He Accidentally Built a 7-Figure Agency Serving Meta, Disney and McDonald’s

From designing websites in his bedroom to building digital products for Meta, McDonald's and Disney. 

That's the journey Hampton member Agustin Linenberg took with Aerolab.

What started as "a favor for a friend of a friend" has evolved into a strategic product partner that's launched over 300 projects and partnered with multiple unicorns - all while staying bootstrapped and profitable since day one.

In our exclusive Hampton interview, Agustin reveals:

• The three-day deadline that transformed his agency's trajectory
• A strategic move that unlocked the Silicon Valley network
• The "reputation compound effect" that's driven 60% of revenue from upsells and long-term engagements
• The untapped opportunity he sees in the space between CRMs and PRMs

If you're building a service business that needs to balance creative excellence with operational discipline, Agustin has a few nuggets of wisdom for you: 

Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?

I’m Agustin Linenberg, Co-Founder of Aerolab, a digital product and branding agency based in New York and Buenos Aires. We partner with companies to build and scale digital products, from early MVPs to full-scale platforms. Our clients range from startups like Mural and Tempo to global brands like Meta, McDonald’s, and Disney.

We’ve been around for over a decade and have launched more than 300 projects. Aerolab has been bootstrapped and profitable since day one. No shortcuts, just structure, consistency, and good people. Along the way, we’ve partnered with teams that went on to become unicorns or public companies, supporting them through critical product and growth phases. What started as a design shop is now a strategic product partner with around 70 people working across UI and UX design, product strategy, content, engineering, and branding.

What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?

I started my business by accident, designing websites in my bedroom while still in university. It began as a favor for a friend of a friend and quickly turned into something bigger. I was obsessed with design forums back then, learning everything I could. That’s how I met my Co-Founder, Robert. We were two cocky students taking on real client work, often figuring it out over weekends. By the time we graduated, we had a functioning business. In 2011, we hit reset, wound down our early client relationships, rented an office, hired our first employees, and gave the agency a name: Aerolab.

Things started shifting when we began working with US-based startups. Wences Casares took a chance on us, and soon we were designing for Lemon Wallet, which gave us visibility in the Valley after it was acquired. From there, we had to grow quickly. At Olapic, we learned to move faster and design around user feedback. With the largest retail bank in South America, we adapted to complex internal structures. And with Cartoon Network, we figured out how to align international teams with competing goals. I eventually moved to New York to be closer to our US-based clients. Around that time, I also got involved with communities like Hampton, which created a space to keep learning and stay connected to other peers.

Take us through the process of building and launching the first version of your product…

When we launched Aerolab, there wasn’t some master plan. We already had experience from running a smaller freelance-style agency, so the idea was simple: offer high-quality, tailor-made UI design. Not full UX strategy, just well-crafted interfaces. The challenge was convincing clients in South America to pay for that. Most didn’t value design in terms of cost, time, or differentiation. If we said something would take three months, it usually took six. That made it a hard sell.

What kept us afloat early on was the advantage of working with US-based clients while operating from Argentina. Most of those clients came through referrals or Dribbble. We’d post work in progress, and someone would reach out. The project that changed everything was Lemon Wallet. They asked us to redesign their homepage. We quoted three weeks. They gave us three days. We delivered. That led to six months of work across their product and marketing site, covering everything from consumer flows to developer onboarding. Lemon was later acquired, which gave us credibility and opened new doors. From that point on, we weren’t chasing work. It was coming to us.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

The way Aerolab is structured might not be the most efficient from a financial and cashflow standpoint, but it works for building strong relationships. Most of our work sits in the 0 to 1 space, helping startups build or evolve MVPs. We handle dozens of clients a year, ranging from short-term builds to long-term partnerships. We also work with more mature startups and enterprise clients, often across multiple products. In every case, we focus on solving real product challenges with a mix of design, engineering, and strategy.

The single most important driver of growth has been doing great work. That attracts the right clients and filters out the wrong ones. Our reputation has been key since the beginning. Nearly all of our revenue has come inbound, and we respond to every lead, even if it’s not a fit. We’ll often refer them elsewhere. We take the same approach with candidates. We try to respond to everyone, because you never know where a good interaction might lead. Over time, that mindset compounds. Clients become repeat founders, VCs refer us, and collaborators grow into decision-makers.

Of course, reputation alone isn’t enough. We’ve invested in keeping our positioning fresh, launching new services like branding, evolving our website and case studies, and staying close to our network. We also actively reach out to happy clients for referrals, reconnect with old ones, and make sure we stay useful and relevant. Around 60 percent of our current revenue comes from upselling and long-term engagements.

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

The last couple of years were rough for the agency space. Capital dried up, companies became more cautious, and everything slowed down. We felt that, just like everyone else. But 2025 started strong. We’re back to where we were before the slowdown, profitable, growing, and delivering with focus. We’ve been bootstrapped since day one, and our margins have stayed healthy throughout, which helped us navigate the downturn.

Today, we’re around 70 people. Most of our clients are in the US. A growing part of our work is related to AI, especially in the real estate space. We’re focused on helping clients integrate AI in ways that improve experience and workflow, not just follow trends. Internally, we’re testing tools carefully and only implementing what keeps our quality high. On the creative side, we recently launched a full branding unit to help early-stage companies craft strong, distinctive identities. That team is growing, and we’re actively building out more portfolio work.

