The Digital Agency Growth Podcast Scaling Past 50 Employees: How seoplus+ Built a Global Agency
In this episode of the Digital Agency Growth Podcast, I’m joined by Brock Murray, co-founder of seoplus+, a digital marketing agency he launched back in 2012 that has grown into a 50+ person team serving clients across North America and beyond.
Brock shares the arc of his journey, from launching his first web hosting business at 14, to building seoplus+ with his partner Eddie, to scaling through multiple growth stages while navigating the challenges of delegation, client specialization, and leadership layers.
If you’re running an agency, this episode is a playbook on scaling without losing touch, adapting to seismic industry shifts like AI search, and building a growth engine that lasts.
⏱️ Timestamps
0:00 – Intro & Brock’s early start in web hosting at age 14
1:00 – Founding seoplus+ in 2012 and partnering with Eddie
2:00 – Growth stages: from the first hire to 10, 25, and 50 employees
3:30 – The challenge of scaling culture and building management layers
5:00 – Hybrid account management and the role of AMs in sales
7:00 – Upsells, long-term relationships, and winning bigger accounts
9:30 – Balancing farming existing clients vs. chasing new ones
12:00 – Building a partner program: from 20 informal partners to 80+ active ones
15:00 – Partnerships vs. web leads vs. outbound
16:00 – Scaling from meetups to AI-focused community events
18:00 – Outbound experiments: Apollo, coffee chats, and free AI brand audits
20:00 – Structuring partnerships transparently and acquiring a partner’s business
23:00 – Fractional CMOs (VCMOs) as high-value partners
24:00 – How Brock got out of the sales seat and what made it possible
27:00 – Building trust and reach through events—local vs. national scale
30:00 – Fewer clicks from Google, more searches on ChatGPT & Gemini
32:00 – Launching Generative Engine Optimization and building AI tools internally
34:00 – Why agencies can now afford to build internal products
35:00 – The future of SEO: rebrand or double down?
37:00 – Where to connect with Brock online
🔑 What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- How Brock scaled seoplus+ from two partners to a 50+ person global agency.
- The “resistance line” at 50 employees and how to push through.
- Why hybrid account management can be both a strength and a bottleneck.
- How to use events as a serious new business channel (without getting stuck locally).
- Why partnerships with VCMOs and boutique agencies can lead to acquisitions.
- How outbound campaigns, coffee chats, and case studies fuel growth.
- Why clicks from Google are dropping and what Generative Engine Optimization means for agencies.
- How to leverage AI tools internally to save hundreds of hours and increase ROI.
- The looming question: does SEO need a rebrand in the age of AI?
🔗 Links & Resources