From Founder to $2M+: How Agencies Can Scale Smarter (Without Adding Chaos)
Only 7% of Australian businesses ever make it past $2 million in annual revenue. For agencies, that milestone often feels more like a wall than a stepping stone, with agency growth stalling just when things should be taking off.
Jenny Stilwell’s Mumbrella article “How agencies can break through the $2 million revenue mark” hits the nail on the head: what gets you to $1M won’t get you to $2M. To scale, agencies need to simplify, sharpen, and shift from founder-led to truly CEO-led operations.
Pegasus client Talent Corp is one example. After implementing Pegasus, they gained control and clarity across their agency workflows:
"We’ve got better insight, better processes, and way fewer headaches. We’re not just surviving growth, we’re steering it." Mark Noakes, Managing Director, Talent Corp
Here’s how Pegasus helps make that possible.
The chaos point: when doing more starts costing more
As Jenny Stilwell explains, around the $1–1.5M mark, many agency owners are still juggling roles: director, strategist, account lead, rainmaker. It works — until it doesn’t.
New clients mean new team members. New jobs mean more spreadsheets. Every process adds another layer. The business becomes more complicated to manage, not easier to grow.
This is the moment where Pegasus clients often come to us: when they know they need to change how they run the agency, not just run faster.
Integrated operations: everything talks to everything
The first step to scaling is to eliminate manual tasks. In Pegasus, your core operational tools, Timesheets, Expenses, Production, Media, and Finance, are all integrated into a single system. They’re all part of one platform that includes smart workflows and automation.
Timesheets feed directly into job costing and profitability
Production and media bookings generate revenue streams
Third-party costs are logged once and matched directly to client billings
Finance functions like invoicing, cash flow and forecasting use real-time job and media data
Dashboards provide visibility and financial insights across the agency
It means no more reconciling data between tools. No more version control in spreadsheets. No more double entry. Just one source of truth.
Profitability you can actually see (and act on)
Many agencies fly blind on margins, especially across blended teams, hybrid jobs, or messy scopes. Pegasus gives you profitability visibility in real time, not just after month-end.
You’ll know:
Which clients are dragging margins down
Which jobs are bleeding scope
Where resource bottlenecks are happening
When billing lags behind delivery
Because all the data is connected, your team doesn’t need to manually crunch reports. You can act on insights now, not next quarter.
The CEO shift: lead with clarity, not control
As Jenny Stilwell says, scaling means stepping out of day-to-day delivery and into strategic leadership. Pegasus gives founders the visibility to do that with confidence.
With live dashboards, integrated financials, and workflows that don’t rely on one person to chase approvals or update a spreadsheet, agency leaders can zoom out and focus on what matters most:
Growing key client accounts
Supporting the leadership team
Building repeatable value
Letting go gets easier when the agency doesn’t fall apart without you.
Simplify to scale
Agencies that simplify operations and sharpen their focus consistently outperform those that attempt to be everything to everyone, according to Jenny Stilwell. Pegasus is the advertising agency software to make that simplification not just possible, but powerful.
Whether you’re stuck around $1.5M or planning your leap to $5M and beyond, Pegasus eliminates frustrating administrative and financial tasks, so you can focus on growth.
Ready to scale smarter? Talk to us.
Frequently Asked: How can Pegasus help my agency grow past $2M?
Q: What’s the main bottleneck for agencies hitting the $1.5M mark?
A: It’s usually operational complexity. Too many tools, too little visibility, and founder overload.
Q: How does Pegasus solve this?
A: Pegasus integrates Timesheets, Expenses, Production, Media, and Finance into one real-time platform. That means clearer profitability, faster approvals, and less spreadsheet chaos.
Q: Is Pegasus just for big agencies?
A: Not at all. In fact, many of our best-fit clients are around the $1–3M mark and want to scale without hiring 10 more people.