Why a $1.2B exit felt like his biggest failure, and the customer-obsession thesis behind Agency

A $1.2 billion exit is the dream. Elias Torres calls it his biggest failure. The Drift co-founder joins Sophie Buonassisi on GTMnow to unpack why the headline number felt hollow, what he learned in the quiet stretch afterward, and why he jumped straight back in to build Agency, an AI company that runs your entire customer organization.Elias gets honest about identity after the exit, the difference between chasing a title and building something enduring, and the operating thesis behind Agency: a billion-dollar company with fewer than 100 people, where 80 to 90% of the team are engineers and everyone talks to customers. He also gets into distribution as the hardest problem in the AI era, why he only takes money from investors who lead with value (Pat Grady and Brian Halligan back the company), and the two decades he's spent building alongside David Cancel.What you'll learn:- Why a $1.2B exit can still feel like a failure, and what "enduring" actually means- How to rebuild your identity when the title goes away- The Agency thesis: $1B with under 100 people, and how AI agents make it possible- Why Elias runs the whole company on Agency itself, with no CRM- Why sales may be the last role AI eliminates, and what that means for GTM- How to spot investors who lead with value instead of a pitch deck- Why distribution, not product, is the hardest problem in the AI era- What 20+ years building with David Cancel (Performable, HubSpot, Drift) taught him about partnershipChapters:00:00 Intro02:25 Time off, slowing down, and losing the title04:00 The inflection point and what comes after a big exit07:00 What Agency is and the problem it solves11:00 Why he brought people he's known for years11:40 Investors who lead with value (Pat Grady and Brian Halligan)17:30 Building with David Cancel for 20+ years23:00 The bold claim: $1B with under 100 people26:00 The go-to-market motion behind it28:30 "Sales is the last role AI will eliminate"36:00 High-agency people and how Agency runs itself42:00 Building distribution in the AI era51:00 Where to find Elias and AgencyAbout the guest: Elias Torres is the founder and CEO of Agency, an AI company that provides agents to run a company's customer organization. He previously co-founded Drift (acquired in a $1.2B deal) and held senior roles at HubSpot and Performable, building alongside David Cancel for over two decades. Agency is backed by Pat Grady (Sequoia) and Brian Halligan.Connect with Elias Torres:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliast/X: https://x.com/eliastHost: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP at GTMnowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/X: https://x.com/sophiebuonaAbout GTMnow: GTMnow is the media arm of GTMfund, sharing the strategies, tactics, and stories from the operators and investors building the next generation of go-to-market.Visit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/The GTMnow Podcast The GTMnow Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth.Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes and other interesting content.