Today we’d like to introduce you to Billy Wilkinson.
Hi Billy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Billy Wilkinson is a growth-driven executive, entrepreneur, Execupreneur ™ and investor whose career spans financial services, executive leadership, marketing innovation, and strategic acquisitions. As CEO of Threshold, Billy leads a fast-scaling digital marketing firm specializing in industry specific sectors—including student housing, multifamily, senior living, and financial institutions—where he’s spearheaded acquisitions and acquihires, completed cross-border acquisitions, and consistently driven strong EBITDA performance. Under his leadership, Threshold has evolved from a scrappy 11-person team processing deposits at the kitchen table to a nationally recognized agency honored by AdWeek as one of the Top 100 Fastest Growing Global Agencies, multiple Inc. 5000 rankings, Austin Fast 50 awards, and numerous creative accolades including Stevie, Davey, Communicator, MUSE awards, and multiple Great Place to Work awards . In 2020, Billy was named one of Campaign US’ 40 over 40 Award recipients as one of the advertising industries most innovative leaders. He is responsible for trademarks including The Anti-Vacancy Agency ™, Execupreneur™, and AIgency™.
Billy’s path to leadership wasn’t linear. Raised in Abilene, Texas, in a family of modest means, he lost his father at 13 and worked his way up—literally stringing tennis racquets to afford shoes and earning scholarships that took him from Baylor to Schreiner University and later to his MBA at Sam Houston State University. As a competitive tennis player, student body president, and relentless worker (often juggling three jobs), he developed the grit and drive that fuel his leadership style today: revenue-first thinking balanced with human-first culture.
Before Threshold, Billy built a robust financial career—managing lending and investment portfolios at Norwest Financial, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and Wells Fargo, where he became Regional Private Banking Manager overseeing Central Texas. He then transitioned into executive leadership roles in technology-enabled sales and marketing firms, including serving as President and COO of Invenio Solutions. There, he scaled operations from 150 to 600 employees, grew revenue from $12M to $50M, closed eight-figure contracts, and drove over $1B in client pipeline annually for enterprise clients such as Microsoft, Charter Communications, McKesson, and YP.com.
Beyond marketing, Billy is actively pursuing private equity–style investments, including acquiring minority stakes in HVAC companies through HVACVentures.com, and investing in real estate, angel ventures, and public markets. His strategic focus blends his financial acumen—sharpened through Series 7/66 licenses, portfolio management, and board work overseeing portfolios approaching nine figures—with a sharp instinct for growth opportunities.
Billy’s leadership philosophy rests on three principles:
1. Your life is only as good as you make it.
2. Be more accepting than expecting.
3. Don’t let what you don’t know stop what you can do.
He has served on multiple boards including Schreiner University’s Board of Trustees (current), the USTA Texas Investment Committee, and various philanthropic organizations, while maintaining a personal style that’s equal parts professional precision and playful candor—a balance that’s earned him trust in boardrooms and authenticity on the court.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s never been a smooth road. There are smooth days or smooth stretches but you have to be ready to change course quickly as you hit road bumps (good or bad). One particular time was when I was running a company and we were notified of a potential class action lawsuit against our publicly traded clients. At face value, it could have cost our client billions of dollars and would have closed our company. Instead of panicking, my team and I met with attorneys in NYC, Washington DC, and combed through our data to understand and tell the story. It was six months before the client (and our company) were cleared. From there our company continued to thrive because you have to understand that as you climb, most of what’s brought to you will be a problem. The reality of how many of them are true problems is rather small. So we were diligent and never lost focus on the rest of what we are doing so the company continued to flourish.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Last year, I trademarked the term Execupreneur ™. I’m an applied learner, not a theoretical learner so as my career has grown, so have my learnings. While there are things I have started, I’m not necessarily the guy you want on day 1. Conversely, I have worked in and am not a big fan of the bureaucracy of 100,000 employee companies (no offense). I’m the guy who likes to take an idea and scale it to something special and thus coined the term “Execupreneur” which is that blend of entrepreneur and executive. I’m most proud of the companies I have helped build the last 20 years. While I have a focus on relentless focus on revenue generation, I’m a fan of the data / metrics / financials that need to be in place to help manage / monitor the growth. That framework is critical as you scale and is something that’s helped me throughout my career.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
One entrepreneur once rolled out 1000 ideas at one time and said “each of these is worth $1million dollars.” That may be true, but an idea is a dime a dozen. The critical part is how an ideas gets executed; that’s where success is made.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thresholdagency.com
- Instagram: @remarkabilly
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billywilkinson/
- Other: https://www.billywilkinson.com
