Featuring: Mike Bodkin, Talent ScoutIn episode 154, I sit down with Mike Bodkin, former co-founder of the full-service digital agency Giant Propeller and now co-founder of Talent Scout, a niche recruiting firm placing full-time remote senior marketing, creative, and operations talent across Latin America.Mike walks me through nearly a decade running Giant Propeller — the doubling years, the partnership friction that eventually led to a buyout, and the acquisition that landed in his lap and pulled him onto a corporate executive team. We get honest about what a real exit feels like, why post-acquisition integration is never a clean puzzle piece, and the lessons he'd carry into any future partnership.Then we dig into the near-shore talent model he built out of necessity and now offers to other agencies: why time-zone alignment changed everything, why he hires virtual specialists instead of VAs, and how AI-fluent talent is reshaping who actually gets hired. If you're thinking about your team, your exit, or both, this one's worth the listen.Key Bytes• If there's smoke, there's probably fire — Mike let partnership friction drag on far longer than it should have.• Once you stop doubling revenue, stagnation can quietly turn a great partnership into a tense one.• Most agencies aren't sellable, so the ones that exit usually built something worth buying on purpose.• Post-acquisition integration is never a perfect puzzle piece, and expecting friction is half the battle.• Networking isn't soft — a single relationship is what put Mike's entire exit in motion.• Time-zone alignment, not just cost savings, is what makes distributed teams actually feel cohesive.• Mike places virtual specialists, not VAs — senior people fully embedded into the agency like W-2 employees.• The most valuable hire isn't AI, it's the specialist who knows how to use AI to enhance real craft.ChaptersMike Bodkin is a former agency co-founder and operator who built and successfully exited Giant Propeller, a full-service digital marketing agency, after nearly a decade of growth. His journey included navigating a partner split and closing a last-minute acquisition just days before payroll would not have cleared — a defining moment in his entrepreneurial career.Prior to agency ownership, Mike worked in film production on major studio projects, developing a unique blend of creative vision and operational discipline that would later shape his approach to building and scaling an agency.Today, Mike is the co-founder of Talent Scout, a hyper-niche recruiting company focused on placing full-time, remote senior marketing, creative, and operations professionals in Latin America. He helps agencies rethink team structure by prioritizing high-quality talent, meaningful cost savings, and timezone alignment — ensuring distributed teams still feel integrated and collaborative.Learn more about Mike and Talent Scout on their website.