/ The operator
Three roles.
Two exits.
Twenty years.
I led marketing at three B2B SaaS companies before going independent five years ago. Two exited; one didn't. Of the two that exited, I was on the cap table at one and on a paycheck at the other. Of the one that didn't exit, I learned more than at either of the others. The work I do now is shaped by all three.
/ 01 · 2007-2013
B2B SaaS · Series B → exit
Director of Marketing → VP Marketing
Joined as employee 14, left as VP Marketing on a marketing team of 18. Built the inbound engine, owned pricing through three rounds, sat on the product council. Acquired by a public software company in 2013. The exit was good for the team and good for me; the customer base grew about 10x in the first 18 months post-acquisition.
/ 02 · 2014-2018
Vertical SaaS · Series A → did not exit
VP Marketing
Joined a vertical-fintech SaaS as the first marketing hire after the founders. Built marketing from zero to a team of 9. The company didn't exit — it ran out of growth in 2018 and ended up acqui-hired for the team, with the product wound down. I learned more at this company than at the two that exited combined. Most of what I bring to a kickoff sprint is shaped by the post-mortem on this one.
/ 03 · 2018-2020
DevOps SaaS · Series C → exit
CMO
Joined as CMO at a DevOps SaaS at $40M ARR. Repositioned the product into a platform tier (the work that became the case-study template). Acquired by a larger DevOps platform in 2020. Stayed through the integration; left in 2021 to go independent.
/ 04 · 2021-now
Independent
Halverstone Advisory
Founded the practice five years ago. Five concurrent retainers, $8K-$12K/mo. Twenty-six engagements completed. Most are 12-24 month engagements that end with the founder's in-house hire taking over. A small number of long-tenure clients keep me on quarterly OKR reviews indefinitely. No staff. No SDR. No content marketing in CMO clothing.
/ How I work
Three things I won't do.
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/ Won't run six retainers.
Five is the structural ceiling. The sixth would mean either I'm not paying attention to one of the existing five, or I'm taking a retainer I don't believe in to fill the slot. I have done both before. I won't do either now.
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/ Won't take retainers under $8K/mo.
The structural cost of a 90-day sprint plus quarterly reviews plus a 12-24 month commitment lands at $8K/mo minimum. Anyone offering this work for less is either not doing it well or losing money on it. Both end badly.
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/ Won't recommend marketing-as-content-marketing.
The pattern that recurs in failed engagements I see is "more content will fix this." It is almost never that. Content is the cheapest, easiest, most-suggested intervention. It's the pricing or positioning or motion that's broken — and I will say so plainly even when it's not what the founder wants to hear.
Want to talk?
Book a 45-min discovery call. I read every form myself.