Someone to own the number.Without the full-time hire.
For owner-led companies past $2M that have outgrown their vendors and aren't ready to hire a full-time VP of Marketing. I sit inside the business, lock the strategy, run the channels, manage the team and the vendors, and report to you on one page every week.
Companies I've led growth for have placed on the Inc. 5000 fourteen times, including one that grew 30% a year for four years and sold to Pluralsight. I take a few of these seats at a time.
Or start with the free audit and see the work before we talk about the seat.
The four things a head of growth owns.
Vendors own a channel. An agency owns a retainer. A head of growth owns the number, which means owning everything that feeds it: the strategy that every channel inherits, the channels themselves, the people and vendors doing the work, and the report that tells you whether it's working.
The strategy, locked firstPositioning, ICP, offer, messaging
Most growth fails before the first ad runs, because nobody decided who the company is for, what it's selling them, and why they should believe it. I lock those four things in the first weeks, in writing, so every page, ad, and email inherits them instead of reinventing them.
- Who we sell to and who we don't, with the reasons
- The offer and the price, stated so a stranger gets it in a sentence
- The messaging every channel uses, so the company sounds like one company
The channels, run as one planPaid, search, automation, outbound
Digital advertising, SEO and AI search, and automation run against one number instead of three vendors' dashboards. Budget moves to what's producing this quarter. Outbound gets added when the inbound is working, not instead of it.
- One plan, one budget, one report
- AI doing the production work so the team stays small
- Every lead tracked from source to sale
The team and the vendorsHire, manage, brief, or fire
I'll hire the coordinator, brief the designer, manage the developer, and tell you which vendor to keep and which to let go, with the numbers that say why. At DevelopIntelligence that meant building an in-house SDR team from zero; at DevReady it meant a patented lead process the whole company ran on.
- Job descriptions, interviews, and onboarding for the marketing hires you actually need
- Vendor scorecards, so renewals are decisions, not habits
- Weekly stand-up with whoever does the work
The numberOne page a week, a real review monthly
Pipeline, cost per lead, cost per sale, payback, and what I'm changing next, on one page you can read in two minutes. Monthly, an operating review where we look at the number together and decide what to do about it. No decks, no dashboards you have to interpret.
- A weekly page that says the same thing every week, so you can compare
- A monthly review with decisions, not just updates
- Board- or lender-ready numbers when you need them
Ninety days to prove it. Then month to month.
The first ninety days are a defined project with a written plan and a number at the end of it. After that it's a seat you keep as long as it's paying for itself, on a set number of days a month that we agree to in writing.
Weeks 1–3Diagnose and lock
Every account, every report, every vendor contract, and a dozen customer conversations. The strategy gets locked in writing. The quick wins, usually tracking, follow-up, and wasted spend, get fixed while the plan is being written.
Weeks 4–12Rebuild and run
Channels restructured around the strategy, automations built so leads stop leaking, the team and vendors briefed or replaced, and the weekly report running. By day ninety you have a number, a trend, and a plan you can judge.
Month four onThe seat
A set number of days a month, in writing. Weekly page, monthly review, quarterly plan. You can end it with a month's notice; most people don't, because the number keeps the seat.
Who this is for, and who it isn't.
I take a few of these seats at a time, which means saying no more often than yes. Here's the honest filter, so the first call is short. The long version: when to hire a fractional head of growth, and when not to.
A good fit
- Owner-led, past $2M, with a product or service that already sells when the right person hears about it
- Marketing spread across two or three vendors and nobody accountable for the total
- You want to understand the numbers, not be handed a deck about them
- You'll make decisions in weeks, not quarters
- Home services, legal, finance, B2B software, or DTC, where I've done this before
Not yet, or not me
- Pre-revenue, or the product doesn't sell yet when people hear about it; fix that first
- You want someone to execute a plan you've already decided on; pick a solution instead
- You need a full-time presence in the office every day
- Enterprise procurement, twelve-month contracts, and a steering committee
You know when you spot the hidden gem — the rockstar that will help you get to the next level? Well — that's Bob Clary. During his tenure leading our marketing strategy and lead generation teams, we experienced 30% annualized growth for 4 years.
The seat, by the numbers.
DevReady. Patent-pending B2B lead process, Inc. Regionals twice, Colorado Companies to Watch.
DevelopIntelligence. Demand gen and an in-house SDR team, acquired by Pluralsight, Inc. 5000 Hall of Fame.
What the companies that made the list had in common. Read the pattern →
It starts with a conversation.
Tell me where the company is and what's not working. I'll reply within a business day with whether the seat fits, and if it doesn't, which of the four solutions I'd start with instead. Either way you get a straight answer, not a pitch.
- Thirty minutes
- Where the company is, what you've tried, what the number needs to be.
- A written read
- What I think is broken, in what order I'd fix it, and what the first ninety days would look like.
- A number, in writing
- Days per month and the fee, before you decide anything.
Rather see the work first? The free audit is the same person doing the same thinking on your actual site.
Here's how it starts.
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You tell me where things are.
Four fields. I reply within a business day with whether the seat fits and what I'd do first.
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We talk for thirty minutes.
The company, the number, the first ninety days. You get a written read and a fee in writing.
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Ninety days, then month to month.
A defined start with a number at the end of it. Keep the seat as long as it's paying for itself.
Not ready for the seat? Start with one of the four solutions: digital advertising, SEO and AI search, or AI automation.