Embedded marketing leadership for startups & SMBs
Most early-stage companies don't need another marketing deck. They need someone senior enough to make the right calls, close enough to the business to understand the constraints, and practical enough to help the work get done. Story Mode embeds with your team — not as an outsourced agency, but as the marketing arm you haven't built yet.
We clarify positioning, prioritize channels, build execution plans, manage the operating rhythm, and install the systems that make marketing repeatable. Twenty years of hands-on experience scaling startups and established organizations, paired with AI-enabled workflows that give a lean team real leverage.
Sometimes that looks like a fractional CMO. Sometimes it looks like a contract head of marketing. Sometimes it starts as a 90-day GTM buildout. The common thread: marketing leadership that can move from strategy to execution without losing the plot.
Based in beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake. Working with founders and organizations across North America and Europe.
Marketing Leadership
Fractional CMO and contract marketing leadership for teams that need senior direction without a full-time executive hire. Positioning, GTM strategy, channel planning, reporting, team design, and agency management.
GTM & Growth Execution
Practical growth planning for companies that need pipeline, sharper conversion, and a better operating rhythm. Campaign roadmaps, funnel analysis, content strategy, experiment design, and execution management.
AI-Enabled Marketing Systems
AI workflows built around real operating needs, not novelty. Research automation, reporting workflows, content operations, lead and account research, and internal agents that make lean teams faster.
Brand & Narrative
Positioning and messaging for companies selling complex or unfamiliar products. Category narrative, ICP clarity, proof architecture, and the language your team uses to sell with confidence.
Every company enters at a different stage.
The work can begin as a 90-day buildout, contract marketing leadership, or fractional CMO support. The goal is the same: make marketing a serious operating function.
90-Day GTM Buildout
Positioning review, market and competitor assessment, channel priorities, messaging, execution roadmap, KPI model.
Contract Marketing Lead
Weekly leadership, execution planning, contractor management, campaign direction, reporting, hands-on support.
Fractional CMO
Executive marketing strategy, team design, board and investor reporting, budget guidance, GTM leadership.
AI-Enabled Marketing Systems
Workflow design, AI agents, reporting systems, research automation, content operations, operating process installation.
Story Mode works best with founders and owners ready to treat marketing as an operating function, not a collection of one-off tasks.
startups and enterprise
across industries
and measured
for clients
“Reggie helped build the growth team from the ground up. His leadership and hands-on approach inspired juniors and built awesome team culture.”
“Deep knowledge in marketing with a deep passion about crypto. Always quick to produce results.”
“Helped kickstart our marketing strategy from concept to new product launch.”
“Brings creativity and enthusiasm — helping with submissions, promotions, and content delivery.”
Three steps to
a clear plan.
Understand the Business
We start with the founder, the market, the product, the current funnel, and the internal constraints. Founder interviews, customer context, sales objections, positioning gaps, channel history, and the operating reality of the team. The goal is to understand what is true before deciding what to do.
Find the Highest-Leverage Work
Not every marketing problem deserves the same level of attention. We assess the market, messaging, funnel, channels, content, conversion points, team capacity, and competitive landscape to identify the few moves most likely to improve traction — and name the ones worth ignoring.
Build the Operating Plan
You get a practical 90-day marketing plan your team can run: positioning priorities, channel focus, campaign roadmap, content direction, AI-enabled workflow opportunities, KPI model, ownership map, and a weekly execution rhythm. Not a deck that gathers dust. A working plan your team runs on starting day one.
Reggie Tan.
Fractional CMO &
AI Strategic Advisor.
“Every startup has a story. Most never find the signal.”
20 years turning marketing from a collection of tactics into a serious operating function. Led growth at Groundfloor, Raiinmaker, Blockonomics, Bitrefill, and dozens more, across SaaS, fintech, web3, AI, and B2B. Over 100 clients led personally, more than 500 tactics driven, and $20M+ raised and earned.
Story Mode exists because startups and SMBs need marketing leadership well before they can justify — or find — a full-time CMO. Positioning, GTM strategy, campaign planning, conversion, reporting, team coordination, and the AI-enabled systems that give a lean team real leverage.
Let's develop
your story.
A practical conversation about where marketing is stuck, what stage you're at, and whether embedded support makes sense. 30 minutes, no pitch deck.
Book a strategic fit call