Grow your startup faster, profitably.
The best 7 & 8-figure startups grow differently than the rest. They do it predictably, efficiently, and defensibly. To get there, you need a system. I’ve used mine to scale startups to $50M+. I’ll teach you how.
Troy Henikoff,
MD at MATH Venture Partners
“I’ve known Mike for over a decade. He’s a quick student of startups—constantly reading, testing, and always trying to get better. He has been a go-to resource for years now on all things digital marketing. He is a pleasure to work with and a true stand out in the industry.”
Mimmie Helgesson,
Paid Media Lead at Trainual
"My growth strategy and leadership skills greatly improved after working with Mike. With his mentorship, I was able to shift focus from day-to-day tactics to more strategy, and a more experimental, data-driven approach to growth, leading to greater success."
Tim Huelskamp,Â
CEO at 1440
"Mike is a rare breed of thought leader and operator. His wealth of knowledge building growth playbooks, identifying ways to diversify and optimize customer acquisition, and his deep network of top talent leveled-up 1440 tremendously. Partnering with Mike is a no-brainer.”
Chris Seo,
Marketing Lead at The Speaker Lab
“I worked with Mike to create a plan to scale our company from $10 to $25m. His insight, wisdom, and value far exceeded his fee. Beyond his growth audit, he advised us, and some conversations were worth 7-figures alone. Highly rec Mike for high-potential startups & teams wanting to scale well.”
Lindsay Sherbondy,
Founder at Lindsay Letters
“Mike's character, experience and impact have made moonwater an incredibly worthwhile investment. Mike works diligently and intentionally to add value at every turn. I so appreciate his integrity, multi-level experience, and ability to create and capture momentum. I'll recommend Mike again and again!”
Corey Greenhouse,
Ecommerce & DTC GM + CMO
"Mike is one of the smartest performance and product marketers. He can plan (strategy) and do (execute). He lives and breathes the business and will not stop until the goal is achieved. He helped us grow more predictably, repeatably, and sustainably in 3 months. I recommend Mike without hesitation.”
For over a decade, I’ve worked with dozens of startups and hundreds of operators.
I've learned their top blockers for growth. The common thread? All need to level-up their Marketing, Product, and Leadership motions to scale more effectively.
While a motivated, hard-working team is a prerequisite, it's not the solution. At least not all of it. Above all, you need a system.
Mine helps high-potential startups overcome these top hurdles for growth:
- Having only one scalable channel for lead gen or customers.
- Slowing growth and confusion on how to jumpstart it.
- Sales, Marketing, and Product misalignment.
- Competitive industries and a waning first-mover advantage.
- A limited growth playbook and underutilized team.
- A lack of repeatability to consistently grow.
Renee Rouleau,
Founder & CEO at Renée Rouleau
“Mike did an amazing job auditing and improving our growth marketing strategy. He analyzed our entire business, digging into the data to find areas of improvement and then did a great job helping us implement the work. Mike was always responsive and quick to adapt to our ideas as well. Would 100% work with Mike again.”
Andre Kazimierski,
Founder & CEO at Improovy
"Having access to someone like Mike is a rarity for startups looking for GTM help. He strikes the perfect balance between strategy and implementation while keeping things in perspective. He helped us narrow our focus and implement systems to build a better, more organized marketing machine. Highly recommend Mike to startups of all stages. You won't regret it."
Veronica Villarreal,Â
Ecommerce & Retail COO & CMO
"Mike did a growth audit and presented us with a thoughtful data-driven playbook to grow. He helped us lean into what channels worked to get more from them, and how to cut ineffective ones. He’s a growth marketing expert that I would 100% recommend to anyone wanting to ensure marketing is performing at the highest level.”
Growing a startup is hard, but most make it harder.Â
So how do you ensure you’re on the right path?
For starters, experience. But this isn’t enough.
Repetition and action are also key.
Aggressive and constant testing. Learning what works and what doesn’t. Iterating and repeating the process again and again.
Until you nail a system for growth.
Introducing the SCALE Framework for Growth
My 5-step system to help startups build a predictable, repeatable, and defensible engine for growth.
