Mad Mango Marketing
Built an SEO agency to $513K while in college — then exited at its peak.
- Role
- Co-founder & CEO
- Dates
- 2019–2023
- Status
- Successfully exited
$513K peak revenue
93% client retention (vs. 50–60% industry avg)
~70% of net-new clients personally driven
10x client growth ($2K→$20K/mo)
01The Origin
Started while a full-time college student. After repeatedly losing deals on price for lack of a proven portfolio, Rob and his partner launched Mad Mango to prove they could do the marketing themselves — fully in-house, nothing offshore. That do-it-all capability became the agency's biggest selling point.
02The Growth Engine
Rob drove ~70% of net-new client acquisition through relentless direct prospecting — door to door, networking events, and speaking opportunities. Once clients were on board he owned link building and monthly reporting.
03The Standout Win
Landed the agency's largest client — the original "mattress in a box" company — while still just two founders in a home office, out-ranking public and VC-backed competitors and growing the client's truck-mattress division from ~$2K to ~$20K/month (10x).
04Scaling the Team
Built a talent pipeline by partnering with college English departments for paid content internships, then added designers and developers. Each new client dropped largely to the bottom line.
05The Exit
Recruited away by a standout offer, Rob negotiated a clean share sale at the company's best-ever year — and that capital seeded his next startups.
What clients said
“We hired Mad Mango Marketing seven years ago and couldn't be happier with the results.”
Chris Bradley“I had a great experience with the team at Mad Mango. They are a very professional team, I highly recommend them!”
Marcelo Sodiro“Mad Mango has taken care of my SEO for a while now and consistently do an excellent job.”
“Working with Mad Mango Marketing has been a great experience to hone my professional writing skills.”
Jill Amari