Most digital agencies think AI will make them faster. It’ll make them smaller.

When we started First Three Things three years ago, we made a bet.

That the next disruption in digital will come from being small, senior, and AI-native by default.

At the time, that sounded wishful. Contrarian.

Now it just sounds obvious.

We’re seeing three signals clearly.

First: output is decoupling from people.

Work that once needed large teams is now being delivered by a handful of experienced operators. Often unreasonably efficiently.

Second: clients care less about who’s “on the team”.

They care about how fast decisions get made. How little friction sits between intent and outcome.

Third: AI is exposing agency processes for what they really are: risk shunted back to clients, padded out with ceremony. Sold as 'governance'.

For years, agencies have banged on about digital transformation while avoiding transforming themselves.

Same old model: people x hours = revenue.

The real question isn’t whether or how agencies will adopt AI.

It’s this:

What happens when talented, expert labour is no longer scarce?

Because that's what's happening.

2026 is the year we’ll start to see it properly.

We'll see who outperforms with far fewer people, less am-dram theatrics, and much better outcomes.

We’re not trying to build the biggest agency. Never have been. Nor do we want to be an Accenture-lite.

We’re building for what makes sense in a post-headcount world.

For us, that means:

Proprietary products. Ovie is ready for Beta.

AI-first delivery models that rewrite the rules of resourcing projects.

Senior leadership staying close to the work. Hands on. Not flying at corner office altitude.

Scale used to mean people. Not anymore.