At 30,000 feet in the air, Darrell Vesterfelt drafted an email.

He wrote to Gina Bianchini, CEO and co-founder of Mighty Networks, with a big question: would her company be interested in acquiring his growth marketing agency, Boomtown Growth?

It wasn’t a cold email. Mighty Networks was one of his firm’s clients.

Mighty Networks is a platform for creators and entrepreneurs to build and monetize digital communities and courses, and Vesterfelt was on a flight home after attending an off-site with their marketing team in Palo Alto. He remembered thinking, “We could do so much together.”

The four-page email spelled out his ideal terms for the deal, from the price — 7 figures — to Vesterfelt’s compensation. He sat with it in draft overnight, and the next morning, he clicked send.

About 11 minutes later, his phone rang. It was Bianchini.

From freelancer to agency founder

Vesterfelt launched Boomtown Growth’s predecessor, Good People Digital, in 2015 after years of freelancing.

“It was time to build a brand bigger than my own freelancing name,” he said.

Good People Digital built websites for creators, most of whom came through referrals. In fact, for the first four years, the agency didn’t even have its own website — there was no need.

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At its peak, Good People Digital had 18 full-time remote employees. Its services evolved to include marketing online courses and communities for top-level creators.

Then Vesterfelt met Brandon Bogdalek. The two were randomly paired at a golf course for a 6:30 a.m. tee time. By the end of the 18 holes, they were friends — and soon-to-be business partners. Their skills complemented each other: Vesterfelt specialized in marketing and branding, while Bogdalek brought a strong sales background.

“Part of what was missing in my work was this idea that creators were really good at marketing their products — but not really great at selling their products,” Vesterfelt said. “So we created an offering where [Brandon] would basically build a sales team for a creator, and they could outsource all of their high-ticket sales to our team.”

Once the concept was proven, Bogdalek joined as head of sales, and the agency rebranded as Boomtown Growth in 2024. While they continued working with creators, they also began serving startups — including Mighty Networks.

Vesterfelt first met Mighty Networks’ co-founder Bianchini at Craft + Commerce, a conference for creators hosted by email service provider Kit. Vesterfelt had served as the director of growth there in 2016 and 2017, and Nathan Barry, founder and CEO of Kit, made the introduction.

Mighty Networks soon hired Boomtown Growth as its outsourced growth marketing team. The agency hosted live events and webinars, ran paid advertising, and helped build out the company’s partner and certification programs.

In early 2025, Boomtown Growth had around 15 clients, a team of eight employees and three contractors, and $1.2 million in annual revenue.

Deciding to sell Boomtown Growth: “It just made sense”

When Vesterfelt reached out to Bianchini about officially joining forces, he and Bogdalek hadn’t actively been looking for a buyer for Boomtown Growth. But after working so closely with Mighty Networks, the idea of focusing fully on one company — rather than multiple clients — was appealing.

“I just missed having one thing I could focus on,” he said. “An agency model is awesome, and it’s a great business for a lot of folks, but as I’m thinking about the long term, having stock in a SaaS company is a better multiple than having an agency.”

He continued: “It just made sense for us to say, ‘Hey, let’s stop doing the agency thing. Let’s sell to Mighty, and then be part of a bigger picture.”

When he laid out his proposal to Bianchini, Vesterfelt wasn’t worried about her not agreeing to the idea.

“We had a good working relationship, and I knew she appreciated my creative thinking on these types of things,” he said.

After the marketing team off-site, he also understood how the Boomtown Growth team could fit into — and bring value — to Mighty Networks beyond a client partnership and felt their visions were aligned.

When Bianchini picked up the phone and called Vesterfelt shortly after he sent the email, she verbally agreed to the deal.

“Because I was a founder, I knew what questions she would ask, so I just outlined everything in that letter,” Vesterfelt said. “Any question I knew she would ask, I already had the answer for her.”

That preparation made the transition simple. “We literally didn’t negotiate at all,” he said.

Each party had a legal team, so Mighty Networks drew up the paperwork, and Boomtown Growth’s team reviewed it. Within 30 days, the deal closed in May 2025 for 7 figures.

The Boomtown Growth team joined Mighty Networks in what amounted to an acquihire. It’s common for agencies to sell to their clients in this way. Here’s another example of a content marketing agency that sold to its client.

Vesterfelt became the VP of Growth at Mighty Networks and continued to grow his team there, while Bogdalek stepped in as director of sales. The agency continued to serve its remaining clients until the end of June, then referred them to other agencies.

Looking back, Vesterfelt said sending that email and joining forces with Mighty Networks was the “best decision of my life.”