Elias Rubel

Profit Labs

Bookkeeping & accounting for agencies who are serious about profitability.

NoBoringDesign (NBD)

The go-to design agency for portcos at Sequoia Capital, A16Z, Bessemer, Y Combinator and countless others.

Owner

Matter Made

Companies like Jasper.ai, Dropbox, Loom, Yelp, G2, Calm for Business, Productboard and many others trust Matter Made to smash their yearly growth targets through best in class paid media.

Glider

I used to think I didn’t have any specific skill, and sometimes I still feel like a total impostor. 

$10M+ in profit is a crazy number but the path has been all but smooth. 

Imagine losing $200k/mo (coming straight out of your bank account) for 6 months while you try to give your team stable pay in the face of a collapsing market. 

Imagine stumbling around in the dark, pretending to know what you’re doing while others rely on your direction. 

Building small businesses isn’t easy, which is why I’m building mine in the open. 

For all of you to see. 

The ups, the downs, the hardships and the wins. 

I hope you’ll join me for the journey.

I hope sharing this publicly sparks further inspiration and sheds light on what can be for many (myself included) one of the most wild rides of your life.  

Let’s build together. 

---------------------

Investor / LP:
- A16Z
- Accel Ventures
- Tribe Capital
- GTMFund
- Offline Ventures

Angel Investor:
- Endgame
- Northbeam
- Grain
- Folk

Marketing Advisor:
- Jasper.ai
- Dropbox
- Loom
- Productboard
- Grain
- TestBox
- G2

Note: I’m no longer actively advising or investing in startups.

Companies like Dropbox, Hopin, G2, Calm for Business, Loom, Productboard and many others rely on Matter Made to smash their yearly growth targets through best in class Go-To-Market programs.

Our work ranges from championing high velocity digital campaigns, to driving Account Based Marketing programs, to diving deep into persona driven messaging & positioning, to launching Product Led Growth Initiatives, to full funnel conversion rate optimization.

Our clients range from post-IPO enterprises, to fast growing scale-ups backed by Sequoia Capital, True Ventures, NEA, Redpoint, and just about every other big name in the valley.

www.mattermade.co

Can I be honest? I don't care about leaving a legacy with my companies.

Most of us run cool internet businesses, but we are definitely not Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. We're agency owners helping other businesses with marketing, design, and operations.

Leaving “a legacy” in our vertical kind of feels like a waste of time.

The business world won't remember 99.99% of us and our agencies probably won't outlast us by decades.

Yet we spend so much energy chasing industry recognition, trying to be thought leaders, and worrying about how we'll be remembered professionally.

Once this really clicked for me, I realized all I want to do in life is:

1. Be a great dad
2. Be a great friend
3. Show up for people in my life

This mindset takes pressure off trying to be something you're not. 

It focuses your energy on what you can actually control and builds real fulfillment instead of external validation.

To me, that’s what real “legacy” is.

A joke (or is it) that I frequently say to friends: the best day of my career will be the day I permanently delete my LinkedIn and the rest of my digital business footprint.

Eli Rubel

$10M+ in agency profit since 2020. Follow to build a more profitable agency.

I was sobbing behind a conference hall when a near stranger changed my business forever.

I was going through the worst time of my life. Everything felt like it was falling apart. But I had already committed to this conference, so I showed up anyway thinking I could push through.

Big mistake. Being around all that forced networking energy when you're barely holding it together is brutal. 

So much so that I snuck behind the building and called my wife, completely breaking down.

That's when this guy I knew through the grapevine found me. I'm still not sure if he could read my energy or if this was just his natural approach to conferences. Probably both.

He didn't ask what was wrong or try to give advice. He just said "let's go around booth to booth. I'm gonna start introducing you to people."

Looking back, it's even funnier and crazier that he didn't know these people either. He was just walking up to booths, learning what they did, then introducing me as someone they should talk to. 

He was making connections for me when I had zero energy to do it myself.

That act of unexpected kindness in my lowest moment earned him my loyalty for life.

Since then, I've referred 10+ clients to him. I think about him way more than any other random business contact. 

He's made more money from our relationship than most of my formal partnerships.

All because he chose to help instead of pitch when he saw someone struggling.

With the conference circuit in full effect, I thought this story was important to highlight. 

