What Investors Look for in Digital Agencies: Leadership, Capital, and Recurring Revenue with Steve Walsh

What if you could sit down with the investor who decides whether to fund or pass on a digital agency—and ask him exactly what he looks for?

In this episode, I do just that with Steve Walsh, private equity investor and founder of Bison Equity Group. With over 30 years of experience evaluating entrepreneurs and structuring capital strategies, Steve breaks down why most agencies aren’t investor-ready, what separates scalable leadership from burnout-driven hustle, and how recurring revenue models change the game when you’re building something beyond yourself.

We talk about what makes a founder fundable, why capital can kill growth if it comes too soon, and what leadership mindset shifts are required to transition from fulfillment-mode operator to strategic CEO. For agency owners thinking about growth, systemization, or preparing for an eventual exit, this conversation delivers clarity, insight, and hard truths that most don’t hear until it’s too late.

Whether you’ve already crossed the 7-figure mark or are on your way there, this episode is a roadmap to becoming the kind of leader—and building the kind of business—that investors want to bet on.

Books Mentioned

• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
• The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida
• 10X Is Easier Than 2X by Dan Sullivan & Dr. Benjamin Hardy
• Flip the Switch by Coach Micheal Burt

Connect with Steve Walsh
Access capital strategy tools and grab Steve’s book Make the 10X Leap at BisonEquityGroup.com, or connect with him directly at steve@bisonequitygroup.com.

🌟 Check out our podcast sponsor, Competitive Edge Business Consulting, and book your free discovery call with them today at www.CompEdgeConsulting.com 🌟

Chapters

• 0:00 What Investors Evaluate First in Digital Agency Founders
• 2:20 From CPA to Capital Strategist: Steve Walsh's Career Journey
• 6:31 Leadership Blind Spots That Stall Agency Growth
• 10:46 Mindset Shifts Required for Scaling with Capital
• 15:48 Why Recurring Revenue Models Attract Investment
• 21:07 Scaling Teams, Systems, and Strategic Marketing
• 25:28 Daily Habits of Agency Leaders Who Scale Sustainably
• 29:03 Investor Readiness and Leading for Long-Term Exit

Transcript

Dr. William Attaway: 0:17

It is such an honor today to have Steve Walsh on the podcast. Steve is more than an entrepreneur or venture capital investor. He is a force that redefines the boundaries of what is possible. With over 30 years of financial and investment expertise, Steve has crafted a career of bold decisions and innovative strategies. His journey, which includes successfully navigating the turbulent waters of risk and reward, ultimately led him to establish Bison Equity Group, a venture capital firm committed to empowering entrepreneurs. Steve's influence extends far beyond his professional achievements. He is an inspiring figure whose zone of genius has always been in helping others see a bigger vision for what's possible, embracing their higher potential and making their own leap towards success. Now, through his book Make the 10X Leap, Steve continues his mission to help entrepreneurs see their company's scalability factor, while also guiding them through what it takes to get it done. Steve, I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for being on the show.

Steve Walsh: 1:30

Hey, william, thanks a lot. It's a great pleasure to be on this. We have talked before and we've had some great talks and I'm looking forward to this.

Intro / Outro: 1:42

Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive. Here is your host author and leadership and executive coach, dr William Attaway.

Dr. William Attaway: 1:59

I'd love to start with you sharing a little bit of your story with our listeners. I had a few of the high points, but I'd love to hear particularly about your journey and your development as a leader. How'd you get started?

Steve Walsh: 2:13

So, you know, I kind of go back to when I was a farm boy. You know I grew up on a farm, a farm boy. You know I grew up on a farm and one of the things I learned right away is when I was in school. A lot of the things that I needed to learn to become better, and that's my my been always. My strive is to become better for work. Where can I be? And that's always brought me from high school, college to now, and that was, you know, I got my CPA. I think that was probably one of the high points Well, one of the many in high school or in college, and then from there, it's a matter of like.

