Ep 84: How One Founder Built an AI-Powered Brand Agency for Startups | with Stephanie Zhuang
Update: 2025-12-01
Description
Summary:
Sean Lang interviews Stephanie Zhuang, founder of Tidal Brand Management, about her journey from 15 years in CPG brand management to launching a flexible, AI-powered micro-agency designed for startups. She shares the fears behind taking the leap, how entrepreneurship transformed her identity, and how she built a modern agency model that blends strategy, AI, and on-demand creative talent. Stephanie also breaks down her biggest learnings and a recent client win driven by speed and strategic focus.
Takeaways:
- Entrepreneurship triggered massive personal growth beyond business skills.
- AI allows solo operators to replicate big-agency strategy work at a fraction of the cost.
- Startups need bursts of high-level strategy, not expensive retainers.
- Custom-built creative teams match client budgets and project needs.
- Relearning hands-on marketing skills after years in management was a major challenge.
- Speed of execution is now more valuable than ever.
Check out Stephanie's agency here:
Learn the 5 mistakes keeping your agency stuck, and the 5 Custom GPTs that solve them. Free course at https://www.agencyuplift.co/blueprint
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