clients that drain resources and instead focus on your true Ideal Customer Profile for repeatable revenue and efficient placements.
The Power of Pointless
Authentic, non-transactional conversations (e.g., coffee meetings without an agenda) are the ultimate long-term strategy for building client loyalty and network strength.
Turn Insight Into Action
Sam speaks about how success hinges on data-driven strategy and accountability, not intuition or ego. Is your agency maximizing its client efficiency? If poor CRM adoption, fuzzy KPIs, and wasted activity on low-yield clients are dragging down your profit margins, you lack the core visibility needed to scale.
OneUp Sales provides the essential engagement and performance analytics platform to drive consistent data habits, focus activity on high-value tasks, and motivate consultants to crush their targets.
