Scott Lanaway on What It Takes to Build an Agency from Scratch

Scott Lanaway is the founder and partner of Titan One, a leading B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise and mid-market companies build their brands and bring products to market. However, when he graduated with a degree in film and communications from McGill University, a career in B2B marketing wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.

Scott's journey started with an entry-level job at a company that produced film for pre-press. There, he found himself studying the advertising agency files that came through the business. Rather than just focusing on his assigned work, he noticed an opportunity to expand what the company could offer and proposed opening a creative services division to the owner. The owner decided to pursue the idea, but chose someone with more experience to lead it.

“In my fantasy version, he would let me do that, which never would have happened because I had no credibility at that point. So I decided to quit and take a stab at starting my own business in 1996 — 30 years ago. I didn’t have any money, I didn’t have any connections, so the whole thing was very fight or flight.”

So, that became the push Scott needed to take a chance on himself. As he began securing clients and finding work in corporate marketing, he also discovered that building strong relationships was just as important to growing his business as the work itself.

Going Above and Beyond

For Scott, one of the biggest lessons from building his business was learning to look beyond what a client initially asked for. Delivering good work is important, but he believes there’s an opportunity to stand out by understanding the bigger picture: what a client is trying to accomplish, why a particular request matters, and what else might help them reach their goals. Rather than treating a brief as a checklist, he encourages people to think about the problem behind it and bring additional ideas to the table.

“I think that’s really the thing that helped me build relationships and open more doors. Just continually trying to answer that question of ‘how can I create value for the person I’m helping?’ It’s really that simple.”

This isn’t about finding ways to sell more services or make a project bigger; It’s about showing that you’ve taken the time to understand the person you’re helping and are invested in their success.

This approach didn’t just help Scott build relationships early in his career. It eventually shaped the kind of agency he wanted to build.

Knowing What You Stand For

Scott’s move into B2B marketing came through an opportunity to work with AT&T Canada, which introduced him to enterprise clients and the complexities of marketing to larger businesses. As he gained experience, he began focusing more on B2B clients, learning how to understand their needs and build longer-term relationships.

In 2016, he partnered with Mark Glucki, now his co-managing partner at Titan One, to rethink what an agency could offer its clients. Drawing on their experiences, they developed a full-service model built around the idea that marketing services should support a client’s broader business goals rather than operate as standalone offerings.

Today, Titan One works as a strategic partner for brands and go-to-market teams, connecting everything from strategy and creative to campaigns, marketing automation, and CRM.

For Scott, understanding what a client actually needs and how to work with them as a partner has been central to Titan One’s growth. Rather than focusing on selling more services, the agency prioritizes long-term partnerships over individual transactions.

“This is really important for us: our ideal client wants to engage with us as a strategic partner, and then everything that we do flows down from that and ladders back up to it.”

Even when a client has a significant budget, that doesn’t automatically make them the right fit. The agency has learned to be intentional about the work it takes on and whether it aligns with what they believe will create meaningful value.

“What we found is, crazily enough, the more that we’ve stayed true to what matters to us, the more our business has grown. I think that people can sense when you’re genuine, when you’re standing for something, when you have conviction for something that you actually believe, and that you’re not there just to scramble to add revenue, because we’re really not.”

Stop Treating Networking Like a Transaction

The same principles that helped Scott grow his business also shape how he approaches professional relationships today.

As his role has evolved, he’s moved away from being involved in every aspect of the agency’s day-to-day work and toward business development and relationship building. That means connecting with marketing leaders, exchanging ideas, and learning about what’s working, what’s challenging, and where the industry is heading.

It’s also advice he encourages students to take seriously when looking for opportunities.

In a competitive job market, it can be tempting to focus entirely on applications and resumes. Scott suggests taking a more personal approach: reach out to people whose work interests you, find something specific to connect with, and look for opportunities to have genuine conversations.

Sometimes that means asking someone for a coffee chat. The goal isn’t to immediately ask for a job or turn every interaction into a professional transaction; it’s to learn from others and build connections that can develop naturally over time.

“Human nature is we want to work with people we like and trust.”

Scott also recognizes that building these relationships can feel intimidating, especially when you’re just starting out or speaking with someone more experienced than you.

Earlier in his career, he often felt self-doubt when meeting with senior clients. Over time, he learned that being able to contribute to a conversation isn’t determined by your title or seniority.

“If you’re well-intentioned and you’re credibly able to deliver value, then you can participate in a conversation.” 

For students dealing with imposter syndrome, his advice is to not let self-doubt stop them from pursuing what interests them. You don’t have to know everything or be the most experienced person in the room to contribute something valuable. What matters is being willing to learn, asking thoughtful questions, and approaching people authentically.

The Advice You’ve Heard a Hundred Times

The advice might sound generic, but there’s a reason you hear it so often. Take it from someone who built an agency from the ground up and has spent decades building relationships across the industry:

“My dad said to me when I was young, ‘Business is all about connecting with people and networking.’ I sort of was like, ‘Yeah, that seems kind of obvious. That’s what everyone says.’ And now I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s literally what it is.’”

Follow Your Curiousity — You Never Know Where It Might Take You

Looking back on his career, Scott knows that the path he’s taken isn’t one he could have predicted when he graduated.

“Believe in yourself, because I’m living testament to the fact that if you had said to the version of me who graduated from McGill that I would have this agency now, doing this kind of work with the types of clients we have across the US and Canada, I would have said, ‘That makes no sense.’

Just follow your curiousity. Make yourself indispensable to the people you’re helping, and it could take you lots of places. You never know where it could take you.”

As Scott's own story demonstrates, you never know which opportunity or connection might lead somewhere unexpected.

Thanks for reading this month's edition of The Field Report! The Field Report is TRMA’s interview series where we hear directly from a marketing professionals about how they got to where they are, what it looks like to work in the field, and their advice for building a career in the industry.

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