How to Start an AI Agency in 10 Steps (According to Experts)

‘How do I set up a successful AI agency?’

I’m sure you’ve asked this to ChatGPT. But let me try to give you a better answer. 

Our company sells to (and with) a lot of AI agencies. Like, a lot. 

So we’re pretty familiar with what makes an AI agency succeed — and what leads to failure.

AI agencies are a hot topic right now, and for good reason. Only about ¼ of companies are capable of going beyond proof of concept and creating tangible value with AI agents. 

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That means 74% of companies are in no position to build and deploy their own AI projects.

But you are.

The only challenge is that there’s a lot of competition to solve this problem. 

I spoke with a few people at our company who have helped plenty of AI agencies get their start – here’s all the advice they had for builders looking to set up their own AI agency.

1. How to Pick a Niche

Buckle in, because I have a lot to say about niches. 

Identifying your niche is one of the most important parts of setting up your agency. There are plenty of people with the right skills and tools — but the niche?

Picking your niche is a blend of creativity and strategy. It’s what’s going to distinguish you from everyone else with the exact same development background and entrepreneurial spirit as you. 

The case against generalists 

When adding AI to your service offerings, it’s tempting to say you can do it all.

“But customers aren’t usually swayed by ‘We do AI,’” explains Jean-Bernard Perron. He’s the COO & CFO at an AI company, and he’s worked with hundreds of AI agencies in his decade in the industry.

“You know what clients want to hear? ‘We specialize in AI agents for this exact use case.’ If you say you can do everything, what your customers hear is that you aren’t good at anything.”

The majority of successful AI sellers go niche.

How to identify your niche? I’m glad you asked. 

How to nail down your own niche 

Patrick Hamelin is a growth-focused engineer who has helped tons of AI agencies get their start. He even dipped his toe in the water recently, and started heading a start-up’s in-house agency. 

And he interviews AI agencies for fun. Just to see how they got their success. Enough said.

“Figure out what you’re good at,” suggests Hamelin. “I always recommend conducting a SWOT analysis, figuring out your strengths, and then focusing on that niche.”

What do niches look like? Good question.

A use case isn’t usually enough. ‘We specialize in sales,’ or ‘we specialize in customer service.’ No. Go deeper.

Niches are often location, language, or a specific channel or integration. “If you’re good at using Hubspot, and you know there’s a problem there to solve — solve it and you have your market,” explains Hamelin.

Our AI platform has partnerships with dozens of agencies. Some of their specialities for AI agents include:

• Integrating with specific CRMs (like Zendesk)
• Building for hotels, telcos, or other niche industries
• Deploying in LATAM or Europe

Another strategy to target your niche is: look at the people around you. Maybe you know a lot of people in a specific industry, or you’re familiar with a particular problem. 

Focus on those problems, because no one else will.

“Look at your friends, look at your colleagues,” Hamelin recommends. “If you know the problem, you’ll have a competitive advantage.”

2. How to Pick Your Solution's Scale

I know I said that niche was the most important choice – but consider how closely intertwined niche and scale are.

The scale of project you choose to take on will build the foundation for your business – your price, your potential clients … everything.

Obviously, the scale that’s right for you is gonna be very dependent on your niche.

There are 3 main buckets of AI projects. We’ve seen them all, but one is certainly the most popular (and the easiest to succeed with).

A) Large fully custom projects

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You’ll be tailoring every part of the build: the workflows, the logic, the integrations, the data structure, the fallback handling — all of it. A template will only get in your way.

Custom projects can be incredibly rewarding, but also come with longer sales cycles, more stakeholder input, and the ever-present threat of scope creep. 

You’ll need solid project management and clear boundaries — otherwise, the bot is never done.

On the technical side, you’ll deep expertise with your solution and software, and be able to manage the complex integrations and compliance requirements that come with enterprise chatbots.

Typical pricing for custom projects is, of course, a custom quote. You can charge per hour you work, or per milestone you hit, or even for a complete project (but you should probably space out payments if it's going to be a multi-step project).

B) Medium template-based projects

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Templates = an AI agency’s best friend.

This is the most common type of AI agency. They’re faster than customs and more customized than turnkeys.

It’s easier to sell than a non-existant custom, and it scales way better. You'll want to use AI agent frameworks, rather than a full DIY solution.

