Most marketing agencies sell campaigns. Kartik Ahuja sells something different: systems that run themselves.
The Ottawa-based entrepreneur has spent over a decade building what he calls “growth engines” instead of one-off marketing projects. His agency GrowthScribe and six other internet ventures now operate largely on autopilot, serving nearly 1,000 clients across multiple continents while his core team remains deliberately small.
In April 2025, Ahuja published detailed numbers on Entrepreneur.com showing how automation cut his operational workload in half without hiring a single additional employee. The results contradicted conventional wisdom in an industry known for burning cash on headcount.
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From Failed Outsourcing to Self-Built Systems
Ahuja started in sales in 2011, selling consumer products with minimal success. After hiring freelancers and agencies that couldn’t deliver results, he taught himself digital marketing while pursuing a business degree at Jagan Institute of Management Studies in Delhi.
Between 2014 and 2017, he held various positions including team leadership at Sarso Biznet International and affiliate marketing for Amazon and Flipkart. In 2016, still a student, he launched GrowthScribe with co-founder Sparsh Arora. The agency incorporated as Growth Webventures, LLC. He graduated in 2018 with the business already established.
The Seven-Business Portfolio Strategy
What separates Ahuja from typical agency owners is his testing ground. Beyond GrowthScribe, he operates six additional ventures: public relations firms, digital media properties, strategic investments in early-stage internet companies, and domain name trading through BrandBucket.
This portfolio serves a specific function. Ahuja tests every marketing strategy on his own properties before recommending it to clients. If a content system or automation workflow fails on his businesses, clients never see it. This operator-first approach differs from agencies selling untested theories.
His track record includes 300+ completed websites, 700+ marketing automation workflows, and growing one Instagram account to 500,000 followers. Since 2018, his Quora contributions have generated over 450,000 views, with readers consistently asking for implementation details rather than theory.
The 50% Automation Breakthrough
Ahuja’s Entrepreneur.com article outlined five bottlenecks strangling his agency. Lead generation consumed hours of manual searching. Customer support teams drowned in repetitive questions. Financial tracking required constant manual updates. Client onboarding lacked consistency. Meeting coordination across time zones created endless email chains.
His solution combined specific tools for specific problems. LinkedIn Sales Navigator automated prospect identification. Apollo.io managed contacts. HubSpot handled customer relationship workflows. QuickBooks Online eliminated manual financial entry. Calendly solved meeting coordination.
“By automating my business processes, I was able to offload 50% of my business tasks and achieve sustainable growth without hiring more employees,” Ahuja wrote. The automation improved accuracy by removing human error from data entry and freed his team for strategy work.
Business Insight covered the story in September 2025, highlighting his recommendation to automate one process at a time. Test impact, measure results, adjust before moving to the next bottleneck. The approach requires patience but produces lasting change.
Systems Over Channels
Ahuja frames growth marketing as building acquisition systems that function without constant attention. His methodology focuses on five interconnected components: bringing customers in, activating them, keeping them around, generating revenue, and creating referrals.
The approach relies heavily on SEO-driven content rather than paid advertising. Organic search traffic costs nothing once content ranks and compounds over time instead of stopping when ad spend ends. His own sites demonstrate this strategy through rankings for competitive keywords.
He tracks unit economics and customer lifetime value obsessively. If acquiring a customer costs more than they’ll spend, growth leads to bankruptcy. These metrics guide decisions while most marketers chase vanity numbers like impressions or clicks.
Most ventures in his portfolio now run independently with minimal daily involvement. This was always the goal: build systems robust enough to function without their creator hovering over every decision.
Media Recognition and Thought Leadership
Ahuja’s work has appeared in BBC, Bloomberg, Yahoo, Vice, DailyMail, American Express, and GoDaddy publications. He joined Entrepreneur.com’s Leadership Network as a regular contributor, writing about automation, scaling strategies, and financial management.
His newsletter reaches over 11,000 subscribers with weekly breakdowns of strategies he’s testing in real time. The content avoids hype and jargon, focusing on specific numbers and processes.
LinkedIn testimonials from 2015 and 2016 colleagues emphasize his focus on continuous learning and client outcomes. One wrote: “I’ve known Kartik since 2016 and have been a witness of his skyrocketing growth rate since then. From being just another Digital Marketer to being an agency owner.”
Current Operations
From Ottawa, Ahuja manages global business interests while maintaining a lean team. GrowthScribe employs Divyansha Chawla as Operations and Technical Web Specialist and Subha Sanketa Rangineni as HR Specialist. Contractors handle specialized work, but the core stays small by design.
Crunchbase data shows GrowthScribe has served 987+ clients across India, Asia, the United States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, China, and Singapore. The company operates alongside Ahuja’s other primary venture, Mind Glam. His website states he’s not accepting new opportunities outside these two businesses.
He continues testing strategies on his properties, writing about results, and refining processes for clients seeking sustainable growth over temporary spikes.
The Discipline Question
The business landscape shifts constantly. Platforms emerge, algorithms change, last year’s tactics stop working. Ahuja’s bet is on systems that adapt rather than tactics that expire.
His approach won’t appeal to everyone. It requires patience, measurement, and willingness to build infrastructure before seeing results. No shortcuts, no secret tricks, no revolutionary tactics that change everything overnight.
But for founders exhausted by agencies promising the moon and delivering vapor, Ahuja’s model offers something different. Systems that work, numbers that prove it, and a methodology built on twelve years of testing, failing, and refining.
The question isn’t whether his approach will become mainstream. The question is whether enough businesses will choose the harder path of building systems instead of chasing quick wins.
