GoHighLevel Ey Entrepreneur Of The Year: Features, Use Cases & Practical Guide

GoHighLevel Ey Entrepreneur Of The Year refers to the recognition received by HighLevel co-founders Robin Alex, Shaun Clark, and Varun Vairavan through EY's Entrepreneur Of The Year program. After being selected as 2024 Southwest finalists, the three HighLevel leaders were officially named Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2024 Southwest Award winners in June 2024.

The award itself is not a GoHighLevel CRM feature. Its relevance is that EY recognized the founders behind a company that had been scaling a platform built heavily around marketing agencies, CRM, automation, client management, and recurring software-based services.

For agencies evaluating what that platform can actually do operationally, our guide to GoHighLevel for Agencies covers sub-accounts, workflows, client delivery, automation, snapshots, and agency-focused implementation in more detail.

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The story developed in several stages.

HighLevel co-founders Robin Alex, Shaun Clark, and Varun Vairavan were already named Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 Southwest Award finalists in April 2023. HighLevel's announcement said they had been selected by an independent judging panel based on factors including entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, impact, and long-term value creation.

They returned to the program in 2024.

On April 17, 2024, EY announced that Robin Alex, Shaun Clark, and Varun Vairavan were among the 2024 Southwest Award finalists. EY's official finalist list identifies all three leaders together under HighLevel in Dallas, Texas.

Then, in June 2024, EY officially named them among the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Southwest Award winners.

The sequence is therefore:

2023 Southwest Finalists

↓

2024 Southwest Finalists

↓

2024 Southwest Award Winners

That distinction matters because calling the founders only "finalists" would omit their later regional win.

The recognized HighLevel leaders were:

EY's official 2024 Southwest winners announcement lists all three together as the HighLevel recipients.

HighLevel's own June 2024 announcement likewise states that Shaun Clark, Robin Alex, and Varun Vairavan were named Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Southwest Award winners.

The recognition therefore belonged to the company's leadership team rather than to the HighLevel software product itself.

The documented award was the 2024 Southwest Award.

Regional winners became eligible for consideration for EY's 2024 National Awards. HighLevel's announcement explicitly states that its three leaders became eligible for national consideration after winning the Southwest program.

It is therefore important not to rewrite the regional recognition as if HighLevel had won the overall national Entrepreneur Of The Year award.

The accurate progression is:

Regional Finalist → Southwest Regional Winner → National Consideration

not:

Regional Winner = Overall US Winner

EY runs the program through regional, national, and global stages.

EY describes Entrepreneur Of The Year as a global entrepreneurship program that recognizes founders, transformational CEOs, and other business leaders.

The wider program currently operates across numerous countries and territories and has built a global alumni network over several decades. EY says participants are evaluated in areas such as innovation, business performance, social responsibility, entrepreneurial leadership, and long-term value creation.

For the 2024 Southwest program specifically, regional winners were selected by an independent panel that included previous winners, CEOs, and other business leaders. EY said candidates were evaluated around entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, impact, and long-term value.

This means the award should be understood as recognition of company leadership and growth rather than a review or rating of HighLevel's software.

HighLevel is unusually agency-oriented compared with many traditional CRMs.

The platform can support a structure such as:

Agency

↓

Agency Workspace

↓

Client Sub-Account 1

Client Sub-Account 2

Client Sub-Account 3

↓

CRM + Funnels + Automation + Messaging + Calendars + Reporting

HighLevel's 2026 documentation explicitly distinguishes an agency's own internal sub-account from client sub-accounts. An Agency Sub-Account represents the agency's own operational workspace, while client sub-accounts represent customer businesses.

That architecture helps explain why HighLevel's growth story has attracted attention in the agency software market.

An EY award does not automatically make a CRM suitable for every business.

It is useful corporate context, but agencies should still evaluate HighLevel based on:

The decision should come from product fit rather than recognition alone.

A useful evaluation model is:

Business Process → Required Capability → HighLevel Feature → Cost → Result

instead of:

Company Won Award → Therefore Software Fits Every Use Case

Sub-accounts are central to how agencies can organize HighLevel.

HighLevel's current documentation explains that all sub-accounts operate as locations, but an Agency Sub-Account can be designated as the agency's internal business workspace rather than a client's environment.

