The RAG Podcast - Recruitment Agency Growth Podcast

Peter Kornberg: How a Non-Recruiter Built $1M+ Revenue 15 years in a row (with Just 6 People)
Peter Kornberg never worked a day as an agency recruiter.
He worked in Advertising and Marketing and became a Chief Digital Officer.
He ran a product design agency in New York City. Clients started asking for talent they couldn't afford to engage the agency for. So Peter said: "We can provide you some people."
That was 15 years ago.
What started as an ad hoc favour became UX Hires -a staffing and recruitment firm that's done $1M+ in revenue every single year since (with a team of six).
But it wasn't always lean and profitable.
In 2021, they had 60 open roles. A full team of employees. An expensive New York City office. Peter hired a leader to run the recruitment business.
"He didn't bring in any business. He wasn't particularly effective at managing," Peter admits.
"Didn't really fulfil that potential."
They were grinding. Burning out. Taking on everything that came through the door.
"We didn't effectively weigh the roles that came in as we saw everything as money. Everything was opportunities. So we just went for everything."
The team wasn't profitable, this model wasn't working.
So Peter stripped it back.
He kept only his best recruiters and sourcers. People who could deliver exceptional outcomes regardless of market conditions. No 360 recruiters, only delivery consultants with him focusing on winning all new business.
"Really focus on people that can deliver great outcomes," he says. "I can handle the rest around that, which is client relationships."
But here's what makes Peter different.
He split his team between sourcing and recruiting. Sourcers find people; that's all they do. Recruiters manage clients and placements. It's all relationship-based building.
60% of his revenue now comes from contract and he's rebuilt his entire approach to work: "I could probably get more done in five hours of really productive work than 15 hours of grinding away and burning out."
He doesn’t believe in “hustle culture” and he’s not trying to build an empire. He’s quietly built a sustainable, profitable role business that gives him his life back.
We cover:
- Why never being a recruiter became his biggest advantage
- The 60-role mistake that nearly broke the business
- How he rebuilt around just 6 people and hit $1M+ consistently
- The split desk model (and why he refuses 360 recruiters)
- Why 60% contract revenue changed everything
- The failed leader hire (and why BD roles are so hard to delegate)
- Time blocking and the 5-hour productivity principle
- How AI is reshaping UX and product design recruitment
This isn't about scaling fast or an exit strategy.
It's about a non-recruiter who stumbled into being a recruiter, nearly burned out chasing growth, and rebuilt a million-dollar business around what actually works: small team, high margins, client relationships.
No investment decks and growth-at-all-costs. Just profitability and freedom.
If you've ever wondered whether you can build a 7-figure recruitment business without the complexity, the burn-out, or the endless headcount - this episode will help!
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Episode Sponsor: Remote Recruitment
Hiring shouldn’t be slow, stressful, or expensive. That’s why there’s Remote Recruitment — the smart hiring partner for modern businesses.
They don’t just help you find great people. They help you access elite South African talent that’s ready to deliver. No PAYE. No NI. No bloated overheads. Just trained, remote professionals who integrate seamlessly into your team.
Their process handles everything: sourcing, shortlisting, onboarding, and retention. Fully managed. Fully supported. Fully remote.
And now, Remote Recruitments has entered a new...

At 21 years old, Alex Hashash was managing 15 people and 18,000 hours of temporary nurses every single week.
By his early thirties, he had 120 staff. Most of them offshore.
But it didn't start with a playbook. It started with 3 am phone calls, traumatic Blackberry ringtones, and weekend rotas that never seemed to end.
When his company decided to build an offshore capability, Alex didn't manage it from a distance.
He moved to India for eight months to build the team from scratch.
Night shifts. Culture clashes. Teaching people who'd never worked in recruitment how to fill nursing shifts at 2 am UK time.
He's spent over a decade learning what separates the founders who make offshore work from those who give up after six months.
Most treat it like a cost-cutting exercise. They hire one remote person, hope for the best, and blame the model when it fails.
Alex took the opposite approach.
"If someone makes a mistake, it's really easy to blame them because they're so far away. But if that was a colleague on your desk, would you be as harsh?"
The problem isn't the talent. It's the leadership.
This week on The RAG Podcast, Alex tells the full story.
We cover:
Why most recruitment founders fail at offshore within six months How to build culture when your team is thousands of miles away The biggest mistake UK consultants make when managing offshore staff Why hiring people without recruitment experience often delivers the best ROI How to structure probation and promotional targets for offshore hires The leadership buy-in you need before going offshore How he scaled to 120 staff with the majority based offshore
This isn't theory. It's a decade of hard-won experience across three continents.
If you've ever wondered whether offshore could work for your agency - or why your previous attempt failed - this episode has the blueprint.
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Episode Sponsor: Atlas
Admin is a massive waste of time. That's why there's Atlas, the AI-first recruitment platform built for modern agencies.
It doesn't only track CVs and calls. It remembers everything. Every email, every interview, every conversation. Instantly searchable, always available. And now, it's entering a whole new era.
With Atlas 2.0, you can ask anything and it delivers. With Magic Search, you speak and it listens. It finds the right candidates using real conversations, not simply look for keywords.
Atlas 2.0 also makes business development easier than ever. With Opportunities, you can track, manage and grow client relationships, powered by generative AI and built right into your workflow.
Need insights? Custom dashboards give you total visibility over your pipeline. And that's not theory. Atlas customers have reported up to 41% EBITDA growth and an 85% increase in monthly billings after adopting the platform.
No admin. No silos. No lost info. Nothing but faster shortlists, better hires and more time to focus on what actually drives revenue.
Atlas is your personal AI partner for modern recruiting.
Don't miss the future of recruitment. Get started with Atlas today and unlock your exclusive RAG listener offer at https://recruitwithatlas.com/therag/
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Episode Sponsor: Hoxo
Every recruitment founder is investing in LinkedIn.
Spending thousands on Recruiter licences.
Building connections. Posting content. Growing networks.
But here's the question almost no one can answer:
How much revenue is LinkedIn actually bringing into your business?
Most founders have thousands of connections but no clear process to turn that attention into cash.
That's the problem we solve.
At Hoxo, we help recruitment founders build predictable revenue...

