Jules is making $500k a year in revenue with his SEO agency Embarque. But now he's switching things up with a move into SaaS. He's acquired an SEO keyword app and I talked to him about how he plans to make the move from agency founder to SaaS founder.
Can you tell us what you’ve achieved with Embarque?
We’ve been in business for four years now. Today, we work with 10 to 15 clients at any given time. I’m incredibly proud of the reputation we’ve built. Our clients trust us, not just because we deliver results, but because we become partners in their growth.
It hasn’t always been easy. SEO is constantly changing, whether it’s algorithm updates or new competitors. We’ve had to be quick on our feet. But that’s part of what makes me proud: we’ve faced challenges head-on and emerged stronger.I think that longevity speaks volumes about the quality of work we do and the relationships we build.
What’s been your proudest achievement with Embarque?
Honestly, just surviving—and thriving. We’ve burned through six figures, dodged algorithm grenades, and somehow. We’re still here! Running an SEO agency in such a competitive space is tough. Many of our direct competitors have folded over, but we’ve managed to still grow over time.
We’ve helped companies like MentorCruise and VEED climb the SEO ladder while dodging algorithm curveballs. That’s wild even to me! We’ve also evolved significantly over the past four years.
What started as a productized SEO service has now grown into a strategy-driven, revenue-focused agency. This shift required us to rethink how we operate and deliver value, and it wasn’t easy.
We’ve burned through six figures along the way, reinvesting in the business, taking calculated risks, and learning from every challenge. Keeping a company going through all the ups and downs is tough, especially in an industry as volatile as SEO. But each challenge has pushed us to adapt and grow.
Can you tell us what Keyword Metrics is?
Keyword Metrics is like Google Search Console (GSC) but on rocket fuel. It’s a GSC rank-tracking tool that turns hours of lucrative SEO work into minutes. It more effectively shows the keywords you need to target to increase revenue and traffic.
Whether you're an SEO specialist or a business owner, the goal of Keyword Metrics is to help you focus on strategy and results, not just data wrangling through endless rows of exported query data.
Why did you acquire Keyword Metrics?
Buying Keyword Metrics was impulsive but strategic. I skimmed through the numbers, thought it was directionally correct, and decided to purchase it. The platform was working just fine, and any fixes required I could make them myself. Plus, the name was very easy to brand.
I'm the non-tech founder of Embarque.io, an SEO agency that’s been going strong for four years, but I wanted to do something bigger. When I saw Keyword Metrics for sale on Twitter, I jumped on it.
As someone who runs an SEO agency, I knew firsthand how tedious it can be to work with Google Search Console. This tool fits like a glove. It automates processes and reporting that would usually take hours, making life easier for me and offering more value to my clients.
There’s a big difference between running an agency and running a SaaS, though. SaaS gives you scalability, but it also comes with its own challenges—technical challenges, for one, since I’ve never led a development team. But for me, that’s the appeal. I’m spending 14-hour work days, and I wake up excited. I’m literally dreaming of keywords.