A practical structure could look like:

Agency View

↓

Agency Internal Account

Then:

Client A

Client B

This is generally cleaner than putting every client's leads into one central location.

An agency can use HighLevel to manage its own customer acquisition.

A simple pipeline might be:

New Lead → Qualified → Discovery Call → Proposal → Won

Once the opportunity becomes Won:

Won → Client Intake → Sub-Account → Configuration → Launch

The CRM therefore supports both sides of an agency:

Acquire clients

and:

Deliver systems to clients

The quality of the architecture depends more on process design than on the number of features activated.

One of the biggest agency challenges is repeating setup work.

Imagine onboarding 30 dental clinics.

Without standardization:

Client 1 → Rebuild everything

Client 2 → Rebuild everything

Client 3 → Rebuild everything

That becomes inefficient quickly.

A better process can use reusable configuration.

Build Once → Snapshot → Client Sub-Account → Customize → Test → Launch

HighLevel currently describes Snapshots as reusable templates that capture supported sub-account configuration such as workflows, funnels, calendars, forms, campaigns, custom fields, and other assets.

Snapshots can reduce the setup work required when an agency repeatedly serves similar clients.

For example, a roofing agency could prepare:

Roofing Snapshot

Containing:

A new client process becomes:

Create Sub-Account

↓

Load Roofing Snapshot

↓

Add Client Information

↓

Connect Calendar / Phone / Domain

↓

Test

↓

Launch

HighLevel currently allows agencies to create a new sub-account with a Snapshot already loaded, reducing the need to manually import the same assets afterward.

HighLevel has continued expanding Snapshot management.

An August 2026 update introduced the ability to load or link multiple sub-accounts from a centralized Snapshot workflow. Agencies can select multiple accounts instead of manually opening each one individually.

For an agency managing many similar client accounts, that supports a process such as:

Snapshot Update

↓

Select Multiple Client Accounts

↓

Load Supported Changes

↓

Review

This does not mean every piece of live client data is synchronized automatically.

Snapshots remain configuration deployment tools rather than a universal live-sync database.

Consider an agency specializing in HVAC companies.

Its standardized client journey might be:

Lead

↓

Immediate Response

↓

Qualification

↓

Appointment

↓

Estimate

↓

Won

↓

Review

The agency could configure:

Instead of selling a collection of software features, the agency can position the system around the customer journey.

For roofing:

Lead → Inspection → Estimate → Follow-Up → Won → Review

The agency might create automations around each transition.

Create the CRM contact and opportunity.

Send confirmation and reminders.

Trigger structured follow-up.

Stop sales automation and begin customer onboarding.

Start the review-request process.

The system is useful because each stage can trigger the next operational action.

Agencies can also use HighLevel internally.

A practical onboarding flow could be:

Deal Won

↓

Send Intake Form

↓

Collect Business Information

↓

Create Client Workspace

↓

Apply Configuration

↓

Connect Services

↓

Test

↓

Launch

This can reduce reliance on informal onboarding through email and spreadsheets.

Winning a new account should not mean starting every task manually.

For example:

Opportunity = Won

↓

Send Welcome Email

↓

Create Internal Task

↓

Send Client Intake

↓

Notify Implementation Team

↓

Begin Onboarding

A separate workflow could then handle:

Intake Complete → Setup Ready → QA → Launch

The point is not to automate every strategic decision.

It is to eliminate repetitive transitions.

Agencies that move beyond traditional service delivery can also package HighLevel access into recurring SaaS plans.

HighLevel's current SaaS Configurator documentation describes it as a system for defining recurring software plans including pricing, features, snapshots, add-ons, usage billing, trials, and account provisioning.

The model can look like:

Customer Chooses Plan

↓

Checkout

↓

Subscription

↓

Client Sub-Account

↓

Snapshot / Features

↓

Recurring Access

This creates a different business model from traditional project-based agency work.

HighLevel now documents two SaaS billing architectures:

SaaS V1

and:

SaaS V2

Both can be managed through the SaaS Configurator, but their billing and subscription architecture differs.

Agencies should therefore avoid assuming every older SaaS tutorial still describes the current recommended setup.