Logan Naidu runs Kernel Global-a multi-brand recruitment group with 200 people across London, Hong Kong, Charlotte and New York.
We first spoke in April 2021. He had 180 people. The market was about to explode.
2021: £7 million EBITDA. 2022: £10 million EBITDA. Headcount doubled to 300.
Then March 2023 hit. Logan closed a second PE deal. Paid out over £30 million to staff. The biggest individual payout? Multiple millions.
One month later, he started making cuts.
"I remember talking to my father-in-law saying I'm really embarrassed by this. I've just taken on a load of money from new investors and we're already talking about making cuts and the business shrinking."
By the end of 2023, Logan had cut 100 heads—a third of the business.
But here's what makes this story different: he saw it coming.
December 2022. Their Christmas party. Logan stood up and said: "I think we've forgotten how hard this industry can be. We've had a record year, but we're cutting corners. We're taking clients for granted. That's going to bite us if we don't get back to it really quickly."
It was poorly received. Then 2023 happened.
This week on The RAG Podcast, Logan breaks down the full story.
We cover:
Scaling from £4.9M to £10M EBITDA in three years during the boom
Why he warned his team in December 2022 that they'd "forgotten the basics"
Closing a PE deal on a Saturday morning hours before Silicon Valley Bank collapsed
Making 100 cuts across two waves (and why the second wave was harder)
The criteria he used to decide who stayed: character, work ethic, client treatment
Why his sleepless nights dropped from 2–3 per week to 2–3 per year
Rebuilding to 2022 levels by 2025 with a completely different foundation
His approach to AI, offshoring, and why he won't chase every new tool
Why he still hires graduates despite the cost and cultural shifts
The plan to double the business again by 2029

This isn't about avoiding pain.
It's about a founder who moved fast, made hard decisions early, and came out the other side with a business built to last through cycles.
If you've ever wondered how the best operators stay level when everyone else is drinking their own Kool-Aid, this episode is the blueprint.
__________________________________________
Episode Sponsor: Remote Recruitment
Hiring shouldn’t be slow, stressful, or expensive. That’s why there’s Remote Recruitment — the smart hiring partner for modern businesses.
They don’t just help you find great people. They help you access elite South African talent that’s ready to deliver. No PAYE. No NI. No bloated overheads. Just trained, remote professionals who integrate seamlessly into your team.
Their process handles everything: sourcing, shortlisting, onboarding, and retention. Fully managed. Fully supported. Fully remote.
And now, Remote Recruitments has entered a new chapter. From ops to admin, sales to strategy, we’re helping businesses scale smarter with people they trust, at a cost they can afford.
Clients have seen:
* Up to **60% productivity boosts**
* **300% ROI** on BD roles
* **30%

Ryan Gorman: How He Built £250k in Fees Without Making a Single Cold Call
Ryan Gorman launched Lofthouse Group in January 2021 with a newborn daughter at home.
His wife asked him one question: "What sort of person do you want Isla seeing? Do you want her growing up seeing work as something you love, or just something you do to earn money?"
Year one, solo, working part-time around his newborn: £93k invoiced. £60k profit. Home for every bath time.
"Everything has been warm. I've never had to sit down and just cold-call tons of people."
While other recruiters smashed the phones, Ryan built a podcast as a BD tool. Used LinkedIn to warm every approach. And went to Instagram to find architects who weren't even on LinkedIn.
Four years later? £250k in fees. Average placement of £12k (market average is £7.5k). 85% repeat business. 70% net profit.
This week on The RAG Podcast, Ryan tells the full story.
We cover:
Why he left tech recruitment to go back to architecture
The question his wife asked that gave him the push to start
How he used Instagram to find candidates not on LinkedIn
Why he's never made a cold call and still bills £250k
Hiring his first employee after four years solo
How his first hire billed £50k in two and a half months
His plan to become number one in architecture recruitment

If you've ever wondered whether you can build a profitable recruitment business without grinding the phones, this episode is for you.