Steve Walsh: 2:56

I became an investor, and one of the things I was seeing a lot of the was leadership. Leadership is probably the most important thing in anything you do. I don't care if you're in relationships or just in a business. Leadership is super important and, quite frankly, it's it's a matter of like, it's a learning. You have to have that learning mindset to really do that, and so I've always worked with um and I go back to this too as mentors and coaches.

Steve Walsh: 3:29

Yeah, so a lot of times entrepreneurs struggle with and this is where I sometimes struggle. They don't see. You know the, the things that maybe that they're missing. You know their employees will, but you know a lot of times it's they don't. They don't notice it, they don't see it. And so it's good to have that coach and it's good to have those mentors to say, hey, you know, work on, maybe this is what you really need to work on on that part of it. The skill is leadership has always been important for me, and how do I become a better leader? And that's either reading, reading books, listening to podcasts like yours, things like that that really can get me to the next level, things like that that really can get me to the next level. And then so I can bring that to a lot of the entrepreneurs, because a lot of entrepreneurs, they have one problem a lot of times, and that's the ego, and the ego is you run across it Absolutely.

Dr. William Attaway: 4:37

You know you talk about coaches and mentors, and I think there's such a value in having people in your life who have an outside perspective, who help you see what you can't see, help you see your blind spots and help you overcome those. Has that always been something you valued, or was there a point at which you discovered, oh is um really?

Steve Walsh: 4:57

when I was in, I think, in college. I didn't really know it was a mentor or or it was somebody like a coach, um, but I would gravitate to professors that would give me guidance. I would gravitate towards them and it was always the ones that the harder. The hardest ones were the ones that you remember the most. And those are the ones that the harder, the hardest ones were the ones that you remember the most. Yeah, and those are the ones that gave you the most guidance. I didn't think of at the time as a mentor or as a coach, but that's what they were. And along the way, even with um working with different companies when I was in, went from that into accounting and I decided that wasn't really where I wanted to go, but it really. I always attracted somebody that was a coach or leader that was a lot better than me, and that was the one thing that I noticed. I didn't know how important it was until I really got into business on my myself and how important it was to get bring somebody in that has done actually, and it didn't have to be in my industry, but it had to be somebody that was doing something better than me. You know that and the leadership was. I think that was the one thing that I would always gravitate towards, but, like you said, I never thought of it before until I really got into business on my own, how important it was to have a mentor, and so that's where I work with.

Steve Walsh: 6:36

You know, one of the first things I do when I look at companies is how's the leader leading? First things I do when I look at companies is how's the leader leading? You know, yeah, are are they leading? Uh, are they letting their employees make decisions on them for themselves? You know, the one thing I always say is that, um, if you're always driving where they're like, hey, this is something that you got to, it's a learning, you have to have that learning mindset to decide okay, you failed here. Okay, what did you learn? And now let's go and look at that a little bit different next time, so that next time you don't do that same thing. And I look at it as I've had some really good experiences and really bad experiences, and I always look at the bad experiences are the ones that I learned the most.

Dr. William Attaway: 7:35

Well, there's no wasted experience, right, I mean? The truth is, you can learn from any experience in your life. Right, I mean, the truth is you can learn from any experience in your life. It's either there for your learning, for your benefit, or so that you can help somebody else, and that's one thing I see in your journey, as you've described it. You know you always have, but you're being very intentional about sharing what you've learned for the benefit of other people. Is that what drove you to write Make the 10X Leap?

Steve Walsh: 8:09

Yeah, because I was seeing the same problems over and over again with the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs were. You know. The one thing is, a lot of times they become comfortable or they tell themselves, hey, we can't do it, our company is different, our industry is different, it just doesn't work that way. And they become comfortable, but they're comfortable in a not so great way because they're putting in not 50 hours a week, they're putting in 80 hours a week or they're doing things that really not moving to the next level, and so all that stuff that they're doing that was really where I started with the book is because they were doing a lot of those things, not doing the things that they enjoyed, meaning getting home for their dinner, for their family, traveling, things like that. So I was seeing a lot of that with the business owners and this is really where I came down to is with the book. It gives them a roadmap for, hey, there is a better way, and that better way is to do things that they normally get, they would normally not do.

