Background

Hey, I’m Justin. I’m a former founder and marketing exec with 15+ years of experience and three consumer tech startup exits. I thrive helping early-stage companies define key user personas, acquire their initial users, and develop a solid growth strategy.

Notable Achievements:

• Bae (Co-founder/CMO): Launched a dating app with a team of three, and acquired 300k users leading to an acqui-hire by a late-stage Silicon Valley startup called if(we).
• The Meet Group (Director of Marketing): Repositioned a dating app into a live-streaming entertainment platform, generating $55M in incremental revenue. if(we) was acquired by The Meet Group.
• Twitch (Director of Performance Marketing): Established the growth marketing function, building a performance marketing team and managing a $12M+ budget.
• Backyard (Head of Marketing): Drove a viral TikTok marketing strategy for a video chat gaming platform, acquiring 6M users and reaching 600k MAU, with an $8k/month budget. Backyard was acquired by Discord.
• Discord (Product Marketing Lead): Led the product marketing team and launch for Activities, contributing to new user acquisition, increased revenue and platform engagement.

My Approach

I love working with early-stage teams from ideation to execution with a clear, phased approach that adapts to your growth stage:

1. Foundational Strategy: Define your brand positioning, user personas, and core value proposition.
2. User Acquisition: Develop a cost-effective acquisition strategy to attract your first users.
3. Growth Optimization: Implement scalable growth tactics that foster engagement, retention, and organic growth.
4. Talent Sourcing: Help identify and source best-in-class marketing talent through my network of 100+ operators with whom I’ve previously worked.

How I Support Startups

• Fractional CMO Leadership: On-demand executive guidance to shape and execute growth strategies.
• User Persona Development: Deep dives into audience research to understand key customer segments.
• Growth Strategy Design: Comprehensive planning from 0-1, including viral and organic growth tactics.