In this internal episode of Beyond SEO, Glen sits down with Kevin and Sarif to talk honestly about the next chapter for Growthack: moving from a solo consultancy model to a small, senior “special forces” team – and what that means for B2B and eCommerce brands trying to grow in a tougher market.
It’s not a five-year fantasy planning session. It’s a practical look at the next 6–12 months, the reality of building a team, and why staying lean, specialist and close to the work is central to Growthack’s future.
From Solo Consultant to Specialist Team
Kevin built Growthack as a consulting practice – an SEO specialist with an assistant, doing everything from strategy and implementation to reporting, invoicing and client communication:
“I like to think of it as I was an SEO consultant with an assistant – that being Sarif. That model is fine, but it’s not going to help us grow. Everything relies on one person.”
That model worked in the early years, but it had obvious limits. Client delivery depended heavily on Kevin’s time, evenings and weekends blurred into work, and there was no real “system” that could scale without burning out the founder.
The shift started when Growthack brought in an operations consultant to help Kevin move from “doing the work” to building a structure around it:
“I had to find an operations consultant to help me make that transition because it was very scary. I’m good at spotting what’s broken – not always at spotting what’s possible on the other side of risk.”
Thinking in 6–12 Month Windows, Not 5-Year Plans
Early in the episode, Kevin pushes back on the idea of fixed five-year plans. Someone recently told him to “rip up” any 5-year roadmap and focus on what can realistically be shaped in the next 12–18 months.
For Growthack, that means concentrating on:
- Building out four core capability pillars – technical, content, strategy and creative.
- Giving each specialist more ownership over accounts and delivery.
- Freeing Kevin to focus more on leadership, positioning and selective growth.
Glen sums it up as building a small but highly capable unit:
“I like to think of it like special forces – a lean team that can compete with the big agencies on results, not headcount.”
The Four Roles That Matter for the Next Stage
Kevin lays out the structure he believes will give Growthack the best chance of sustainable growth:
- Technical lead – Glen, owning technical SEO, migrations, analytics and data quality.
- Content lead – Sarif, owning content systems, messaging and on-site structure.
- Strategic layer – to sit between channel specialists and C-level stakeholders.
- Creative capability – better articulation of ideas through UX, design and storytelling.
Crucially, Growthack has no plans to build a big account management team. The specialists remain client-facing:
“One of our big selling points is that we take on the account management responsibility ourselves as specialists. I don’t see that changing.”
Why the Present Is Already “The Future” We Wanted
When Glen asks what excites him about the future, Kevin doesn’t jump straight to revenue milestones or headcount. He starts with where Growthack already is:
“If you told me 18 months ago that we’d be in this position, I’d be very excited – we’ve got a team in place, clients who’ve trusted us through rocky periods, and real opportunities on the table.”
For Kevin, the next stage is less about reinvention and more about compounding what’s already working:
- Deepening relationships with existing clients who stayed through difficult phases.
- Unlocking more of the growth “headroom” in current accounts.
- Turning current performance stories into award-winning case studies and public proof.
Sarif echoes this focus on the team itself as the main source of excitement:
“Since Glen joined, both of us have felt the difference in our ability to get things done. We don’t want a big team – we want a core team of experts who really know their stuff.”
From Consultant to Team Builder: Advice for SEOs Making the Leap
Glen pushes Kevin on a common pain point for experienced consultants: knowing when – and how – to move from a one-person practice to a team. Kevin doesn’t sugar-coat it:
“It is nerve-wracking. When you’re consulting, there are a lot of late nights and weekends because you’re the only person delivering. If you want a different life ten years from now, you have to shift the model.”
His advice for SEOs who want to make the same jump:
- Be honest about your future self. If you stay solo for another decade, will you be happy with the trade-offs?
- Expect not to have all the answers. The shift is messy. You learn month by month.
- Get external help. Bringing in someone who’s done it before can collapse the learning curve.