Steve Walsh: 9:19

Being comfortable is not good, you know. I always say is that if you're comfortable, it's, it's probably you need to go to the next level and, quite frankly, the next level is not as hard as you think it's. It's a matter of the mindset. It always comes to the mindset first, and you, you well, you probably have worked with that many a times with getting their mindset on it's that it's possible. You know, I always go back to where do we want to go, where is it that you really want to go, and then work backwards from there.

Dr. William Attaway: 9:54

I love that. Well, if you, if you don't have a clear destination in mind, how can you build a bridge from where you are to where you want to be? How can you be intentional in that? And that is something that I've worked with so many clients through, you know, around mindset, around leadership, trying to help them understand that you are the hardest person you will ever lead. You have to have clarity, not only to be able to communicate with your team, with other people, with potential investors, but you have to have clarity, most importantly, for yourself. That's how you grow that intentionality over time. And that's one thing I love about your message and what you're sharing is that you see the value not only in the actions, but in the mindset that drives them.

Steve Walsh: 10:40

Yeah, like we have talked, the mindset start. It starts with that. The ego is probably one of the hardest things to leave. Leave, you know, at the front door and a lot of times, um, your employees will see it. They will. A lot of times, owners feel that you know, they're going to hide some of the things from their employees. They see it, they see it. I mean it's they, they know, um, they see the, the areas that that they should be stronger in. Things like that. I mean, I love working with entrepreneurs that are have a, a growth mindset, that understand that, hey, they don't have all the answers. So you know, that's the one thing is, and work with their employees to build a culture that is fun.

Dr. William Attaway: 11:40

You know I mean, that's what I was down to that growth and comfort cannot coexist, right? You pick one. If you want to be comfortable, you're not going to grow. If you want to grow, you're not going to be comfortable. And what you're describing here about that growth mindset is that is a choice that you make daily. This is not a one and done. This is something that you choose, and I know, like the entrepreneurs who are reading your book and who are listening to what you're saying, they're going to be challenged by this, because that type of a daily choice, that type of a daily habit, to choose that mindset, to choose that path Some days that's easier than others.

Steve Walsh: 12:24

You know it's, it starts at the beginning of the morning and for myself, it's the rituals you start in the morning. How do you start your morning? You get up in the morning, what do you do to get your mind moving forward? And that's where I think health is really important, yes, really important, and I think mind, body and soul. And I look at that as how can you, you know, go to the gym, work out, hit that, read. I think reading is really important, even if it's 15 minutes. I'm a big person when it comes to meditation. I think that really works, for me at least, and it works with a lot of entrepreneurs. They always say to me is I can't do that? Well, can you do it for a minute, maybe a minute? Try a minute and then work off of that.

Steve Walsh: 13:16

But go to the gym and it really starts with some of those things. What I look at is those days that you really don't want to go to the gym. That are just. Those are the days that you need to go to the gym. That's right. That's right, you know go ahead, go ahead.

Dr. William Attaway: 13:32

I was going to say don't you know you talk about? You know I can't do that, I can't do that. And don't let what you can't do stop you from doing what you can. Right Step into what you can you do a minute, of course you can, of course you can do a minute.

Steve Walsh: 13:52

Start where you are not where you think you should be right. Yeah, and that's that is. That's where I start with the habits in the morning. Start with the morning habits and then the rest of the day becomes easier. It's so much easier because your mind is clear. You, you're working off of things. I have other things, too, that I work off of that I believe are really good habits.

Steve Walsh: 14:15

I see a lot of entrepreneurs. They get distracted and they're doing 10 different things, trying to do 10 different things, and they're working off of. You know, they're on the phone, they're doing all these things and I I try to get them to say, okay, let's, let's break it down and let's, instead of doing 10 different things, let's just do maybe one or two. Yeah, I go. You know, my thing is a lot of people wear an I watch, you know a watch, an apple watch. Yep and um, the Apple Watch. And I suggest get rid of it. And the reason why is this? Because it always is going to ring. It's always going to die. You're going to see the phones when you're in a meeting. Guess what? You're distracted by looking at your watch.

