AI has made it easier than ever to automate, optimize, and scale agency operations. But buying an agency is still about more than efficiency. Buyers need to understand the relationships, recurring revenue, trust, specialization, and systems that make an agency transferable.

In this webinar, Acquire.com founder and CEO Andrew Gazdecki and Lead Acquisition Advisor Ky Aburto-Pratt walked through why agencies are becoming more attractive in the AI era, what makes them durable acquisition targets, and what buyers should evaluate before making an offer. This recap pulls the most practical insights from the session.

Who Are Your Presenters?

Andrew Gazdecki, Founder and CEO of Acquire.com

Andrew Gazdecki is the founder and CEO of Acquire.com and a lifelong entrepreneur. He bootstrapped his first business, Bizness Apps, to $10 million in annual recurring revenue, which he later sold to a private equity firm in a life-changing acquisition. Since then, he’s sold two more businesses, bought one, and founded the world’s largest startup acquisition marketplace.  

Having been on both sides of the M&A table, as a buyer and a seller, Andrew knows how complex and difficult acquisitions can be. He started Acquire.com to fix the complex acquisition process and make it easier for founders to get acquired, and he’s excited to share his knowledge with you today.

Ky Pratt, Lead Acquisition Advisor | Training Development at Acquire.com

Ky Aburto-Pratt is a Lead Acquisition Advisor at Acquire.com. He works with sellers preparing for an exit and buyers looking for the right acquisition opportunity, helping both sides understand what matters before, during, and after a deal.

Through his advisory work, Ky sees agency and online business acquisitions up close. He helps founders think through buyer expectations, deal structure, diligence, transition risk, and what makes a business easier to evaluate and transfer.

What Is Acquire.com?

Acquire.com is the world’s most founder-friendly startup acquisition marketplace. Combining expert M&A advisory and technology, Acquire.com helps founders sell their businesses and helps buyers find acquisition opportunities across SaaS, agencies, ecommerce, marketplaces, AI businesses, and more.

Since 2019, Acquire.com has helped close over 5,000 deals and facilitated over $1 billion in closed transactions. Today, the platform has over half a million registered buyers, 2,200+ listings, and over $1 billion in combined revenue listed. Live internationally? No problem — we’re active in over 100 countries and every continent except Antarctica.

Why Buyers Used to Be Cautious About Agencies

Agencies have become more attractive to buyers, but that was not always the case. Traditional agencies often looked harder to underwrite because they relied on manual delivery, founder-led relationships, project-based revenue, and services that were difficult to defend against competitors.

Highlights:

• Traditional agencies were often seen as labor-intensive businesses.
• Founder-dependent client relationships made some agencies harder to transfer.
• Project-based work created less predictable revenue than recurring SaaS models.
• Low defensibility made generalist agencies harder for buyers to evaluate.
• The agencies gaining more buyer interest today are the ones that have started to solve those risks.

What AI Changes About Agency Acquisitions

AI is changing how buyers evaluate agencies because it can improve the parts of the business that used to make agencies harder to scale. Manual production, reporting, research, workflows, and analysis can become more efficient, making the business more predictable without replacing the client relationships that make agencies valuable.

Highlights:

• AI can help agencies streamline production, reporting, workflows, and analysis.
• Better operations can make an agency more predictable for buyers.
• Automation can improve margins, profitability, and the overall value of the business.
• Many low-margin agency tasks can become more efficient with the right AI layer.
• Client relationships, industry expertise, and trust still take time to build.
• The strongest agencies use AI as an operating layer, not as a replacement for customer value.

Why Specialized Agencies Are Harder to Replace

Not every agency becomes a strong acquisition target. The agencies that stand out are often the ones with deep expertise in a specific market, long-term client relationships, and data buyers can use to understand the customer base, improve operations, or create new growth opportunities.

Highlights:

• Niche expertise can make an agency more defensible than a generalist service provider.
• High-risk industries like healthcare, government, financial services, and cybersecurity still need human judgment and trusted expertise.
• Specialized agencies can build stronger client relationships because they understand the market they serve.
• Well-organized customer data can create opportunities for cross-selling, strategic synergies, and better client outcomes.
• Buyers should look at what an agency knows, how it stores that knowledge, and whether that intelligence can transfer after the acquisition.

Why Trust Is Becoming an Acquisition Advantage

As AI makes it easier to build products, distribution becomes harder to recreate. Agencies with established brands, customer referrals, case studies, and long-term client relationships can give buyers a head start they could not build overnight.

Highlights:

• AI can make building faster, but it does not instantly create customer trust.
• Established brands can help buyers skip years of reputation-building.
• Customer acquisition is still one of the hardest parts of building a business.
• Strong client relationships and switching costs can make agency revenue easier to underwrite.
• Buyers are increasingly valuing businesses with distribution, trust, and a proven record of service.
• Customer referrals and case studies can give buyers proof that the agency already knows how to earn trust in its market.

Why Productized Workflows Make Agencies Easier to Buy

AI can make agency operations more efficient, but buyers still need to understand how the business runs. Productized agencies are often more attractive because they turn services into repeatable workflows, recurring revenue, and documented systems a buyer can take over after the acquisition.

Highlights:

• AI can improve reporting, analytics, content production, campaign analysis, workflow automation, and research.
• Productized agencies can reduce the unpredictability of one-time projects.
• Recurring revenue models can make agency performance easier for buyers to evaluate.
• SOPs help buyers understand how the agency delivers work after the founder steps back.
• The best agencies combine AI efficiency with human judgment, quality control, and relevant client work.

