ABOUT · THE OPERATOR check me out before the call. that is what this page is for.

I have made this bet with my own name on it.

Twenty years of positioning work as a marketing leader. Three repositionings carried out for real companies, with my name on the outcome. And one engine, built and tuned over the last year, that runs all of that judgment at a scale I never could by hand.

Diginomica byline/50 CMOs to Watch/podcast host
plain portrait, no whiteboards
rowan tonkin · shot plain, ink-tint ok
01

The record, caveats included

2019 to 2022
Host Analytics → Planful

I repositioned and renamed the company as CMO. Branded search up 50% in eighteen months off a zero base, unaided recall up 30 points, and new logos from 100 to 300 a year. Marketing Team of the Year.

And the honest part. The brand went backwards for eighteen months before it went forwards. That is why every engagement ships a proof plan with walk-away lines instead of a promise.

2017 to 2019
MapD → OmniSci

Moved an open-source database company upmarket into enterprise, from eight reps and no ICP to named Fortune 500 accounts. The company is HEAVY.AI today.

2015 to 2017
Anaplan

Moved the argument from territory planning, where the product story was tidiest, to incentive compensation, where the buyer's pain was sharpest. That wedge won the company its first Magic Quadrant leadership spot.

02 / THE THESIS

Everyone's prompting. Almost no one is operating.

For the last year I have built and run my own instruments instead of buying someone else's. The engine is the standing proof of five working principles.

1
Briefs as rubrics
The six criteria are written before the work exists.
2
Proof before publish
Every play is argued against before a human sees a ranking.
3
Standards compound
Every run's postmortem becomes a numbered upgrade.
4
Autonomy with gates
The system explores freely; nothing ships without a gate.
5
The human makes the call
The scoring is neutral. A person reads it and recommends. The decision is the client's to take.

Twenty years of positioning work, and one engine that makes it inspectable. That combination is the offer.

Read the method