Steve Walsh: 15:04

You're not listening to some of the things that maybe are going on in the meeting. So, and I that's what I do personally myself, and so distractions really slow the person down going for the day, and that's that's where I work off of that from there.

Dr. William Attaway: 15:29

You know, I think there's so much value in what you're saying there, steve. I think that the distractions that we allow into our lives affect our productivity in a much greater way than we think they do. And you're right. This watch that I wear, it's great for step count, it's great for, like you know, when you're exercising, tracking workouts, all these things, but those notifications. If you don't learn how to silence the notifications when you need to, then you will constantly be having your attention broken, you'll constantly be having your focus broken, and that doesn't help anybody.

Steve Walsh: 15:57

No, no, it doesn't, and so they're. You know just the habits like that. And then getting back to okay, now are they ready to scale? Do we want to scale this company? Do you want scale this company, do you want, are you really?

Steve Walsh: 16:09

I always say this every small company doesn't have to be small, it's a. That's a choice, and so I look at it as you can always grow a company. It's just a matter how far and how fast you want to go. Who do you want to bring in it's? You know, entrepreneurs always say I can't do it, I can, only I'm as I'm, I'm the best person. That for this. Well, I tell you what you can find somebody that's probably better than them to take over some of the chores that they've been doing. Yeah, and so it's a matter like working off of that.

Steve Walsh: 16:42

If we're going to scale this company, we're going to need new people. We're going to need cap. Probably we're going to need cap. Probably we're going to need systems, for sure, and then we may have capital. But we need to bring in capital, and that capital is depending on what they want, what type of capital they want, and that's where I will bring in capital for them, but it. It does start with that mindset first. I I mean, if they bring in capital, it can be the worst thing they do is bringing in capital because all of a sudden they have to start spending it and they have no idea, no plan to spend it. If you go on my website at Bison Equity Group, I have some free resources on there for that you can look at for like a plan putting together an investment plan for you. That's kind of an idea, and then other resources. You know my book is on there too, things like that but it does come with. We start with always the mindset.

Dr. William Attaway: 18:47

Yeah, you know, I think that a lot of the entrepreneurs who are listening want to grow, want to scale, want to get to a point even for a successful exit at some point in the future, right, and so many of them are not thinking about capital, they're not thinking about being investor ready, like if you were sitting across a table with them. Why would you say that's so important? Why would you say capital can make such a significant difference?

Steve Walsh: 19:15

Oh, you know it's a matter of if they're at point A and they want to go to point B, that capital can be the fuel. I mean, you can really generate a lot of growth. But it has to be smart. You have to use that capital smart. You know, I see sometimes they it's, and this happens. Entrepreneurs see these shiny objects. You've seen it.

Dr. William Attaway: 19:44

Oh yeah.

Steve Walsh: 19:46

And they think I can do. You know, let's see, I want to put money this way because I think I've seen people make money this direction Right and, quite frankly, that doesn't always work. It may not work for your company. You know, I always say there's two things that you really look at is innovation and marketing. Those are two really important things to have, and the marketing is usually what they struggle with. They get the innovation side. You have a really good product or service, but it's the marketing that they struggle with. And so how do we do? How do we get in front of that existing customer? We stay in front of that and how do we get into new customers? And so that's where that money, that capital, will probably come into play is. We're going to keep on innovating and we're going to keep on marketing. Those are the two so I look at is and that's where you can go from, I would say, a motorcycle to a rocket ship pretty fast.

Dr. William Attaway: 20:51

Wow, that sounds appealing and I know there's a lot of steps to get there. There is. What are the things that entrepreneurs often don't think about when they're starting to move into that stage when they want to be investor ready?