You never know what someone's going through, and some small, simple act of kindness like this can make someone's day personally as well as help make your career professionally.

In 2011, Tim Ferriss taught me a ridiculously valuable business lesson at a hotel bar in Austin.

It was at South by Southwest, which was the golden days of tech without anyone realizing it:

- Foursquare was throwing parties

- Yelp was having events

- Twitter was the hot new thing

- All these startups that would become massive were just scrappy little companies

I'm at the Driscoll bar with some friends soaking it all in.

Then Tim walks up and starts chatting with us.

He was already pretty famous. The 4-Hour Work Week had been out for years, and everyone knew who he was.

We're having this great conversation when he says:

"Hey guys, I actually have to go chat with this other person. But I'll be back."

We all just looked at each other like, "Yeah, right."

That was clearly his polite way of getting out of there. Classic move:

- Say you'll be back
- Duck out
- Never return

We totally understood. But then Tim blew our minds.

Contrary to our expectations, he:

- Finished his conversation

- Walked back through the huge crowded bar

- Had everyone recognizing him and trying to get his attention

- Came right back to us and said, "Oh, sorry about that. Anyway..."

- Picked up the conversation exactly where we left off

That moment stuck with me for years.

Anyone can be charming when they're trying to impress you. But your true character shows up in the moments when you think no one's watching or when it would be easier to just disappear.

Tim had zero obligation to come back to a group of random people at a conference. But he said he would, so he did.

Almost 15 years later, that level of intentionality is something I aspire to emulate each and every day.

My agency's "success" in Q1 and Q2 was built on a lie I told myself.

I’m going to be totally real with you for a minute: For the first half of this year, I thought NoBoringDesign was crushing it.

Q1 and Q2 looked amazing. Revenue was strong, the team felt confident, and I was patting myself on the back for such a smooth transition out of the business.

Then we did a retro and discovered that success was fake.

See last year in Q4 I did a ton of marketing, business development, and sales work. Our review of the pipeline for the first half of the year revealed that much of the revenue growth was attributed to that work.

…of which I, nor the team, had done more of in Q1 2025 or after. 

So, when that Q4 pipeline dried up, top line revenue went from “holy cow, this is great” to “holy shit, we need to ramp up sales”.

Then the problems started compounding:

1. Our key seller transition from AE > Sales Leader which took her time away from… selling.

2. We hired a sales rep who didn't work out after 2 months of training

3. Had to find their replacement and spend another 2 months training

4. Our sales leader went on maternity leave right in the middle of this

The team spent months focused on training and covering for people instead of actually selling. Zero bandwidth for business development.

The lesson, even 7+ years into my agency owner career: you can't coast on past momentum indefinitely.

No matter where you’re at with your agency:

Never rely on current momentum to help you achieve future goals. Build systems to continuously create that momentum, and you’ll never have to make a post like this.

After spending the last few years helping agencies escape the "Agency Cycle of Sadness," I’m finally doing something about it.

Agency owners keep making decisions based on gut instinct instead of real financial data. They're flying blind when it comes to profit margins, cash flow, and forecasting.

So I'm starting "The Profit Forecast" - a weekly newsletter that gives you one actionable finance insight you can apply immediately to improve your agency's profitability.

What you'll get each week:

→ One focused topic per issue (no fluff)
→ Real frameworks we use with $1M-$15M agencies
→ 5-minute read delivered every Tuesday
→ Behind-the-scenes profit strategies that actually work
→ Step-by-step processes you can implement right away

100% free.

Each issue tackles one specific problem agency owners face daily - whether that's forecasting accurately, pricing for profit, or identifying which clients are actually making you money.

The same insights our clients get when they work with Profit Labs, now available to everyone.

First issue drops this week, covering the "Agency Cycle of Sadness" and the exact 3-step system to escape it for good.

Thanks for trusting me with your time on LinkedIn. This newsletter will be the same quality content you expect, but a bit more playbook / action oriented, and delivered straight to your inbox weekly.

Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/dufC9TDg

Agency owners: Gross margin < 60% = RED FLAG.

Under 60% gross margin makes hitting healthy net margins nearly impossible.

