The Agency Uplift Podcast

Ep 16: Building a White-Label Powerhouse for Agencies, With Dmitry Fesenko of Haven

• Sean Lang • Episode 16

🔑 Key Takeaways

  • Dmitry runs two agencies: AdTribe (for DTC brands) and Haven (white-label media buying for agencies).
  • Haven uses the same team and processes as AdTribe, but exclusively services agencies to avoid direct client headaches.
  • The white-label model sacrifices margin for long-term retention and stability.
  • Operational scaling is the biggest challenge, especially as they approach 100+ managed accounts.
  • Communication, not performance, is often the main source of churn—especially with direct clients.
  • Dmitry bootstrapped his agency journey from freelancer to a team of 10+ in less than a year.
  • Early mistakes included hiring full-time staff too quickly without predictable revenue.
  • Media buyers are compensated via base + account-based bonuses to balance security and performance.
  • Strong client relationships and proactive communication systems are more critical than just results.
  • Investing in personal brand and LinkedIn content is something Dmitry wishes he had started earlier.


Check out Dmitry's agencies here:

Haven

Adtribe

https://www.agencyuplift.co/email

Agency Uplift - Free Stuff to Scale Your Agency:

https://www.agencyuplift.co/sop (I saved $20K/mo using this system)

People on this episode