Can the Founders Circle change the game for India’s independent agencies?

When The Advertising Club Bangalore announced the launch of the ‘Founders Circle’, an invitation-only forum for agency leaders, it touched a nerve in an industry where independence has often meant isolation. Launched on 2 August 2025 at the Bangalore International Centre, the programme promises more than just another networking event. It aims to create a space where agency founders, co-founders and senior partners can exchange hard-won lessons, sharpen business models, and confront the growing pressures that come with survival in India’s hyper-competitive communications business.

The initiative arrives at a time when small and mid-sized agencies are both more visible and more vulnerable than ever. The flight of talent from network agencies into entrepreneurial ventures has energised the market. But while creative differentiation remains a strength, the operational grind—managing cash flow, talent churn, fee pressures, and client expectations—often proves unforgiving.

“As agency founders, we’re constantly navigating a mix of creative ambition and business survival—often without a playbook or a peer to call,” said Laeeq Ali, co-founder of Origami Creative and president of The Ad Club Bangalore. “The Founders Circle is born from that lived reality. It’s a space for leaders to pause, reflect, and grow together. We’re not just solving for today’s pressures; we’re shaping what the future of our industry could and should look like.”

Why now? A sector in transition

Independent agencies in India occupy a paradoxical space. On one hand, their agility and local cultural insight have won them clients who see value in sharper, faster work. On the other, they operate without the protective moats enjoyed by large holding-company agencies—legal muscle, bargaining power with media firms, or international networks to share risk.

Fee undercutting remains endemic, with seasoned agency leaders sometimes forced to negotiate with junior brand managers who demand complex services at unsustainable costs. Defaulted payments, plagiarism disputes, and lack of a dispute-resolution forum compound the challenges. In this context, survival often comes down to the founder’s stamina, not the agency’s systems.

Suneet John, Co-founder of Trigger Worldwide and lead of the Agency Impact Series, frames it bluntly, “Agency founders face a brutal paradox: building the future while barely surviving the present. The Founders Circle transforms hard-won wisdom from battle-tested founders into the competitive advantages that separate thriving agencies from those that merely survive.”

The pitch: A peer-led circle, not a club

Unlike conventional associations, the Founders Circle is designed as a closed peer community rather than an open-membership body. Admission is by application or invitation only, restricted to decision-makers—founders, co-founders, and senior partners from creative, digital, media, PR, technology and design firms.

The model revolves around quarterly closed-room sessions where, as John puts it, there will be “no pitches, no pretence—just authentic conversations, insightful frameworks, and invaluable wisdom shared peer to peer.”

The programme also promises workshops with external experts, including CXOs, venture capitalists, business coaches and CMOs, alongside shared resources, vetted vendor referrals, and learning journeys.

The inaugural session featured a leadership workshop by Dilip Krishna, Founder and CEO of Carpe Diem India, who has worked across 27 sectors on organisational transformation. Future offsite retreats and design sprints are being considered.

John told Campaign, “The gaps are many—old thinking, personal biases, isolation, uncertainty, ambiguity, talent turnover, scaling difficulties, and the constant pressure to maintain creativity while building a sustainable business. The Founders Circle is envisioned and will be developed to avoid similar voices. We want to create unique unbiased competitive advantages without having to be disruptive for the sake of disruptive.”

The structural headwinds

The deeper question is whether such a peer forum can meaningfully shift the structural disadvantages faced by independents. Unlike global holding companies that can offset client losses with scale or rely on international fee structures, small agencies in India absorb the shocks directly.

One recurring concern is the absence of representation. Without a collective voice, independent firms often lack recourse when clients delay payments or appropriate ideas without credit. Legal battles are costly and lengthy, while industry bodies tend to prioritise the interests of larger players.

Ganesh Raman, founder and CEO of Freeflow Ideas, underlined this gap by admitting that the industry is going through a flux. “Having a circle to bounce around with helps manage challenges better. It will be good for everyone, if we are more together,” he added.

Raman also pointed to the need for an independent fraternity strong enough to counterbalance multinational dominance. “There are areas like talent, training and growth that are always helpful. But the large one is a fraternity of independent agencies who could show up against the large international players. India needs a voice for the creative fraternity,” he stated.

A need for collective muscle

The appetite for such a forum appears to be strong among independent leaders. Several founders told Campaign that the lack of structured support often leaves them ‘fighting individual battles’.

Raman again admitted, “Yes, we are fighting individual battles. It is always better to work collectively in unity, it is a very strong way of asserting oneself.”

Rajiv Raghunath, founder and CEO of Wellversed Media, was more pragmatic. “My organisation is exploring new business avenues where these issues are mitigated,” he said.

For Nishant Kini, founder and director of The Nishe & Co, the appeal lies in personal growth. “It will help founders like me in personality development and financial management,” he claimed.

Limits of the model

The Founders Circle, by design, is exclusive. Its membership filter is intended to maintain parity among participants, ensuring discussions happen between peers facing similar stakes. But this exclusivity may also leave many smaller outfits outside the fold.

Reuben Rato, founder of Rato Communications, called for a more structured network for referrals. This, he maintained, should be aimed on creating on a more formal way to “grow the referral network for work, skills, and collective opportunities.”

The wider industry has long debated whether fragmented groups of independents dilute their own bargaining power. Some founders believe the solution lies not just in peer-learning circles but in new industry bodies that prioritise independents, with stronger policy advocacy and dispute-resolution capabilities.

The Founders Circle does not claim to fill that role. Instead, it positions itself as a leadership incubator, a forum to build resilience in founders themselves, even if systemic challenges remain unaddressed.

The stakes for independent agencies

The pressures on small and mid-sized agencies are unlikely to ease soon. Marketing budgets remain under scrutiny, procurement-led negotiations squeeze margins, and talent costs rise faster than client fees. Younger staff are more willing to freelance or move across industries, raising retention risks.

In the absence of structural reform, many independents risk being locked in a cycle of overwork, underpayment, and fragile margins. The danger is not just individual business failure but the erosion of diversity in India’s communications ecosystem. Smaller agencies often bring distinctive cultural perspectives and experimental ideas that large networks cannot easily replicate.

There are some who emphasise that collaboration could unlock business value, not just morale. Riaz Basha, founder of Audengo, argued, “Yes, the first would be meaningful business opportunities within our cohort. The second is inter-dependency in a collaborative setup. Together, we can be massive.”

Whether the Founders Circle can meaningfully shift the equation will depend on execution. Quarterly sessions and curated workshops may offer valuable learning, but founders also want tangible outcomes—business leads, referral systems, and collective visibility in the market.

The Ad Club Bangalore’s challenge is to ensure the initiative does not become another closed-door talking shop but a forum that builds lasting infrastructure for independents.

As John put it, “The Founders Circle’s primary objective is not to provide more information; rather, it aims to empower founders to make more informed decisions.”

The launch of the Founders Circle highlights both the opportunities and fragilities of India’s independent agency landscape. On one hand, it recognises the human strain on founders who juggle creativity with cash flow, and it promises to ease isolation through structured peer support. On the other, it cannot by itself fix the systemic inequities—late payments, fee erosion, lack of legal recourse—that have long disadvantaged smaller players.

Still, the momentum is clear. Founders want a forum where their struggles are understood without explanation, where collective wisdom replaces lonely improvisation. Whether that evolves into a stronger collective voice or remains an intimate peer-learning circle will determine its long-term relevance.

For now, the Founders Circle is less about answers than about acknowledgement: that India’s independent agencies, squeezed between ambition and survival, need more than grit to thrive—they need each other.