The main goal this year is simple. Have a good, profitable year. Keep growing where it makes sense, double down on MVP work and branding, and stay close to our clients in the US.

Did you ever have an “oh shit” moment where you thought it wouldn’t work?

We never had a moment where we thought, “This won’t work.” What we had were moments where we asked ourselves, “How did we make it this far without knowing this?” In the early years, we didn’t even understand how payroll cycles worked. We once paid salaries in advance without realizing you’re supposed to pay for the month of work. That’s how little experience we had. Everything we know now, we had to learn while building the business.

Because we are a people business, our costs are mostly people. That makes scaling a constant iteration. Every layer you add brings new complexity. One of the hardest things we had to learn was how to build and empower a leadership team. That is still something we are working on. COVID was another big test. Financially, we did well that year, but it was unclear how to move forward while also taking care of people. Clients, team, and community all at once. That year taught us that running a business is often about staying human, especially when things are uncertain.

Where do you see untapped opportunity in the market? What business do you wish someone else would build that would make your job easier?

I always struggle when new clients are overly secretive about their ideas. The NDA-first mindset assumes that ideas are everything. But I think execution is everything. Plenty of good ideas fail. Plenty of average ideas succeed with the right team behind them. That mindset still creates friction, especially in early B2B conversations.

One area where I see real potential is the space between CRMs and PRMs, especially for businesses like ours with consultative, relationship-based sales cycles. Selling in this context is not linear. It requires context, signals, and history, not just pipeline tracking. Most tools today are either too rigid or too shallow to be useful without a lot of customization.

There is also a growing opportunity in AI-powered agency operations. Some teams are experimenting with internal knowledge assistants, smarter dashboards, and centralized decision support tools. Most of it is still immature, but you can tell something useful is coming. Personally, I try to focus more on what is not going to change. That is usually where the long-term value lives.

What platform/tools are absolutely crucial for your business?

We use a lot of tools, depending on the team and the type of work. For sales, we use HubSpot as our CRM and Clay as our PRM to manage relationship-driven outreach. Qwilr helps us create proposals, and Figma Slides supports presentation work.

For design, we rely on Figma and Framer. On the development side, we use GitHub, Cursor, and Vercel. Most of our internal documentation and operations run through Notion. For resourcing, we use Resource Guru. Metabase powers our dashboards, and for finance, we use spreadsheets and QuickBooks. Slack is essential across the board. We also use Google Analytics and other tools to track performance, both for our clients and for ourselves.

Every now and then, we test new platforms or workflows. Some stick, some don’t. But we are always iterating to stay sharp.

What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

One book that really stuck with me is Only the Paranoid Survive by Andy Grove. I relate to the mindset, not out of fear, but preparation. Running mental scenarios around what could go wrong helps me stay sharp and build in options. Another one is Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. It helped me break big ideas into smaller pieces, question assumptions, and rebuild them in more thoughtful ways. That kind of thinking has shaped how I approach both strategy and operations.

A curveball that made a real impact is A Complaint Free World by Will Bowen. It changed how I respond to day-to-day friction, and helped me reset some personal habits. And for podcasts, 2Bobs with David C. Baker and Blair Enns is one I always come back to. It’s honest, sharp, and full of practical insight for anyone running a service business.

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?

I don’t like giving advice. I prefer sharing what has worked for me. If it resonates, great. If not, that is fine too.

One of the most helpful things has been defining what not to do. Everyone talks about priorities, but your “no” list matters just as much. The projects you walk away from, the shortcuts you avoid, and the distractions you skip are what shape your direction. I try to filter decisions through a mix of logic, data, and purpose. If I cannot connect a decision back to my values or a clear reason, I usually let it go.

I also believe in designing your time. You need to block your calendar for what matters. That includes focus time, strategic thinking, and actual rest. If something is not scheduled, it often gets deprioritized. Surround yourself with people who push you, challenge you, and tell you the truth. You do not need to know everything. You just need to build with the right people.

Finally, protect your health. Physical, mental, and emotional. This is not a sprint. It is not a marathon either. It is a long sequence of intense phases. If you do not recover, everything else eventually breaks. Build systems that help you sustain momentum over time.

Can you share a specific example of how being part of the Hampton community has helped you achieve a goal or tackle a challenge?

For me, the most valuable part of Hampton is having a space where I can be open. Whether it is about business, personal life, or uncertainty, there is always someone who gets it. The mix of perspectives is what makes it work. People come from different industries, business models, and personal backgrounds, which means the feedback is more grounded and less predictable.

I do not have one big story or breakthrough moment. What I have is a habit. I run ideas by my core group. I ask for input when I am planning something new or navigating something difficult. I also stay active in the Slack channels, especially when connecting with other agency founders. Sometimes it is a tool suggestion. Sometimes it is a mindset shift. It adds up in ways that are subtle but real. It is not about one big win. It is about having the right people around you when it matters.

Where can we go to learn more?

• 📷 Instagram: @limpa — for my amateur photography journey
• 🧠 Twitter: @limpa — I delete everything after a year, so it is always a new season
• 💼 LinkedIn: Agustin Linenberg — for work-related updates and the occasional bit of smoke
• 📬 Email: agustin@aerolab.co