There are a few different ways to price template projects. You can charge:

• A tiered pricing based on features or integrations
• A fixed fee with optionsl add-ons
• A monthly retainer for ongoing support + updates

We’re such a fan of this model (as are all the agencies we work with), that my pal Matthew put together a video explaining how to re-use templates when you’re selling to multiple clients:

C) Small turn-key projects 

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Small turnkey projects typically all operate from the same configurable bot. You can build a single bot for all your customers.

Turnkey are easier to deploy, but much harder to strategize. 

What’s so hard about small, turnkey projects? 

Lemme break it down: you’ll need to find a winning combination – one that’s easy to market, cheap to produce, and configurable enough for the segment you’re targeting. 

If you manage to figure out a strong use case, your pricing should either be:

• A low monthly subscription
• A one-time set-up fee and small monthly fee
• A self-serve or semi-managed model, where your users manage (most) everything by themselves and you get involved only when needed

3. How to Pick a Tech Stack

AI building platform

This is one of the biggest choices you’ll make – but I’m sure you already have some options in mind. 

You can offer multiple services over multiple platforms, but it’s much easier (and it looks better to your clients) to start with one system to go along with your niche offering.

Obviously I’m biased towards ours, but instead of pitching you on it, I’ll give you a few questions you should ask yourself when shopping around:

• Does your niche rely on RAG?
• Will you need human-in-the-loop?
• How important is custom logic and extensibility?
• Can clients make updates, or will everything go through you?
• Does the platform’s pricing model scale well with your deal size?

Obviously, an LLM agent aimed at AI orchestration will be a different story than a simple WhatsApp chatbot for customer service.

CRM

Honestly, it’s never too early to get a CRM. If you’re gonna need one eventually (i.e. you plan to scale), you should start off with one to make the growth tracking process easier. 

There are free options out there. No excuses. 

That said, if you’re in your scrappy start-up phase and you’re trying to minimize your tech stack – sure, use Excel. 

But be warned that every entrepreneur that I asked said a CRM was well worth it, even in the beginning. 

Website builder

A word of warning: a lot of people think they need a killer website to get their first clients. 

If you want to invest the time and money to build a beautiful website, go for it. But a note of wisdom from our wise, wise friend Patrick Hamelin: a lot of successful AI agencies don’t have beautiful websites.

“Websites aren’t a dealbreaker. Invest in good solutions first,” he suggests. 

If you don’t already have a website, I suggest poking around WordPress, Webflow, Wix, or another one of the world-class, W-named website builders. 

Payment service

You’ll need people to pay you (in an ideal world), and the start-up builder’s payment system of choice is usually Stripe.

We use Stripe. Every entrepreneur on Reddit advocates for Stripe. I assume Stripe runs half the internet at this point.

Once you start making money, you’ll appreciate how easy it is to send invoices, set up recurring billing, or take payments straight through a checkout link. It also plays nicely with most CRMs and project management tools.

4. How to Build an Agency Team

There are 2 important components of an AI agency: building and selling. 

You wanna do both on your own?

I’m not saying it’s impossible. Not at all. 

But according to Perron – who’s seen his fair share of AI agencies get started – it’s unlikely. 

“If you’re working solo, you need to be both a technical expert and a salesperson. You can do both. But if my experience in this market has taught me anything, it’s that most people aren't good at both.”

In all honesty: The biggest red flag we see in early agencies is a 1-person show that thinks they can do both. 

Hamelin agrees: “When I see an agency that’s lacking on the selling or building side, I tell them it’s the first need they need to fix.”

Where to find your other half?

• Building communities – if you’re in any servers, associations, etc.
• Personal connections – if you have any friends or professional connections 
• Social media (particularly LinkedIn) – maybe you know someone who knows a strong seller. Maybe your post reaches the right audience

Of course, there are other tasks you might want, but don’t have the skills to pull off. That’s all good – that’s exactly what freelancers are for.

Freelancers

Don’t forget: you have a world of work-for-hire at your fingertips. 

You shouldn’t be hiring full-time roles until you have consistent cash flow. But in the meantime, you should make use of freelancers for tasks like:

• Website development
• Additional dev work
• Design tasks – either for you materials or your services/products
• Content tasks – especially if you’ll be using content marketing for leads

Honestly, it can be hard to find good freelancers. Take recommendations, ask around – and when you find someone who works, keep them in your list and use their services whenever possible.

5. How to Identify Internal Workflows

I’m not dumb. You’re not dumb. We know your internal workflows are going to change as you adapt to new challenges. Unexpected requests — both good and bad. 

But you need to identify what you’re gonna do when those first clients come in. 

How are you managing files and inputs?

