The "Head of Marketing" job post is one of the great startup rites of passage. Founders hit a certain milestone (a fundraise! early users! a nudge from their board!) and decide it's time to "get serious" about marketing. Enter the Head of Marketing, a title that sounds like a milestone hire but is usually a mirage.

As someone who works with a lot of founder-led brands and stretched teams, I've been thinking about how brand building needs a ‘strengths’ based approach. I talk to so many founders caught in a vicious cycle of trying to churn out LinkedIn posts even though it gives them the ick, or attempting to build a TikTok presence that just isn't gaining traction. They're forcing themselves into content formats and platforms that don't align with their natural communication style or their team's capabilities.

It’s easy to feel pressure to scale fast, especially in high-growth environments and when you have significant funding. But some of the most meaningful brand-building work happens in quiet, unscalable moments: a great conversation, a thoughtful event, a niche partnership. These aren’t detours from growth, they’re the foundation for it!

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