How She Beat the Big Firms With Kindness - Agency H5

Company: Agency H5
Owners: Kathleen Sarpy
Year Started: 2001
Employees: 51-100 

What if the secret to winning big clients wasn’t your portfolio but your principles? In this episode, Kathleen Sarpy, founder of Agency H5, shares how she built a successful agency from her basement by leading with kindness, persistence, and a clear set of values. Learn how a values-driven culture can become your agency’s greatest competitive advantage.

Key Takeaways

• The “no-asshole policy” that shaped her agency’s long-term success
• Why hiring for values beats hiring for skills—and what questions reveal the truth
• How to protect culture as your team gets bigger and leadership layers increase
• What most agency owners get wrong about balancing motherhood and ambition
• A memorable campaign that took her agency from $5K in revenue to CNN headlines