Clients will send you things in all formats — Notion docs, PDFs, spreadsheets, half-written emails. 

Set up a centralized spot to collect everything. Google Drive works fine. So does Notion. Just don’t let it live in your inbox.

What tools are you using to track progress?

Start simple. A Trello board, a Notion tracker, a Google Sheet. Doesn’t matter — just make sure you’re not keeping everything in your head. That scales terribly.

How will you monitor and maintain bots after launch?

Yes, you should be checking logs. No, you don’t need a full monitoring stack right away. 

But you do need a plan for how you’ll keep bots working — and how you’ll spot issues before your clients do.

Who owns what (even if it’s just you)?

Start defining roles now: builder, PM, support, etc. Yeah, it might seem silly if you’re a one-person-show. 

But that way, when you start hiring freelancers or scaling your agency, you’re not rebuilding everything from scratch.

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6. How to Identify External Workflows

What will you need from your clients to succeed?

What pattern of back-and-forth will you follow to get from initial call to final stage product (to countless iterations and improvements?)

You should have down pat before you book your first client. You don’t want to look like you’re making up your process on the fly.

How (often) will you give updates?

Pick a rhythm and stick to it. Weekly check-ins? Loom videos? Email summaries? 

Choose a format that works for you and sets expectations for communication. Of course, confirm that it works for your client and adapt to their needs as much as you can.

What’s your revision and feedback process?

Clients will have notes. Decide now how many rounds you’ll allow, how they should deliver feedback (not via 14 separate emails, ideally), and what happens after launch if they want more changes.

Are you training the client at the end?

If they’ll be editing the bot themselves, even a 10-minute Loom walkthrough can save you hours of future support. If it’s fully managed, make sure they know how to submit change requests.

7. How to Set Up Legal Structure and Compliance

Talking about the legal side of your AI agency is the most daunting, but – just like half the items on this list – arguably the most important. 

Here are 4 of the things you’ll need to consider if you’re serious about starting an AI agency (if you’re, as the kids say, for real).

Set up an LLC or Corporation or SE

If you're charging people money, you probably shouldn't be doing it as a random person on the internet.

Take note: The name of this will change depending on your country. (USA = LLC, Canada = Corporation, Europe = SE, etc.)

Setting up an LLC (a limited liability company) protects your personal assets if a client sues you, doesn’t pay, or claims your bot destroyed their business (but… try not to build a bot that destroys their business anyway).

Since this varies so much by country, I won’t dive into the specifics. But go and search up the requirements for whichever country you’re in.

Business bank account

You’ll also need a business bank account. 

Go to your bank. Open a business account. 

Just like the above, this is to limit your personal liability. It’s not hard to do. And yes, you have to do it.

Contracts and agreements 

Please don’t start a project without a contract. I don’t care if it’s your best friend’s startup or your cousin’s crypto side hustle. Put it in writing.

At minimum, your contract should cover:

• Scope of work (what’s included and what’s not)
• Payment terms (when you get paid and how)
• Who owns what (especially for anything AI-generated)
• How either of you can walk away if it all goes south

You can start with a solid template (Bonsai, SPP, Docracy, etc.), but have a lawyer glance at it once you start closing real deals.

Bonus points if you use something like a Master Service Agreement (MSA) — it’s common in the U.S. and a few other markets. It basically outlines the general terms once, so future projects don’t need a whole new contract every time.

Data privacy and compliance 

If you’re building AI solutions that touch customer data, you’re also signing up for the fun world of compliance.

Let’s start with the obvious: who owns the data? The inputs, the outputs, the model itself? You need to be clear on that in your contract. Some clients will assume everything is theirs — even if you’re using your own pre-trained bot or templates.

Now for the legal part. If your clients are in the EU (hi, GDPR) or California (hi, CCPA), those privacy laws probably apply to you too, even if you’re not based there. 

Go read up on how they’ll impact your solutions (which will be use-case-specific). You can read our short guide on making GDPR-compliant chatbots.

You don’t need to be a privacy lawyer, but you do need:

• A basic understanding of how and where data is stored
• A plan for deleting user data if requested
• Language in your contracts that covers this stuff

And if you’re looking to deploy healthcare chatbots or finance chatbots, stop reading this and go talk to a real compliance expert.

8. How to Acquire Clients (AKA Lead Generation)

Okay, this is going to be the most exciting step. 

Why? Because I do lead generation for a living. And you know what? I’m excited to talk about it.

There are a few buckets of lead generation tactics (and you can always go the AI lead generation route). 