Here's why:

Gross margin = Revenue minus cost of delivery (salaries, contractors, direct costs)

But you still have 25% to 30% additional costs after gross margin:

- Office rent/utilities
- Software subscriptions
- Insurance
- Marketing and sales costs
- Administrative staff
- Your own salary as owner
- Taxes
- Equipment and technology

You always want to keep net margin above 30% as much as possible.

What under 60% gross margin really means:

- You're one bad month away from breaking even
- No room for unexpected costs or investments
- Constantly stressed about cash flow
- Can't invest in growth or better talent

Why 30% net margin matters:

- You need cash reserves for growth opportunities
- Economic downturns require buffer money
- Reinvestment in team, tools, and systems
- Personal financial security as the owner
- Ability to weather client churn without panic

The fix:

1. Audit your pricing immediately
2. Cut unprofitable clients
3. Standardize delivery to reduce costs
4. Hire better talent and charge premium prices

If you want more help in understanding margins for your agency, just comment or DM me, and I'll send you a bunch of free resources that will help.

Just a few weeks before this video, which was shot 12 years ago, I was $25K in debt because of my past failed startup.

It was called “Tell It In 10”, and it went absolutely nowhere. Most nights I’d stare at the ceiling of my moms unfinished basement wondering if I was completely delusional for chasing this startup dream while my friends were climbing corporate ladders.

But in this video, I'm working on Glider. We were building something that felt different. The product was working, users were engaging, and for the first time in years I wasn't questioning whether I was wasting my life.

That focus you see in the video paid off. Glider sold for $3M in 2014.

The VC world would call that a failure, but when you go from sleeping in your moms basement (it would flood every winter) with negative $25k to walking away with $1.2M cash, it changes everything. Suddenly I was a 24 year old kid who could take real risks without the crushing weight of immediate financial stress.

I tried ecommerce with KTM Twins. Bought it for $750K, spent 4 years learning that ecommerce wasn’t my thing, and sold it for basically what I paid. 

Then there was Waggle Foods, a keto dog food company that lasted exactly long enough to sell 1 unit.

But those experiments taught me what I actually wanted to build.

2019 was when Matter Made launched. B2B demand generation for agencies and SaaS companies. Everything I'd learned about sales, marketing, and running a business finally clicked. 

That business has generated over $9M in lifetime profit.

NoBoringDesign followed in 2023 as my second agency, focused purely on design. Together the two agencies have pushed passed the $10M lifetime profit number. 

Now there's @Profit Labs. It's where everything from the last 15 years comes together. I'm helping other agency owners build the profitable, sustainable businesses I wished I had access to when I was that guy sleeping in my moms basement. 

The distance between that video and today still surprises me. 

That focused kid hustling away had no idea where this path would lead, but he kept building anyway.

If there’s one thing I attribute to helping Profit Labs grow from $0 → $25,000/month in 120 days, it’s my accidental following of Paul Graham’s advice.

Paul Graham once quoted two sentences that forever became a part of the Y Combinator ethos: 

“The way to get startup ideas is not to try to think of startup ideas. It's to look for problems, preferably problems you have yourself.”

Now, it’s been over 10 years since I was founder of a startup, I’ve started multiple businesses since then. Namely, 3 agencies.

I was able to grow the first two, Matter Made (paid media for B2B companies) and NoBoringDesign (subscription design agency), simply by way of starting with small customers, learning their problems, solving them, and working our way up. As I write this, I realize that’s pretty YC-ish, too, but bare with me.

Though I had run some paid ads and have a decent design eye before, I never actually experienced the pain we were solving for at the level our clients did. Frankly, I got good at selling for those agencies through sheer repetition.

Profit Labs, a strategic finance, bookkeeping, and accounting firm for agencies, is different. For the first time ever, I started a business that truly scratched my own itch. I know EXACTLY what it’s like to:

- Not being clear if we’re over- or under-staffed
- Feeling like our margins were unpredictable
- Spending too much time in the back-office weeds

And so, I built Profit Labs to change that (I didn’t think of PG while doing this, but realized it in retrospect). 

Simply put, I knew it was a problem for me as an agency owner, so others had to feel the same.

And knowing exactly what issues my customers face, and what they mean, has helped with how we’ve developed the service, messaging, marketing, etc.

Judging by our revenue acceleration with no real signs of slowing down, it looks like solving my own problem was the right move.

