Marcel Petitpas: The Shades of Entrepreneurship

Marcel's background and Parakeeto @ 0:00

Marcel introduces himself as the founder of a company called Parakeeto, which helps digital and creative agencies measure and improve their profitability. He shares his previous experience running a small agency that provided virtual tours for real estate agents, and how that exposed him to the challenges of tight margins and the need to find more scalable business models.

The importance of profitability as a process @ 3:21

Marcel explains that profitability is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process that requires agencies to constantly adapt to changes in their environment, such as rising labor costs, remote work, and the impact of AI. He emphasizes the need for agencies to have a deliberate process for tracking what's working and what's not, in order to guide their decision-making.

Parakeeto's two-part profitability flywheel @ 4:55

Marcel outlines Parakeeto's approach, which involves a quantitative feedback loop to track assumptions vs. actuals, and a qualitative feedback loop to engage the team in understanding the data and ideating solutions. He stresses the importance of using data to facilitate conversations, rather than trying to infer reasons from the data alone.

Pricing models and managing risk @ 19:12

Marcel discusses the challenge of pricing services based on value and risk, noting that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. He explains the importance of aiming for a 70% delivery margin, and how to evaluate the value and risk of different types of engagements to determine the appropriate pricing model.

Tracking time and driving team buy-in @ 26:23

Marcel addresses the common challenge of getting team members to consistently track their time, emphasizing the need to show them how the data is used to make decisions that directly impact them. He suggests alternative approaches to time tracking beyond traditional timesheets, and the importance of creating a collaborative process for interpreting the data and implementing solutions.

Parakeeto's vision and target audience @ 47:43

Marcel outlines Parakeeto's vision for the next 5-10 years, which is to create a "service intelligence platform" that helps smaller agencies and service businesses manage their data and profitability more effectively. He explains the company's focus on the creative and digital agency space, and the rationale for staying focused on that niche before potentially expanding to other industries.

Recap and resources @ 54:37

Gabriel and Marcel provide information on how listeners can connect with Parakeeto, including the company's website, podcast, and free toolkit. They emphasize the value of the free resources and encourage listeners to reach out with any questions.