Before creating a commercial SaaS offer, check:

HighLevel continues to evolve this part of the platform.

SaaS plans can also determine which features a client receives.

HighLevel's September 2026 documentation explains that sub-accounts generated through SaaS Mode can have feature-level permissions determined by the SaaS plan configuration.

For example:

Basic Plan

→ CRM
→ Calendar
→ Basic Automation

Growth Plan

→ CRM
→ Automation
→ Reputation
→ Additional Features

Premium Plan

→ Larger feature set

The exact packaging should be based on the client offer rather than simply exposing everything.

HighLevel also supports bulk operations for SaaS sub-accounts.

Current documentation allows agency administrators to select multiple accounts and perform supported actions such as enabling SaaS Mode or managing account states more efficiently.

That becomes relevant once an agency grows from:

5 client accounts

to:

50 or 500 client accounts

Manual account-by-account administration becomes increasingly expensive at scale.

The useful lesson is not:

“Win an award.”

The useful business lessons are more operational.

HighLevel developed a strong identity around agencies and their clients rather than positioning itself as generic software for every possible workflow.

Agencies can apply the same principle.

Instead of:

Marketing for everyone

consider:

Lead generation for roofers

or:

CRM automation for dental practices

A narrower market can make productization easier.

One-off custom work is difficult to scale.

A repeatable system is easier:

Sales → Intake → Snapshot → Customization → Launch → Reporting

The more predictable that journey becomes, the less the agency depends on improvisation.

Clients generally care less about the software stack than about outcomes.

Instead of selling:

“CRM workflows, automation, forms and pipelines”

frame the process as:

Lead → Faster Response → Appointment → Sale

That makes the value easier to understand.

HighLevel's EY recognition involved documented growth and impact criteria, but agencies should translate their own growth efforts into measurable funnel stages.

For example:

100 Leads

↓

70 Contacted

↓

35 Appointments

↓

25 Shows

↓

8 Sales

The agency can then identify the weakest transition.

HighLevel's current support documentation continues to reference its core agency tiers around:

The Agency Sub-Account documentation states that Agency Sub-Accounts can exist across the supported $97, $297, and $497 account structures, while functionality differs by tier.

The important practical distinction is that more advanced SaaS, subscription, rebilling, and agency-management functionality depends on plan and configuration.

Agencies should always verify the current pricing page before purchasing because plan names, inclusions, promotional pricing, and add-ons can change.

An agency should not calculate profitability using only its base HighLevel subscription.

A more realistic model is:

Client Revenue

− Platform Cost
− SMS / Phone / Email Usage
− AI Usage
− Payment Fees
− Marketplace Apps
− Staff Time
− Support Cost

= Contribution

If an agency charges $300 per client but spends heavily on implementation and support, the account may still be unprofitable.

Software consolidation does not eliminate unit economics.

HighLevel's founders winning a regional EY award does not mean the platform should replace every category of business software.

HighLevel is generally strongest as a combination of:

CRM

Marketing

Communication

Automation

Booking

Sales Infrastructure

Specialized systems may still be required for:

A more practical architecture may be:

HighLevel

↕ API / Integration ↕

Specialized Operational Software

Each platform then handles the work it is designed to do.

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The verified 2024 recognition was the Southwest regional award.

The regional win made the HighLevel founders eligible for national consideration, but that should not be rewritten as the overall national award.

HighLevel's founders were named 2023 Southwest finalists.

The confirmed regional win came in 2024.

EY's Entrepreneur Of The Year program recognizes entrepreneurs and business leaders.

It does not mean EY independently rated HighLevel as the best CRM.

An award does not guarantee:

Implementation still determines outcomes.

The award story provides business context, but an agency needs an operational framework.

Choose a clear segment.

For example:

Roofing contractors

Lead → Inspection → Estimate → Won → Review

Create:

For example:

Lead Created → Immediate Follow-Up

Inspection Booked → Reminder

Estimate Sent → Follow-Up

Job Completed → Review Request

Once the system works:

Client Setup → Snapshot

New Client → New Sub-Account → Snapshot → Customization

Track:

Lead → Appointment → Sale

If booking is weak, fix booking.

If close rate is weak, do not build five more workflows and assume the CRM is the problem.

A HighLevel agency should measure the customer journey instead of only software activity.