Steve Walsh: 21:07

Well, I think a lot of it's to do with where one is, where they want to be. You know where do they want to go. You know the investor ready. I always say, like we had talked about, is if you're, let's say, at 10 million, you want to be at 100 million and that's where you want to go. We'll work backwards. And then what do I need to do to get there? Do I have to get new people, new systems in place? Do I have to get in marketing? What's my marketing plan?

Steve Walsh: 21:36

The thing is, each area you have to look at and see is where are we weak in? The marketing is usually one of the number one things they typically say I got a great product, everybody should buy it. Well, that doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. And then from there it's a matter of how can I make reoccurring revenue? I love reoccurring revenue and there's all sorts of ways to do reoccurring revenue that a lot of times they don't even think about. That. That potentially take their um.

Steve Walsh: 22:14

I would say that reoccurring revenue could be the one that keeps the lights on and then, above that is you know we're going to be selling our products, things like that, but you always have to think about your customer. That customer is if I'm selling them one widget, what is the other widget that I should be selling them? Or what is the one service I should be selling them? What am I doing that I'm not doing for them? But it always comes down to that customer, I think, is what's the problem that I'm solving now? Am I solving it completely for them? You know, that's good.

Dr. William Attaway: 22:49

That's really good and I think that clarity is helpful. You know wherever you are in the journey, but particularly as you begin to move toward that. I love that mindset.

Steve Walsh: 23:00

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think it's. You know that mindset is. It's something that that I've always looked at. When it comes down to, you know, there's some great marketing guys out there that that's that's what they they work off of. That, and then also, too, is, I think, is how do you want to look to your customer? You know the customer. Do you want to become just selling one thing at a time with them, a transaction, or do you actually want to be true partner with them? And I think that's the most important thing the relationship you have with the customer and it's becoming more and more important now than ever. When you look at AI and how AI is doing, the relationships you have with the customer is going to become so much more important than one-on-one relationship, and so, if they don't see it that way, you're just a commodity, and so that's where I look at it is how do we get them to look at it a little bit differently?

Dr. William Attaway: 24:06

You're telling a story, you know, I mean you're communicating a narrative, and I know that that's an element when you're, you know, looking at investors, when you're talking about capital. The storytelling plays a role in that. You know, and I think you have to think about that in terms of your business.

Steve Walsh: 24:40

You know, and I think you have to know your customer. What is your customer? And that's where I've seen where companies have looked at and they're actually marketing to the wrong customer. Sometimes it's the one where they should be marketing to the wife versus the husband it's a product and they actually should be marking to the wife versus the husband. You know it's product and they actually should be marking to the the wife versus the husband. And so you got to look at it is do they truly know their customer? And then are they really connected? That's where you're bringing your customer into your story and that's you know.

Steve Walsh: 25:20

Journey with with them becomes, because it really becomes sticky. Then you know if they're looking at it, is it a product? You know if there's two, I always look at it as if there's two different products on Amazon. Which one are you going to do? Which one are you going to buy? You know, and that's where I look at it is if you can have some connection with with and then it brings in also all the other people on top of that, they'll bring in their friends, they'll bring in their. Then you can get new customers a lot easier that way. That's good.

Dr. William Attaway: 25:59

You know, steve, you have to lead at a higher level today than you did five years ago in your business, and that same thing is going to be true five years from now. How do you stay on top of your game? How do you level up with the new leadership skills that your team and your clients and your business are going to need you to have in the days ahead?

Steve Walsh: 26:22

Well, I think that's the one thing I work off of. I always, you know, obviously, look at what am I doing in the morning when I start. But also, too, is who am I using for a coach? Do I have a coach? That's good, you know, I always look at I don't care what I'm involved in either health things like that, or business I always try to find somebody that's better than me and work with the coach.

Steve Walsh: 26:50

Coaches are. You know people think, well, do I really need one? You can't avoid. I mean you can't afford not to have one. I mean it comes down to it, afford not to have one. I mean it's it comes down to.

