In this episode of Growth Unlocked, Kieran Krohn sits down with Wasif Kasim—former CEO of Online Marketing Gurus and now a sought-after agency growth consultant. Together, they unpack the no-fluff realities of scaling a digital agency, the hidden costs of neglecting HR, and the personal sacrifices leaders often overlook while chasing growth.

Wasif shares how his earliest exposure to business wasn’t in boardrooms but by watching his uncle hustle through unglamorous trades. That curiosity later sparked a career that took him from cold-calling at Dell to leading a team of 150+ and managing $100k/month ad budgets. From navigating culture across continents to building an internal recruitment engine, Wasif offers battle-tested strategies that every scaling leader needs to hear.

Key Takeaways:

Sales skills are life skills—everyone should do a sales stint.

Culture isn’t built with pizza parties; it requires proactive, people-first leadership.

Internal recruitment is critical to staying ahead of attrition and growth.

Founders must make themselves replaceable to scale sustainably.

Offshoring works best when treated as strategic, not just cost-saving.

Investing 15% of revenue into marketing is the minimum for serious growth.

Emotional intelligence and cultural fit matter more than just performance.

Personal sacrifice is real—but it doesn’t have to be permanent.

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro & Wasif’s Entrepreneurial Origin

02:00 – Why Everyone Should Do Sales

05:00 – Leadership Lessons & Prioritising People

07:00 – Strategic HR: Internal Recruitment & Offshoring 11:00 – Proactive Promotions & Culture Code

16:00 – Building Culture Across Borders

19:00 – The Cost of Bad Hires & Cultural Fit

21:00 – Agencies Must Market Themselves

25:00 – Letting Go to Scale

28:00 – Marketing Spend & Competing Smart

31:00 – Balancing Family & Ambition

34:00 – Creativity, Recharging & Family Time

36:00 – Final Advice: Be Replaceable, Do Right by Clients, and Invest in Growth

VALUABLE RESOURCES

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ABOUT KIERAN

Kieran Krohn is a renowned GTM professional, entrepreneur, investor and business growth expert.

His background is growing and scaling HubSpot’s business in Australia and New Zealand by developing their partner ecosystem. Over the last decade, he has held a number of roles in channel and direct sales as well as leadership where he built a high performing sales team. He has been awarded key accolades as the top performer 4x in the region and achieved Presidents Club 7x consecutively.

His mission is to help business founders achieve the freedom they set out to when they left the corporate world, and build valuable businesses that will create financial certainty for generations to come.

Connect with Kieran on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kierankrohn/

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