__________________________________________
Episode Sponsor: Remote Recruitment
Hiring shouldn’t be slow, stressful, or expensive. That’s why there’s Remote Recruitment — the smart hiring partner for modern businesses.
They don’t just help you find great people. They help you access elite South African talent that’s ready to deliver. No PAYE. No NI. No bloated overheads. Just trained, remote professionals who integrate seamlessly into your team.
Their process handles everything: sourcing, shortlisting, onboarding, and retention. Fully managed. Fully supported. Fully remote.
And now, Remote Recruitments has entered a new chapter. From ops to admin, sales to strategy, we’re helping businesses scale smarter with people they trust, at a cost they can afford.
Clients have seen:
* Up to **60% productivity boosts**
* **300% ROI** on BD roles
* **30% faster completion** of operational tasks
No overhead burden. No talent shortage panic. Just growth-focused hiring that makes business sense.
Remote Recruitment is your flexible hiring solution for the modern era.
**RAG Listeners:** Get 5% off your first hire + a free strategy session at www.remoterecruitment.co.uk/rag
__________________________________________
Episode Sponsor: Hoxo
Every recruitment founder is investing in LinkedIn.
Spending thousands on Recruiter licences.
Building connections. Posting content. Growing networks.
But here’s the question almost no one can answer:
How much revenue is LinkedIn actually bringing into your business?
Most founders have thousands of connections but no clear process to turn that attention into cash.
That’s the problem we solve.
At Hoxo, we help recruitment founders build

Stuart Mitchell: How he built $3M in 3 years (then realised he hated his own job)
Stuart Mitchell launched Hampton North in September 2022.
$1.6 million year one. $2.5 million year two. On track for $3 million plus in year three.
Now 10 staff and projects $1m profit for next year.
I interviewed him on the show in the middle of 2023, and things were flying.
But over the following 18 months, he nearly broke.
His dad died. His wife fell pregnant. And the VP he'd promised her-the guy who was supposed to take the pressure off-pulled out in January.
"I had to go home to my newly pregnant wife and have a really hard conversation."
For 6 months, Stuart ground it out alone. High expectations, low empathy. The worst version of himself.
Then at a wedding, his old running mate Greg Anderson said: "I think we should do this again."
Greg joined in June and immediately told Stuart the truth: "There is nothing here. No process. Nothing written down. You're making it impossible for anyone who joins to actually do well."
This week on The RAG Podcast, Stuart tells the full story.
We cover:
Launching just before the 2023 downturn and hitting $1.6M in the first year
Losing his dad and how it derailed him for two months
The VP hire that fell through one week after his wife fell pregnant
Why he admits "I had my own company and I didn't like my job"
How one hire professionalised a business built entirely on talent
Building a $3M agency with 10 people (and why he'll never scale past 25)
Why he takes profit first and doesn't care about a big exit
The role this LinkedIn profile and brand played in attracting top-tier talent

This isn't about sacrifice for success.
It's about a founder who built a multi-7-figure business, then redesigned it so he could pick his kids up from school.
If you've ever wondered whether you can have both profit and peace, this episode is the proof you need!
__________________________________________
Episode Sponsor: Atlas
Admin is a massive waste of time. That's why there's Atlas, the AI-first recruitment platform built for modern agencies.
It doesn't only track CVs and calls. It remembers everything. Every email, every interview, every conversation. Instantly searchable, always available. And now, it's entering a whole new era.
With Atlas 2.0, you can ask anything and it delivers. With Magic Search, you speak and it listens. It finds the right candidates using real conversations, not simply look for keywords.
Atlas 2.0 also makes business development easier than ever. With Opportunities, you can track, manage and grow client relationships, powered by generative AI and built right into your workflow.
Need insights? Custom dashboards give you total visibility over your pipeline. And that's not theory. Atlas customers have reported up to 41% EBITDA growth and an 85% increase in monthly billings after adopting the platform.
No admin. No silos. No lost info. Nothing but faster shortlists, better hires and more time to focus on what actually drives revenue.
Atlas is your personal AI partner for modern recruiting.
Don't miss the future of recruitment. Get started with Atlas today and unlock your exclusive RAG listener...