TL,DR: Paul Graham gave great startup advice that doesn’t only have to be applied to startups. Agencies can benefit just as much 🙂

Most agency owners generate 0 leads at conferences.

My best 5 tips to generate 3-5 at each one this Q4:

I've closed multiple massive deals from conferences over the years - some took months to materialize, others that happened on the spot. But most agency owners do conferences completely wrong.

1. Do 80% of your work before you arrive. 

Success happens in the preparation phase. Use the event as an excuse to reach out to people in that city and schedule specific meetings ahead of time.

2. Never eat alone. 

Every single meal, coffee, or drink should be planned around connecting with someone specific. This requires energy but the compound returns are significant.

3. Become the connector, not the pitcher. 

When you meet someone, learn what they do, then walk them to relevant booths and make introductions. Most people are trying to extract value - you should focus on creating it for others.

4. Lean into the awkwardness.

Everyone feels weird at conferences. Instead of fighting it, become the person who makes it less awkward for others. This creates genuine connections while everyone else is fumbling through pitches.

5. Play the long game. 

Conference ROI isn't immediate. I still think about people I met at South by Southwest in 2010 and those relationships have led to business years later. Focus on being memorable and helpful, not closing deals on the spot.

MY ASK OF YOU:

Turn this comment section into a goldmine of conference tips for shy, awkward, or nervous conference-goers 👇

11 years after selling my first SaaS for $3M, and after building 3 agencies in between, I'm returning to the software space with SurveyGate.

Ironically, I built it wrong the first time as a result of committing a cardinal SaaS sin: Not putting myself in my customer’s shoes enough.

How I Initially Built SurveyGate:

- Basic NPS collection tool for agencies
- Simple links that triggered after X days from first visit
- Just focused on Net Promoter Score feedback
- Basic logic for when surveys would appear

What I Learned When I Started Using It:

- Signed up as my own customer for Profit Labs to collect feedback
- Realized there were a lot of things I wished it did differently
- Got feedback from our own team while onboarding NoBoringDesign
- Discovered agencies need multiple types of feedback throughout client lifecycle
- Found that single-purpose links weren't flexible enough for complex agency needs

How I Rebuilt It:

- Added multiple survey types: NPS, CSAT, post-onboarding, and custom questions
- Built in churn risk and upsell opportunity notifications
- Created "feedback journeys" to automate entire client lifecycle in one system
- Added template journeys specifically designed for agencies
- Built in testimonial video recording for high-scoring responses

What started as minor tweaks turned into a massive overhaul of what the product does and how it does it. Still focused on collecting client feedback, but the approach became totally different.

The lesson: Using your own product reveals problems you never see from the outside.

Also, I want to give out free trials of the product. Comment, SURVEY, and I'll send you the free trial link!

You can’t call yourself a seasoned agency owner if you have not gone through this exact cycle at least one time in your career:

I call it the Agency Cycle of Sadness.

I've been through this 6+ times in my 6 years growing agencies past $1M in profit.

The 9 steps:

1. Revenue grows (you feel unstoppable)
2. Agency is profitable (feels like you finally "made it")
3. Sales drop (panic starts setting in)
4. Agency overstaffed (you realize you hired too fast)
5. Layoffs (gut-wrenching conversations with good people)
6. Sales pick back up (relief, but you're gun-shy)
7. Agency understaffed (you're drowning in work)
8. Manic recruiting focus (trying your best not to simply hire anyone with a pulse)
9. Team burnout (quality drops, clients get frustrated)

Then client churn happens and you're back to step 1.

The cycle repeats because most agency owners are flying blind. 

They lack clarity on what actually drives profit, have no foresight into cash flow issues, and spend all their time buried in operational tasks instead of planning ahead.

I started Profit Labs to break this cycle. 

We keep your critical metrics visible so you can see problems coming, build financial models so you can plan your moves, and handle the operational finance work so you can focus on growth instead of reacting to crises.

If you read this post and thought to yourself, "Oh man, he's right," comment or DM me and I'll send you some resources that'll help out.

There are two types of agency owners:

- Ones who are too scared to time track
- Ones who do it anyway

People say it hurts team morale or shows lack of trust. 

