The End of the Services Business?! Steve Phillips on AI and the Future of Agencies

Steve Phillips, CEO of Zappi, breaks down the evolution from a traditional services business to a scalable product company - and what AI means for the future of agencies, consultancies, and insights firms.He explains why services businesses are “fun to work in but awful to run,” how valuation multiples differ between people-based and product-based models, and why agentic AI systems could reshape the entire industry by making teams exponentially more productive.👉 Watch the full conversation for why the next generation of agencies will look more like SaaS companies than service providers.📌 Chapters00:00 – Building a services vs product business00:57 – Why services businesses are hard to scale01:38 – The valuation gap between services and SaaS02:51 – Why tech companies are valued higher03:59 – How AI agents will transform service models04:39 – The future of hybrid teams: humans + AI05:20 – Why “bread and butter” agency work will disappear👍 Why subscribe? Real stories and insights from founders and innovators redefining how technology reshapes business models and the future of work.🔔 Hit the bell so you don’t miss new episodes 🔔#AI #Startups #Innovation #BusinessTransformation #SaaS #Entrepreneurship #AgencyLife #FutureOfWork #Automation #ProductStrategy #Zappi