- Accept that leadership is a different job. Your value shifts from doing everything to enabling others to do their best work.
Kevin is clear that he doesn’t know everything – and doesn’t need to:
“I’m comfortable admitting I don’t know everything. I’m happy to bring in people who know more than me and learn from them.”
B2B vs eCommerce: Where Growthack Wants to Play
When the conversation turns to industry focus, Sarif is upfront: he enjoys both B2B and eCommerce, but for different reasons. E-commerce is fast, test-heavy and very visible; B2B can look “boring” from the outside – until you get into the detail.
Kevin challenges the “B2B is boring” cliché head-on:
“B2B has the reputation for being boring, but it’s one of the most exciting spaces. Taking a self-funded B2B brand from where we started to being acquired has been one of the most rewarding things in my career.”
The team highlight a few reasons B2B keeps them interested:
- Complex buying journeys. Unlike a simple checkout funnel, B2B deals often involve long cycles, multiple stakeholders and offline steps.
- Bigger upside per win. One converted account can be worth months or years of recurring revenue.
- Consistent work. SEO and content demand is more stable month-to-month than many consumer brands tied to peaks and promotions.
Why the Future of B2B SEO Is About Alignment, Not Just Traffic
The broader market backdrop matters here. Budgets are under more scrutiny, buying journeys are getting longer, and CMOs are being pushed to justify spend at a deeper level:
- Marketing budgets are flat and under pressure. Gartner’s latest CMO Spend Survey found that marketing budgets fell to 7.7% of company revenue in 2024 – down from 9.1% a year earlier – and 59% of CMOs say their budgets are not sufficient to deliver their strategy. Read the Gartner CMO Spend Survey.
- UK budgets are being cut, not just frozen. The IPA Bellwether Report for Q1 2025 recorded the first overall marketing budget cuts in four years as economic uncertainty and cost pressure hit investment plans. Read coverage of the IPA Bellwether Report.
- Buying groups keep getting bigger. Research from 6sense’s 2024 Buyer Experience Report (summarised by Kowalah) suggests a typical B2B buying group now involves around 11 people and can take roughly 11 months from start to decision. See the summary of 6sense’s findings.
- Customer experience and AI are converging. Adobe’s latest Digital Trends report highlights that top-performing organisations are doubling down on customer experience, data integration and AI-powered personalisation – not treating them as separate initiatives. Read Adobe’s Digital Trends report.
In that environment, Growthack’s view of SEO is deliberately wider than rankings:
- SEO has to align with long buying cycles and larger buying committees.
- Search, content, UX and data need to work together – not fight for budget.
- Senior stakeholders expect a clear link between SEO activity and revenue, not just traffic.
That’s why the team are intentionally staying small and senior: more conversations with CMOs and founders, fewer layers between insight and action, and less time wasted translating strategy through multiple account managers.
“Small, Lean, but Known for Big Results”
Looking ahead to the next five-year anniversary episode, Glen and Sarif both come back to the same theme: a lean, highly skilled team with a reputation for outsized impact.
“I’d like us to be known as that special forces team – small, lean, but recognised for getting big results and competing with the big agencies because of quality, not quantity.” – Glen
“In five years, I want to be able to say I’m glad I trusted the process. We’ll still be doing good work, winning awards, and building a small team of people who really know their craft.” – Sarif
For Kevin, the north star remains simple:
“I want us to be recognised for doing really good work. Awards help with that – not just for us, but so our clients are recognised for what they’ve built too.”
Work with Growthack
Growthack works with B2B, eCommerce and SaaS brands that need senior SEO support, not another generic agency engagement. The focus areas include:
- Technical SEO and complex website migrations.
- Content strategy and search-led information architecture.
- Data and tracking integrity to support better decisions.
- Search-aligned commercial planning with marketing and sales.
The team only take on a small number of new clients each year and look for genuine fit on both sides.
If you’re a CMO or marketing leader and want to explore what a specialist, senior SEO partnership could look like, you can get in touch via the website.