What Makes an Agency Easier to Underwrite

The most attractive agency acquisitions are not only defined by revenue. Buyers also look at how the agency runs, how transferable the work is, and whether the business has the structure to keep serving clients after the acquisition.

Highlights:

• Agencies with clear SOPs and structured operations are easier for buyers to take over.
• Strategic fit matters when a buyer wants to expand distribution or serve an existing customer base.
• Recurring revenue and customer concentration help buyers understand how predictable or risky the business is.
• Clean, well-presented data makes it easier for buyers to evaluate the opportunity with confidence.

How Agency Deals Move From Offer to Close

Buying an agency is not just about finding the right business. Buyers also need financing, a clear LOI, organized due diligence, legal support, and deal terms that account for client relationships and transition risk.

Highlights:

• Many acquisitions take 60 to 90 days, especially for first-time buyers.
• Buyers should have financing arranged before submitting an LOI.
• Clean data rooms and fast communication help keep momentum alive.
• Agency deals may include holdbacks when revenue depends on large client relationships.
• Seller financing, rollover equity, and legal review can all play a role in structuring the final deal.

Final Takeaways

The AI era has changed how buyers evaluate agencies. While AI can make production, reporting, research, and workflows more efficient, an agency’s value still comes from the business behind the service: customer relationships, recurring revenue, trust, specialization, and the ability to continue serving clients after the acquisition.

The most attractive agency acquisitions are not necessarily the largest or the most AI-driven. They are the agencies with quality revenue, defensible expertise, documented systems, clean data, and clear opportunities to improve operations. Buyers who understand what makes an agency transferable are better positioned to identify long-term value and avoid buying a business that still depends too heavily on the founder.

If this session made you think more seriously about buying an agency, start by defining the kind of business you are prepared to operate, improve, and grow. Acquire.com helps buyers find acquisition opportunities and helps agency owners connect with buyers looking for companies like theirs.

Q&A

Why would a buyer choose an agency over a SaaS business in the AI era?

It often comes down to relationships, expertise, and brand. When you buy an agency, you are buying more than revenue. You are buying customer relationships, a position in a competitive market, and years of trust in a specific industry. SaaS can still be a great acquisition target, but buyers also take on product risk. For buyers who are not technical or product-focused, agencies can be attractive because AI can help improve margins while the business keeps the relationship and expertise layer that AI cannot quickly recreate.

How can I tell if an agency is a real asset or just a job the founder wants to exit?

Start by asking how much time the founder spends in the business, what their day looks like, and how the agency gets customers. If the founder’s personal brand drives most of the pipeline, or if the founder is on every sales call and involved in every client relationship, the business may be harder to transfer. That does not automatically make it a bad business. It just means the buyer needs to understand whether they are buying a scalable asset or stepping into the founder’s job.

What makes an agency risky to buy even when the revenue looks good?

Customer concentration is one of the biggest risks. An agency can have strong revenue, but if most of it comes from a small number of clients, losing one account can change the entire deal. Buyers should also look at whether revenue comes from recurring work or one-time projects, how customers are acquired, and how the service is delivered. If the work depends on one highly specialized founder or there is no repeatable acquisition system, the risk profile changes.

How do I know if clients will stay after the agency is acquired?

Start with client history. Ask how long clients have been with the agency, whether the founder has spoken with them recently, and how the seller plans to communicate the transition after the acquisition. Buyers should also review the contracts. Some agreements may require clients to re-sign after a change in ownership, which can create risk. In some cases, buyers may ask for customers to confirm they will stay, but the key is understanding the relationship and contract structure before closing.

What should I look for before submitting an LOI on an agency?

Look closely at contracts and SOPs. Younger agencies may rely on handshake agreements or loose client relationships, which can create risk. SOPs matter because they show whether the business runs through structure or through the founder’s personal involvement. Once recurring revenue, customer concentration, contracts, and SOPs check out, buyers can start thinking about valuation. But the offer should be made with enough confidence that diligence does not immediately shake the terms.

Are buyers using clawbacks or holdbacks to reduce the risk of losing clients after an acquisition?

Yes. In agency deals, structure often depends on how much revenue is tied to key client relationships. If one client represents a meaningful percentage of revenue, a buyer may ask for a holdback, seller financing, or terms tied to that client renewing after close. That is normal in agency acquisitions. The goal is not to punish the seller. It is to make sure the deal reflects the real risk of transferring client relationships.

What should international agency owners pay attention to before selling?

Location is usually not the biggest issue. Buyers care more about revenue quality, client contracts, clean financials, transferability, and whether the business can keep operating after the founder steps back. For an agency owner outside the U.S., the best preparation is to make the business easy to understand. Document the market, explain the client base, organize financials, clarify the team structure, and show how the transition would work.

Why can some acquisitions close in 60 to 90 days when others take six months or more?

The timeline depends on preparation, complexity, and momentum. A clean business with organized financials, clear contracts, a prepared seller, and a decisive buyer can move faster. Deals take longer when information is missing, diligence slows down, or both sides stop communicating. Legal review is important, but buyers and sellers still need to keep the business decisions moving. Time kills deals, so the more organized both sides are, the better chance the acquisition has of closing on schedule.

The post Buying Agencies in The AI Era: A New Playbook for Buyers [Webinar Recap] appeared first on Acquire.com Blog.