Ep 159 – Courtney Spritzer, Entreprenista - How Courtney Spritzer Built and Sold a Marketing Agency, Then Built a 3,700-Member Community

Featuring: Courtney Spritzer, Entreprenista In episode 159, I sit down with Courtney Spritzer, co-founder of Social Fly and Entrepreneista, to talk about building a marketing agency from the ground up and knowing when it's time to sell. Courtney walks through the early days of bootstrapping Social Fly with her business partner Stephanie Carton, the moment they quit their corporate jobs to go all in, and how one networking connection led to their first big clients. She's candid about what it actually took to prepare the agency for a sale years before making the decision, and why owner dependency is one of the biggest threats to a clean exit. We also get into how she built Entrepreneista into a 3,700-plus member community for women founders, and where she sees AI fitting into a business built on human connection. Agency owners will walk away with a clearer picture of what buyers actually look for, and why building an agency that runs without you might be the smartest move you make. Key Bytes • Courtney quit her corporate finance job and gave herself three months to make Social Fly work before she'd have to crawl back and ask for it back. • The first week in business, she and her co-founder posted an ad on Craigslist and had six interns lined up within days. • Joining an early-morning networking group led to a bartered office space and an SEO agency partnership that got them ranked number one on Google, which is where their biggest clients came from. • Selling a business starts years before you decide to sell it. Recurring revenue, diversified clients, a strong brand, and profitability are what buyers actually look for. • The biggest trap agency owners fall into is building a business that can't run without them. • Social Fly's exit process, from hiring an M&A advisor to closing, took about ten to eleven months. • Entrepreneista grew out of a podcast into a private community of over 3,700 women entrepreneurs, with a goal of 5,000 members by the end of the year. • Courtney's advice for anyone starting out: the decisions you make today shape the life you're living three, five, and ten years from now. Chapters 00:00 Welcome to Agency Bytes with guest Courtney Spritzer 00:38 The spark behind Social Fly and leaving corporate finance 04:34 Networking her way to Social Fly's first big clients 06:01 Why she launched the Entrepreneista podcast in 2018 07:56 Preparing Social Fly for a sale years before it happened 10:27 Inside the process of selling the agency and avoiding owner dependency 13:20 Building Entrepreneista into a community for women founders 16:05 What keeps members engaged and coming back 18:40 How AI fits into a business built on human connection 24:20 Rapid fire questions and where to find Courtney Courtney Spritzer is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, author, and community builder with a passion for creating brands and platforms that empower women to lead, grow, and thrive. In 2012, she co-founded Socialfly, a leading social-first digital and influencer marketing agency. Over the course of a decade, she helped scale the business into an award-winning agency working with Fortune 500 brands and emerging startups, building a powerhouse team and culture along the way. In 2024, Socialfly was acquired. In 2018, Courtney launched the Entreprenista Podcast to spotlight the stories of inspiring women founders. That passion evolved into Entreprenista Media in 2021, a media platform and community supporting women entrepreneurs at every stage of growth. She now co-leads the continued expansion of The Entreprenista League, a membership-driven community and ecosystem for founders. As an angel investor, Courtney supports female-led and mission-driven startups aligned with her vision for a more inclusive and equitable business landscape. She is the co-author of Like, Love, Follow: The Entreprenista’s Guide to Using Social Media to Grow Your Business (2015), a strategic guide for leveraging social platforms to drive business success. Her work and ventures have been featured in Bloomberg, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, and The New York Times. She is committed to championing visionary founders and helping build the next generation of impactful, community-driven businesses.   Learn more on Courtney’s website.