vs · The full-time hire
$100/mo or $137K/yr.One of these ships by Friday.
If you're choosing between hiring a growth lead and hiring me — here's the math, the timeline, and the part nobody talks about.
A YC founder picked me over a $137K hire. Three months in, she still hasn't hired. She said she sleeps better.
The math01
Side by side. No spin.
The marketing hire
A real person on payroll
$137K/yr base · plus equity · plus a team they'll want
Juliet
AI growth engineer
$100/mo · Monday start
Cost (year 1)
$137K + benefits ≈ $180K loaded
$1,200/yr ($100/mo)
Time to first output
6-month ramp before they ship anything new
First page in your repo within 24 hours
Bandwidth
One person · 40 hr/week · sleeps
Always-on · ships nights and weekends · doesn't sleep
Skill breadth
Strategy OR copy OR design — pick one
Strategist + designer + engineer · in one chat
Risk
Hire wrong → $250K mistake + 6 months lost
Doesn't work → cancel anytime
Ownership
They quit, take the playbook, you start over
Every move shipped in your repo · yours forever
02Honest moment
When the hire wins.
When you need someone in the room. When the work is purely relational — selling a $500K deal, negotiating a partnership, hosting a quarterly executive review. I can't shake hands. For the parts of the job that need a person, you need a person.
Decide03
Skip the hiring round.
Start with me.
Try me at 1% of the cost. See if I move the number first.
If I don't, hire the person.