Steve Walsh: 27:08

And so that's where for me to level up. Every time I level up, I get probably a higher end coach than that before, and for me it's um intention how, what am I doing right now? That I needed improve down the road, and that is that I needed improve down the road, and that is and it doesn't, and it's for me personally. I look at it as I look at, and entrepreneurs are a lot of ways. The same is if I want to be better and if I want to see my entrepreneurs that I'm working with be better, then I better scale up, I better do the things that I'm doing at a higher level. You know, yes, it's, it's amazing where you look at your.

Steve Walsh: 27:51

I was looking with my uh, I have a a coach for for working out, and he said to me one day he said, steve, if you want to level up, you've got to change your eating habits, things like that. And he said that you had to think of it so much more intentionally now than ever before. And so he was that's good. And so that's where it comes into business too. Same way. Yeah, my business coach. Same thing. He is all about talking about. Okay, if you want to get to the next level, this is what we need to do.

Dr. William Attaway: 28:26

That's so good. This is exactly why I've had coaches for decades in different areas for different things, because I want to be intentional in my growth and I love that. That is your rhythm, that is your habit. I think that is why you have gone farther and have gotten there faster than so many others that that is your rhythm, that is your habit. I think that is why you have gone farther and have gotten there faster than so many others, because you have taken that effort and that intentionality.

Steve Walsh: 28:51

Yeah, and I think I think a lot of entrepreneurs you know they. They always look at costs sometimes and I always say that you know you can't not afford it. You know that's the one thing, and that's where it comes down to too is when they want to scale, a lot of times they're afraid of bringing new people in because of that, that we can't afford it. But, quite frankly, if you took yourself out of that, whatever you're doing, and having somebody do that for you, guess what? You're all of a sudden you're thinking about other things, about how you scale your company so much faster. That's so true.

Dr. William Attaway: 29:35

You are in a continual learning mode. That is the posture that you live in, and I'm curious is there a book that has made a big difference in your journey that you would recommend to the leaders who are listening?

Steve Walsh: 29:47

You know it's fun. I think, personally, there's so many books that I've read that I think of. Yeah, I go back to. Like Thinking Girl Rich is a good example. That was probably one of the first, one of the ones that I looked at and I go back to personally, on spiritual level, I go back to this Superior man. There's a great book. It's interesting. Some of the books I've read have gotten me to the next level and some of the things I've done have gotten me to the next level.

Steve Walsh: 30:19

I did this retreat that it was a 12-day.

Steve Walsh: 30:24

You, you basically are up in the mountains for those days without any, any food, just water, and without cell phone, computer, all the stuff that you need to get away from, and it really opens you up to what are the things that I'm that I'm working on right now, that I need to be stepping up to, up to. The are the things that I'm that I'm working on right now that I need to be stepping up to, up to the next level. It really gets you thinking about things that you probably didn't think about before because you're too distracted. So those are the things that I look at, but the books I go to, um, you know that's I would say Think and Grow Rich. You know, going after that one would be the the first one I that I've always started with, and then there's so many other ones. 2.0, there's this book out. That's really good books on prey drive, how to get you know if you're comfortable, how you can get your next level, and that's what I would look at all the time.

Dr. William Attaway: 31:34

So good, steve. This has been so helpful, I know, for so many of our listeners, and I know they're going to want to stay connected to you and continue to learn more from you and about what you're doing and check out your book. What's the best way for them to do that?

Steve Walsh: 31:51

So the great way to do that is go to Steve at Bison Equity Group. Just email me. That'd be perfect. I'm on LinkedIn. You can go to LinkedIn, find me there. Or Bison Equity Group. Just go to our website and go to the and pick it. We can pick up the book on our website also, and it's on Amazon.

Dr. William Attaway: 32:09

We have it on Amazon also, so we will have all those links in the show notes. Yeah, great Steve. Thank you for your generosity in sharing so much wisdom today from your journey, and I can't wait to see what you do next.

Steve Walsh: 32:23

William thanks a lot. It's a lot of fun.