Every engagement runs six months and ends with a decision, not a renewal invoice — because a marketing function that still needs me at month twelve is a function I built wrong.
| Lead | Build | Run | |
|---|---|---|---|
| You have | A team that isn't performing | No team, and you want one | No team, and you want to stay lean |
| I do | Step in as your CMO. Diagnose, re-plan, and lead the existing people. | Design the function, build the systems, then recruit and onboard the team that owns it. | Design the function, then The Marketizer's bench executes it under my direction. |
| Ends with | A team performing under a plan and a leader they've promoted or hired | A hired, onboarded team in seats, running documented systems | A working outsourced function with a clear in-house path whenever you want it |
| Deleted how | I hand leadership back | I hand the team over | I hand the option over; you can insource any time |
| Typical buyer | Series B, with a marketing manager who's out of depth | Series A post-raise, first real GTM hire pending | Series A, capital-efficient, doesn't want headcount |
Your marketing team isn't performing.
Team assessment and gap analysis, a priority reset, weekly leadership and 1:1s, vendor and agency management, board reporting — and a hiring or promotion recommendation for my successor.
The Lead track in fullYou need a marketing team and you've never built one.
Org design for your stage, role definitions and comp benchmarking, the systems and stack, sourcing and interviewing, onboarding plans — I run the function while it's being staffed.
The Build track in fullYou want the function without the headcount.
Full strategy and roadmap ownership, with The Marketizer's execution bench producing content, campaigns, design, web and ops. Reported against pipeline, not activity.
The Run track in fullThat's what makes it a method rather than three services. The full method is on the Approach page.
00
I arrive with three observations about your market already prepared. Qualification both directions.
Free · 30 min
01
Twelve audit areas in, one prioritized roadmap out — with owners, effort estimates and a timeline.
Month 1
02
Foundations fixed, systems stood up, instrumentation live. Track-specific.
Months 2–3
03
Execution at full pace, reported monthly against the roadmap and pipeline.
Months 4–5
04
Documented systems, a job spec for the role that replaces me, a 30-day handoff plan, and an honest recommendation.
Month 6
Engagements are a fixed monthly retainer over a six-month term, scoped to the track and the depth of involvement. Media, software and contractor costs are billed at cost with no markup. I'll give you a number on the first call — I'd rather scope it than quote a range that fits nobody.
Because nothing in hardware go-to-market resolves in thirty days. Sales cycles run 9–18 months; a plan needs one full quarter to build and one to prove. Six months is the shortest honest unit of work, and the term itself filters for companies that are serious.
Yes, at the month-three checkpoint. Run to Build is the most common move — a company decides it wants the function in-house after seeing it work. The Teardown and the systems carry over; nothing is rebuilt.
A decision: renew, extend into a different track, or exit because the function is running. You get documented systems, a written job spec for the role that replaces me, a 30-day handoff plan, and an honest recommendation — including "you don't need me anymore."
Thirty days, either direction, after the initial six-month term. During the term, if it isn't working, we use the month-three checkpoint to change track or agree an early wind-down with a proper handoff. I don't hold clients hostage to a contract.
Yes — in the Lead track that's often the job: assess the agency, redirect it against a validated plan, or replace it. I have no production capacity to protect, so my recommendation about your vendors isn't self-interested.
We say so at the monthly review, out loud, against the roadmap. The month-three checkpoint exists to change course. If the honest answer at any review is that the engagement isn't creating value, I'll recommend winding it down — a bad-fit engagement damages my only asset, which is the record.
Thirty minutes. I'll come with three observations about your market already prepared. No deck.