Can you go for more than one? Absolutely. 

How should pick which one to go for? I’m glad you asked.

How to Pick a Lead Gen Strategy

Does your offer require a conversation or a click? 

If your product or service is a turnkey solution or a quick template – you should go for scale. Outbound will be your friend. 

If you’re offering something that’s more expensive or custom (or you’re offering consulting or strategy), you need trust and reputation. 

In this case, you should aim for thought leadership. Build in public, create a digital presence. Become a Linkedin-fluencer, if you gotta.

Do you have time to spare?

If you’re starting up an AI agency as a side hustle to your full-time job, you can afford to play the long game. 

If you want to focus on long-term results, you can start by building a reputation via content marketing, partnerships, and SEO.

But if you’re trying to get clients ASAP, aim for the shorter-term wins: cold outreach, baby. DMs, emails – heck, you can even call people if you want.

How much budget and labor do you have?

If you have the resources, pick a few strategies and diversify. Doing both outbound and inbound is always the safer bet.

If you’re alone, and you’re tryna speedrun it? Pick one channel and go deep.

Where does your ICP spend time?

Believe me: I wasted too much time marketing to developers on Linkedin before I relized that most developers do. Not. Go. On LinkedIn. 

If it helps to narrow it down, think about where your ideal customer profile (ICP) hangs out. 

This is also a pretty good chance to nail down your ICP, in case you hadn’t yet.

Types of Lead Generation

Cold outreach

I know – cold outreach sucks. But if it never worked, no one would do it.

I’ll be upfront about the crappy part: you’ll have to send about 100 emails to get 5 responses (if you do a good job at it).

But let’s focus on the positives of cold outreach:

• It’s the fastest way to get feedback about your lead generation method
• It’s low-cost

You’ll need to have clear positioning and a clear niche – and you can decide whether you have the resources to personalize messages or not (a first name, at minimum, is recommended).

Cold outreach goes beyond emails. You can start throwing out messages on any social media platform, which might be a better fit for your agency niche. 

Content marketing

Content marketing (hello) will bring you inbound traffic – and not a lot of those people will want to buy something from you, but you know what? Some of them will. And that’s pretty cool. 

Content marketing is especially fantastic for founder-led agencies (hello, that’s you). 

Why? People like to buy from competent people who know the product inside and out – not a salesperson who’s trained on a few talking points. 

Start making YouTube videos – they can be demos, cool use cases, or anything that appeals to your ICP. Start posting on Twitter (no, you can’t make me call it X). And of course: start becoming a LinkedIn influencer.

You can also publish articles on your website as another form of content marketing. But as a professional content marketer, I’d suggest you save this until you have a few employees under your belt. 

Why? It often requires more SEO knowledge, and it’s more of a slow burn tactic than social media.

Lead magnets

Everyone loves a lead magnet. Free stuff? Yeah, take my email. 

Lead magnets are how you’re gonna capture some emails (and then you can transition from cold outreach to some warm-ish outreach).

And let me tell you, nothing feels better than a warm lead after running through pages and pages of cold leads. 

You could really use anything as a lead magnet. It just needs to be worth someone’s email. Common lead magnets include:

• Free audits, assessments, or consultations
• Case studies
• Guides or templates

If you hit a real pain point for your ICP, you can start collecting warm leads on autopilot. 

Partnerships

The best way to generate leads? Borrow someone else’s audience.

Partnerships let you skip the line — you're not cold emailing, you're being introduced. That trust transfer makes everything easier.

You can find partners in all sorts of places:

• AI marketplaces that list vendors (like Botpress, Webflow, or Zapier directories)
• Non-AI agencies who want to offer AI to their clients (think design, dev, or marketing agencies)
• Happy clients who are willing to refer you to others in their network

The tricky part? You have to actually build relationships. Partnerships are slower to start, but once they’re rolling, they can give you a consistent stream of warm leads with zero ad spend.

If your offer is simple, repeatable, and makes someone else look smart for recommending it — congrats, you’re partnership material.

9. How to Demo Your Offering

Build a proof of concept

You don’t need a client to get started — you just need a problem and a basic AI solution that proves you know what you’re doing.

A proof of concept should be fast, focused, and scrappy. It’s not a portfolio piece; it’s a conversation starter. Build something that solves a single pain point using the tools you plan to offer — like a lead-qualifying bot, or a customer support agent that pulls from a knowledge base.

Keep it simple, show it off, and see who bites.