Consider:

Lead → Response → Appointment → Show → Sale

Suppose:

500 Leads

↓

400 Responses

↓

150 Appointments

↓

100 Shows

↓

20 Sales

The data suggests that the largest improvement opportunity may not necessarily be lead generation.

The agency should investigate the weakest stage.

HighLevel can provide infrastructure for this process, but business analysis still matters.

HighLevel co-founders Robin Alex, Shaun Clark, and Varun Vairavan were named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Southwest Award winners. EY's official June 2024 winners announcement includes all three HighLevel leaders.

The recognition was a Southwest regional award.

Robin Alex, Shaun Clark, and Varun Vairavan were the HighLevel leaders recognized as 2024 Southwest Award winners.

They were also named Southwest finalists earlier in 2024.

The HighLevel co-founders were announced as 2024 Southwest Award winners in June 2024. HighLevel published its own announcement on June 17, 2024, referencing the June 15 announcement.

Yes. Robin Alex, Shaun Clark, and Varun Vairavan were named Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 Southwest Award finalists in April 2023.

They later returned as finalists in 2024 and won the 2024 Southwest Award.

The verified HighLevel recognition discussed here is the 2024 Southwest Award. Winning the regional award made the founders eligible for consideration for the national awards; the regional award itself should not be described as the overall national win.

EY states that regional winners are selected by an independent judging panel that can include previous winners, CEOs, and other business leaders. Candidates are evaluated across factors including long-term value creation, entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, and impact.

No. EY operates Entrepreneur Of The Year as a global program spanning numerous countries and territories, with regional and national programs feeding into a broader international entrepreneurship network.

No. The award recognizes entrepreneurial leadership and business achievement; it is not a software ranking declaring HighLevel the best CRM.

Businesses should evaluate the platform according to their own CRM, automation, integration, pricing, compliance, and operational requirements.

Yes. HighLevel uses sub-accounts to separate agency and client environments. Current documentation distinguishes an agency's own workspace from client sub-accounts.

This structure can help agencies keep client operations separate.

Yes. HighLevel Snapshots allow agencies to capture supported configuration from one sub-account and reuse it across others. Current Snapshot documentation lists assets such as workflows, funnels, calendars, forms, campaigns, custom fields, and other supported configuration.

Snapshots should still be customized and tested for each client's requirements.

Yes. HighLevel currently supports creating a new sub-account using a Snapshot so supported assets can be loaded during account creation.

This can streamline repeatable client onboarding.

Yes. HighLevel's SaaS Configurator currently allows eligible agencies to configure recurring SaaS offerings with pricing, features, snapshots, add-ons, usage billing, trials, and automated account provisioning.

HighLevel currently supports SaaS V1 and SaaS V2 architectures.

No. Corporate recognition and product fit are separate considerations.

An agency should evaluate its client structure, automation requirements, integrations, costs, reporting, team capabilities, and specialized software requirements before choosing its CRM architecture.

GoHighLevel Ey Entrepreneur Of The Year is a significant part of HighLevel's company story because the recognition progressed beyond nomination.

The timeline is clear:

2023 → Southwest Finalists

April 2024 → Southwest Finalists Again

June 2024 → Southwest Award Winners

EY officially recognized Robin Alex, Shaun Clark, and Varun Vairavan among the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Southwest Award winners after evaluation by an independent judging panel.

For agencies, however, the most useful takeaway is not the trophy itself.

It is the operating model behind a platform built heavily around repeatability and agency workflows:

Agency Lead → Client Sale → Sub-Account → Reusable Configuration → Automation → Client Delivery → Reporting

HighLevel's current platform continues to develop that architecture through separate agency/client workspaces, Snapshots, SaaS configuration, bulk account management, and automation tools.

The EY recognition provides useful evidence of HighLevel's growth story and the entrepreneurial achievements of its co-founders.

But an agency should still make its platform decision based on practical questions:

Does the system improve lead response?

Can it standardize onboarding?

Can it reduce repetitive work?

Can it support many client environments?

Can costs remain profitable as usage increases?

Can the agency measure Lead → Appointment → Sale?

When those answers are positive, the software can become part of a scalable operating system rather than simply another tool carrying an industry award.

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