You get one senior person who owns your full funnel strategy, runs your agencies and tells you plainly what is working. I spent over a decade on the agency side, so I know exactly where to look.
01Blended ROAS is up week over week.
02Recommend increasing budget to scale prospecting.
At what CAC on the next dollar, not the average?
03New creative is still in the learning phase.
Third reset this month. What is the actual test?
Hold the budget increase until new-customer CAC matches Shopify. Revisit Thursday.
Illustrative example. Not a real client report.
Most brands I talk to spend real money through agencies, and nobody senior on their side is managing them. The founder ends up doing it at 10pm.
Leave it alone: another peak season where spend goes up, new customers don't, and nobody in the room can say which dollar worked.
Fix it: you walk into every monthly review knowing what worked, what didn't, and what happens next.
The report looks great. So why do the new-customer numbers feel flat?
I know something is off on the weekly call. I just don't know which question to ask.
Every agency is grading its own homework, and every one of them gets an A.
I didn't start this brand to become a part-time media buyer.
Your agencies keep doing the work. I make sure it's the right work, measured the right way, and that someone senior is asking the hard questions every week.
Most brands have the right side fully staffed. The green seat is usually empty.
Someone who knows their playbook, gives clear briefs and pushes back on spend that doesn't pay off.
One definition of CAC your P&L agrees with. Every channel is held to it, including the ones that are hard to measure.
What happened, what it means, and what I'd do next. In plain English.
The agency management stops landing on the founder.
I spent over a decade on the agency side. I built the recap decks. I ran the weekly calls.
I didn't start in marketing. I studied film at San Diego State and started as a video editor. When our videos turned into content marketing, I got hooked on why some worked and others didn't. We shot two months of content at a time, so every test took months to read. That impatience is what pulled me into marketing.
I've led accounts and brand strategy, managed spend through some very loud Q4s, and sat across the table from a lot of founders. The pattern I kept seeing: the brands that got the best agency work had someone senior on their side who knew which questions to ask. Most brands didn't.
So now I'm that person. I work for the brand, not the agency. I don't sell media and I don't bill for hours spent making slides. I bring the agency playbook to your side of the table, plus AI tools that let me do the analysis an analyst team usually would.
I'm based in San Diego and work with consumer brands across the US.
Mike UslanFounder, Launch with Mike
Led a consumer brand through an agency change and helped pick the new partner, with a fast, clean handoff.
Got a brand and its agency to agree on one CAC definition that counts only new customers.
Segmented a customer file to find large groups of lapsed and promo-only buyers, then built a win-back plan for them.
Wrote the launch game plan for a licensed product pipeline, from pre-launch through sold out.
Gave a beauty brand a straight read on its agency, brought in an independent audit, and advised waiting until after BFCM to switch.
I own your marketing strategy and run your agencies the way a senior in-house leader would. You get the judgment without the salary, the search or the ramp-up.
Strategy and agency calls, with me running the agenda
Budget asks reviewed against your CAC target before they're approved
Async answers when a decision can't wait for Thursday
A short readout: what worked, what didn't, what's next
A written game plan for every launch and for Q4
One plan from first impression to repeat purchase. Positioning, offers, new vs returning customer economics, and win-back for the customers you already paid to get.
Good when: CAC keeps climbing and every channel says it's working.
A straight read on your current agency. If it's time to move, I set the criteria, run the search and manage a handoff that doesn't wreck peak season.
Good when: results are slipping, or your agency team keeps turning over.
Pre-launch, launch, sustain and sold-out plans. BFCM strategy. Measurement set up before the money goes out, not after.
Good when: a big drop, a new retailer or Q4 is coming and the plan is a group chat.
Send a recent agency report. Within five business days you get my marked-up notes and the questions I'd ask. Free.
I get access to your store, ad accounts and agency reports, find where the money goes, and set one scoreboard.
Weekly agency calls, budget reviews, a monthly readout for you, and a written plan for every peak.
Each agency owns a slice of the funnel. I own the whole thing, and I hold each stage to a number your finance team would recognize.
Job: find new buyers, not the same ones again.
The numberNew-customer lift, proven with a holdout or geo test
Job: say the right thing to people at the right stage.
The numberConversion rate by traffic source and landing page
Job: win the first order at a cost that makes sense.
The numberNew-customer CAC against target, by your P&L
Job: earn the second order, and win back the lapsed.
The numberRepeat rate and win-back revenue, without over-discounting
One blended number everyone agrees on: total revenue divided by total marketing spend. No channel gets to grade itself.
Most of it is said in good faith. All of it deserves a follow-up question.
Want the unabridged edition? It comes with the retainer.
If yours isn't here, email it. I'll give you a straight answer.
About 15 to 20 hours a month of senior time, plus async answers between calls. Enough to run the agencies and own the strategy, without paying for a full-time hire.
Retainers are scoped to your brand, your agencies and the work in front of you. The Second Read, my free report review, is the easiest way to find out if it makes sense before we talk numbers.
Good. I don't replace them. I make sure you get their best work, and that their numbers match your P&L.
One avoided bad spend decision usually covers it. I review budget asks against your CAC target before they get approved.
I've been on their side, so I know how to push without burning the relationship. Good agencies like working with a client who knows what they want.
Start fractional and learn what the role actually needs. If you outgrow me, you hire with a clear job description.
US consumer brands selling direct plus marketplaces, TikTok Shop or retail. Home goods, beauty and hair tools, personal care, and food and beverage are the best fit. I don't do B2B SaaS or app marketing.
I disclose any agency referral relationship in writing before we sign. You pay me, and my recommendations follow your numbers.
No. That's Michael E. Uslan, the producer behind the Batman films. I'm 37 years younger and just a fan. Different Mike, same last name.
Send me one recent report. I'll read it the way I used to write them, and send back what I'd ask your agency on the next call. No deck, no pitch. You'll see how I think, and we'll both know quickly if a conversation makes sense.
mikefuslan@gmail.comOne recent agency report: a weekly or monthly recap, a QBR deck, or dashboard screenshots. If you can, add your Shopify revenue and new-customer count for the same period.
Platform-reported. What did Shopify show for new customers?