Do some pro bono work

Free work isn’t the enemy — bad free work is.

If you’re going to work for free, make sure you get something out of it. A case study, a testimonial, a warm intro to a CEO’s group chat — whatever helps you grow. 

And don’t just build anything for anyone. Choose a company in your target niche so the project actually helps position you for future work.

Also, make sure the scope is clear. “Free” doesn’t mean unlimited revisions and a Slack channel full of feature requests.

Build a full (or multiple) prototypes

Sometimes the fastest way to get client work is to just build like you already have client work.

Pick a few industries you want to target and build fully functional AI agents for them. A bot that books appointments for a salon. A Slack assistant for onboarding. A chatbot that qualifies leads for a real estate agent. 

These don’t need to be client-ready — just polished enough to demo or reuse as templates.

Once they’re built, you can reuse them in cold outreach, on your website, or in lead magnets. You’re not waiting for permission — you’re showing what’s possible.

10. How to Price Your Services

This is one of the major decisions you’ll have to make. 

But fret not: you can always, always change it as you learn and grow.

Part of the reason pricing is such a big question is because the hundreds of AI agencies we’ve interacted with do… everything. 

That means a ton of agencies will opt to sell a service instead of a product alone.

A lot of agencies will build the project, sell the result, and charge to maintain it. Under this model, updates are typically included in the cost of maintenance.  

Of course, recurring revenue is usually the goal. It’s more stable; it’s more practical. We all love getting a regular cheque in the mail. 

“You want to know how much the problem costs,” explains Hamelin. “Agencies aren’t selling tools. They’re solving problems. Figure out how much that problem is worth to your prospect.”

Initial build

Pricing depends on complexity, involvement, and the type of client you’re targeting.

Custom projects are high-ticket — anywhere from $5K to $50K+, billed as a flat fee or by milestone. These take time and usually involve deep integrations or compliance-heavy builds.

Template-based projects land in the $1.5K to $10K range. They start with a base template and get lightly customized, with optional add-ons for support or integrations.

Turnkey solutions are the most scalable but lowest priced — think $50–$500/month, either as a subscription or a setup + monthly fee. Best for niche problems with repeatable value.

And remember: Don’t price based on how long it takes you to build — price based on how much it’s worth to the client.

Maintenance costs

Not every AI agency will handle maintenance packages. Maybe you’re just improving existing AI systems. Maybe you sell solutions and cut ties afterward. 

It’s good to have a maintenance package. Monitoring and improving AI agents is crucial. But selling a pure subscription can be a mistake.

A ton of amateurs get nervous that they’re not going to get repeat business. So what do they do? They make hella expensive upkeep packages. 

Take some advice from the experts: Sell only what maintenance really costs you.

Trust that repeat business will come without forcing it into your contracts.

 “I rehire every good contractor every time I need them,” Perron says. “But if they had forced me into a pricey long-term contract? I probably wouldn’t be working with them.”

Don’t kill your business out of fear that your clients will leave.

Start an AI Agency Today

We’ve partnered with dozens of AI agencies – and we have the most flexible AI agent platform on the market. 

Botpress offers a suite of pre-built integrations (including CRMs, common channels, and a ton of platforms), a host of educational resources, and a partnership network — if you ever want a partner organization after landing your first few clients.

‍Start building today. It’s free.

FAQs

1. How do I differentiate my AI agency from competitors with the same niche?

To differentiate your AI agency from competitors in the same niche, emphasize a specific advantage such as faster deployment times or specialized industry expertise. Back it up with measurable outcomes in client case studies to build trust.

2. When should I pivot my niche or product offering?

You should pivot your niche when your lead pipeline slows down, margins are shrinking, or market research shows stronger demand in an adjacent niche where your team can win faster or deliver higher-value outcomes.

3. How do I assess product-market fit in an AI services business?

You can assess product-market fit in an AI services business when clients start referring others, you receive repeat business or upsells, your close rate increases, and demand consistently outpaces your delivery capacity.

4. What are the most common mistakes in building AI agents that don’t perform well?

The most common mistakes that lead to poorly performing AI agents include starting with vague use cases, skipping proper user testing, relying too heavily on ungrounded LLM responses, not including clear fallback mechanisms, and training on low-quality data.

5. How do I automate post-launch bot monitoring and error logging?

To automate post-launch bot monitoring and error logging, integrate tools like Sentry or native analytics dashboards to track fallback rates and user behavior. Set up real-time alerts via Slack or email when performance thresholds are breached.