But, whether you like it or not, if you're selling someone else's time (which we all are), you need to know how that time is spent.

Here's how it plays out for each group: 

Path 1: You don't time track

1. You lose visibility into what your team is actually doing
2. You can't accurately calculate how much time each client requires
3. You have no idea which clients are profitable vs. bleeding money
4. You can't identify which team members are efficient vs. struggling
5. Client projects consistently go over budget but you don't know why
6. Your agency starts faltering as costs spiral out of control

Path 2: You do time track

1. You see exactly where every hour goes across all projects
2. You can calculate true profit per client with precision
3. You spot inefficiencies before they become expensive problems
4. You know which team members need training vs. which are rockstars
5. You can confidently scale because you have the data to guide decisions
6. You consistently hit your net margin goals because you control what you measure

At 10+ people, you're either tracking time or you're guessing. 

And guessing doesn't pay the bills.

Last week I did something every agency owner should do, but many avoid:

I marked 4 deals Closed Lost.

It sucks, but it’s the best thing I could have done.

Every single one of those deals had been sitting there for weeks. Maybe months.

And for the longest time, even after going through this with my prior agencies, I was lying to myself and allowing HubSpot to give me a false view of pipeline.

I know I’m not alone, either. 

Agency owners love to keep zombie deals in the pipeline. We tell ourselves they're still warm, count them in our forecasts, and use them to feel better about our numbers.

But those dead deals are stealing your focus from the work that actually matters.

Being honest enough with yourself to acknowledge that and do something about it will only serve you well. 

Today, my CRM is uglier to look at – but my pipeline number is REAL.

I can see exactly where I stand and know precisely how much pipeline I need to build.

If you’re an agency owner, I challenge you:

1. Open your CRM
2. Look through each record
3. Ask yourself if the deal is even remotely alive

I have a strong feeling your overall pipeline number will drop, but overall accuracy will greatly increase. 

PS - here’s a freebie tactic that’s served me well on this front:

If you have a deal on life-support, do this: send them a one line email 

“Name - is this still a priority for you?” 

And then mark the deal as closed lost. 

This email is magical and almost always gets a reply of some sort. If it doesn’t the deal is SUPER dead and shouldn’t be in your pipeline.

If the nudge gets them to reply as interested, you can remove them from Closed Lost. Fight the urge to edit that email and make it softer. It gets replies because it’s very direct.

Your agency’s P&L is the last document you should use to make decisions. There are 3 other metrics that will make you way more money:

Truth is, P&Ls are good to have when looking at the business’ last month. But, that’s all it’s good for: Looking back.

If you’re making decisions about the next 90 days based on the last 30, instead of what’s happening right now, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage—especially when compared to agency owners who make decisions based on these 3 forward-looking metrics:

1. What's our team utilization today vs. 30 days from now?

If you're selling someone else's time, you can't do it effectively if you don't know how much time they're spending.

Understanding current and future utilization rates gives you the clarity on current and upcoming staffing needs.

2. Which client engagements are least profitable vs. most profitable?

I've been in leadership meetings where someone says, "Client X keeps asking for things out of scope, but they're an important logo. We keep saying yes to keep them happy."

You kick the can down the road, thinking maybe this is their last request. It never is.

But, if you understood gross margin by customer, you could see that those out-of-scope requests might be putting you at break-even or a loss. Without it, you’re flying blind.

3. Are we actually going to hit our targets based on current performance?

Most agency owners don't forward forecast. You should know if you're tracking to hit your fiscal year target based on current performance.

This gives you the opportunity to course correct by pumping more volume, hiring a rep, or improving conversion rates. This is one of my favorite Profit Labs features 🙂

P.S. - If you're an agency owner who wants actual financial visibility without the accounting headaches, we should chat. Profit Labs gives you the clarity you need while handling bookkeeping, AR/AP, and all that other stuff you probably hate doing. DM me.

taplio

Eli Rubel's Linkedin Analytics

Eli Rubel

Performance ScoreEli Rubel's LinkedIn Performance

Eli Rubel's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Eli Rubel's Linkedin Analytics

Eli Rubel

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Eli Rubel's LinkedIn Performance

Eli Rubel's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Eli Rubel's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreEli Rubel's LinkedIn Performance

Eli Rubel's Best Posts (last 30 days)