Why I Left the ‘Big Agency’ World to Build the Only Team with Real Skin in the Game

Rakesh Mondal is working on his first startup while studying film school

I was always the “Math Kid.”

Growing up, I loved numbers. Logic, patterns, equations—they made sense to me. But as I got older, I discovered a different kind of pattern: Storytelling.

I fell in love with cinema. I went to film school, ready to spend my life behind a camera, crafting narratives that moved people.

Then, 2020 happened. Covid hit. The world stopped. And just like that, the film industry shut down.

I was stuck at home, but my brain wouldn’t stop working. That’s when I stumbled into the digital world. I realized that Digital Marketing wasn’t just “ads”—it was a perfect mix of my two obsessions: Math (The Algorithm) and Storytelling (The Content).

That realization changed everything.

The “Zero Budget” Startup (And The First Failure)

In April 2020, right in the middle of the lockdown, a friend and I started a news website called enewsz.in.

We had no money. I worked as a graphic designer, a content writer, and even a transcriptionist just to keep the server running. I was learning marketing by doing it—surviving on caffeine and the thrill of seeing real-time users hit the site.

We scaled it to massive numbers. But after 5 months, we hit a wall. We ran out of funding. We had to shut it down.

Rakesh Mondal is working on his first startup enewsz.in

But I wasn’t defeated. I was ready. I had tasted the power of the internet, and I knew I needed to master the business side of it. I learned the hard way that traffic doesn’t equal money. We had the viewers, but we didn’t have a conversion strategy. (I explain exactly why this happens and how to fix it in my guide on Traffic is Useless if Your Bucket is Leaking.

The Corporate Years: Unlocking the “Matrix”

I joined the corporate world. I worked with established agencies and saw how the industry operated at scale.

This is where I found my superpower. While everyone else was obsessed with “Backlinks” and “Keyword Stuffing,” I started digging deeper.

I studied Semantic SEO and Entities . I analyzed patents to understand how Google actually works, not just how people think it works. That knowledge was my “100x” moment. It made me realize that 90% of the SEO industry in India is stuck in 2015.

But as I climbed the ladder, I noticed a disturbing trend.

The “Factory” Problem

I saw agencies signing clients left and right. But instead of hiring more Strategists to handle the work, they were hiring more Salespeople.

I expose this entire unethical business model in my post: The Big Agency Scam: Why Retainers Fail .

Why? Because AI had arrived. Agencies started using AI to churn out generic content and basic reports. They treated AI as a way to cut costs, not improve quality.

The Result? The quality of work hit an all-time low. But I saw it differently. I saw AI as a tool to dominate, not just to copy-paste. Read my full prediction on Will AI Kill SEO?.

I looked around and realized: I cannot be part of this. I didn’t enter this field to be a factory worker. I entered it to be a Mathematician and a Storyteller.

The Leap: Building a Team with “Skin in the Game”

I made a decision. I left the comfort of the corporate paycheck. I wanted to build a team that worked for Satisfaction, not just a salary.

Today, I lead a specialized team of 6 people. We operate on a simple, radical rule: Profit Sharing.

My team doesn’t just get a paycheck; they get a share of the profits. If the client wins, they win. If the results get better, they get a bonus. Everyone has “Skin in the Game.”

This changes everything. When an issue pops up at 9 PM, my team doesn’t ignore it because “work hours are over.” They fix it because it’s their business too.

Quality Over Quantity: The Rule of 5

We made another hard choice: We never take more than 5 active projects.

Most agencies want 500 clients. We want 5. We work with Small-to-Medium companies who have a vision and a budget to grow, but who are tired of being treated like a number.

The Result?

  • 100% of our clients have seen growth.
  • Some went from 0 to 100 traffic in 3 months.
  • We are currently managing massive sites with 40k+ monthly traffic.
One of campaign Growth in 7 Months
One of my client’s gowth over 6 months
6months growth for Another Campaign
Inspite of AI outbreak of this year, we maintained the organic traffic over this year

We don’t chase “Vanity Metrics.” We chase Revenue. Because at the end of the day, I’m still that Math Kid who wants the numbers to add up, and the Film Student who wants your brand to tell a story that sells. We use advanced tracking to ensure every rupee is accounted for. (See how we track “invisible” ROI in You Can’t Scale What You Can’t See.

Are You Ready for a Real Partner?

If you are tired of the “Factory” approach and want a team that is as invested in your success as you are, let’s talk.

I don’t have a sales team. When you book a call, you talk to me.

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