Step 1- Score Your Growth: To rate the problems preventing growth and system for scaling. To also get real about what’s getting in the way.
Step 2 - Collaborate with Key Stakeholders:Â To lay the groundwork for a plan focused on high impact opportunities, alignment, and ownership.
Step 3 - Answer, Align, and Prioritize:Â To answer the 10 essential questions for growth, align on current and future state, and clarify action items.
Step 4 - Lay the Foundation:Â To master The Growth Flywheel i.e. More Tests > More Learning > Better Tests > More Success > Faster Path to Growth
Step 5 - Execute the System:Â To ultimately build a predictable, repeatable, and defensible engine for growth.
I’ve Used This System To:
- Grow a startup to $50M+ revenue.
- Grow another 2X in 12-months to $15M, in a recession, with no VC or burn.
- Become Chief Growth Officer for a startup doing $1M+ revenue per employee.
- Acquire millions of paying customers.
- Get hired and promoted into C-Suites for startups growing to 100+ employees.
- Advise startups that raised a combined $250M+.
- Land spots on elite lists like Inc 5000 (Top 100) and a16z’s Marketplace 100.
- Teach about startups at a top 3 MBA and accelerators like Techstars.
Hank Adams,
CEO at Rise Gardens
“We hired Mike to help build a growth engine. Before moonwater, we had a scattershot approach to marketing. Mike's system allowed us to build, test, evaluate, improve, and repeat. We now know what channels and messages are working and how to continuously improve them. Our acquisition costs have dropped measurably in a challenging market.”
Elyse Lefter,
Director of Growth at EatStreet
“I can’t say enough great things about Mike. He’s a strategic, effective, growth-focused marketer, and an incredible leader. Mike’s highly knowledgeable about all-things startups, user acquisition, and user retention. Under Mike’s guidance, we built a growth team and grew our customer base with scale and efficiency.”
Kyle Mundt,
Product & Engineering at Square
"Marketing and Engineering often clash over differing opinions, timelines, and vision for product. However, working with Mike was as far from this old cliche as possible. He’s able to step in and lead cross-functional teams with passion and humility. Mike has a strong mind for innovative solutions and no ego to truly find the best ways to accelerate growth.”
My Ideal Customer:
- You’re a founder, CEO, or Marketing and/or Product decision maker.
- For a post-product market fit startup between $2-$20M.
- You have a growth mindset and are coachable.
- You believe in discipline, focus, and a bias for action.
- You’re not looking for silver bullets.
- You want a springboard for your startup and your career.
- You’re willing and ready to put in the work to get there.
- You’re serious about leveling up your startup’s growth.
- *I work with both bootstrapped and venture-backed startups.
3-Ways I Can Help You:
Growth Audits
To unpack what’s going on and determine the best opportunities for growth.
Advisory
Post-audit, I advise startups to move faster on audit action items (8-12 hours/month).
Fractional
Post-audit, I fractionally operate to move faster on audit action items (1-3 days/week).
Sean Johnson,Â
Founding Partner at Manifold
“Our company's values are competence, humility, discipline, and a relentless focus on outcomes. Of everyone who's ever worked here (or anywhere in my career), Mike embodies those values. He’s obsessed with getting better, constantly looking for ways to improve.”
Seiji Cataldo,
Director of Growth at Trainual
"Mike is equally at home on strategy and tactical go-to-market ops. His ability to clarify problems, frame hypotheses, and evangelize data across Product and Marketing is second-to-none. His voice and perspective will add value to any startup intent on refining its approach to growth."
Ethan Austin,Â
Founding Partner at Outside VC
“I can't speak highly enough about Mike. He was the single biggest revenue producer at our company. I loved working with Mike, and he's the type of person I would invest in regardless of what he is working on. Anything he touched at our company did well.”
The cost of not having a system to grow is high.
Every week, it often means tens of thousands of dollars wasted and teams not hitting their potential. If you’re a 7 or 8-figure startup and ready to learn more about how to level up growth, let's go.
