There’s a company size where marketing hurts most: big enough to need real marketing every week, too lean to justify five hires. The default answers are all bad — a stretched founder doing marketing at midnight, one overwhelmed generalist, or an agency retainer that produces meetings.
The model that actually works at this size is what we call the coordinator model.
How it’s shaped
One strong internal person owns context and priorities. They know the product, the customers, the founder’s head. They don’t need to be a channel expert in anything. Behind them sits an external operating engine — senior specialists who execute across web, media, content, CRM and reporting, on clear hourly rates, at exactly the intensity the month requires.
- The coordinator decides what and why. Priorities, brand calls, internal alignment.
- The engine handles how and ship. Landing pages, campaigns, dashboards, lifecycle flows.
- The interface is one weekly session. Not a project-management apparatus. One hour, one list, decisions made.
Why it beats the alternatives
Against the solo generalist: no single human covers six disciplines at senior level; the engine does. Against the early team: you skip the coordination tax and the fixed cost of five salaries before revenue justifies them. Against the retainer: you can read exactly who did what, at which rate — and scale to zero in a quiet month without a contract fight.
One coordinator plus an operating partner runs what used to take a 5–10 person team. Illustrative model, not a specific client result.
When to graduate out of it
The model has a natural ceiling: when a channel becomes your durable advantage, bring it in-house and hire excellent for it. The engine then narrows to the peaks and the specialist edges. That’s a good problem — and the transition is easy, because you always saw exactly which work was being done and by whom.
Rates and structure are on the pricing page — the rate card is one request away.
Questions we get on this
What kind of person makes a good coordinator?
Someone who knows your product, your customers and your founder’s head — not a channel expert. Judgment and internal trust matter; the engine supplies the specialist depth.
What does the weekly rhythm look like?
One hour, one list, decisions made. The coordinator brings priorities; the operating side brings shipped work and what’s next. No status theatre.
When should we grow out of the model?
When one channel becomes your durable advantage, hire excellent for it in-house. The transition is clean because you’ve always seen exactly which work was done and by whom.
