An external acquisition team paid for what it generates, not for what it does. For founders who sell on value and don't want to depend on word of mouth.
A growth partner is an external team that designs, runs and measures your client acquisition system (website, SEO, ads, automation and sales follow-up) and is paid a share of what that system generates. It is neither an agency that executes briefs nor a fractional CMO who only directs: it decides with you, executes and answers for the numbers.
Four things, always in this order. The first is the one almost nobody does.
Your growth isn't limited by everything at once but by one thing: visibility, conversion or scalability. The first month goes to finding it with your data, not with opinions.
A website that converts, local and content SEO, Google Ads with their own landing page, automated follow-up. Whatever the constraint asks for, in the order it asks.
A growth partner doesn't deliver and leave: it measures requests, bookings, clients and CAC every week and changes what isn't working before it costs a quarter.
It charges a base and a variable part tied to the clients the system generates. If the system doesn't generate, the relationship stops making sense for both sides, and that is what keeps it honest.
All three are good in their place. The difference is what you buy and who answers for the numbers.
| Agency or fractional CMO | Growth partner | |
|---|---|---|
| What it sells you | Hours, deliverables or campaigns (the agency), or direction without a team to execute it (the fractional CMO). | A complete acquisition system: designed, run and measured. |
| How it charges | A fixed monthly fee for the work done, results or not. | A monthly base plus a variable part tied to the clients it generates. |
| Who decides | You approve every piece; the agency executes what you ask for. | You decide together on data; the growth partner proposes and answers. |
| What it is measured in | Reach, impressions, on-time delivery. | Requests, bookings, clients, CAC and LTV:CAC. |
| When it makes sense | When you know exactly what you need and only lack someone to do it. | When you sell on value, have margin to invest and don't know what the constraint is. |
| When it doesn't | When the problem isn't one of execution. | When you compete on price or the ticket can't carry the investment. |
Between 1,000 and 5,000 euros a month as a base, depending on the size of the system to build and run, plus a variable part agreed at the start and tied to the new clients the system generates. The figure is sized so the total stays between 10% and 25% of the new revenue: if the system brings in 20,000 euros a month, the invoice is around 2,000 to 5,000.
That is why the filter matters: it only works for businesses where a client is worth more than 1,000 euros and where the person signing decides. With lower tickets the variable part doesn't pay for the work, and the relationship becomes an agency under another name.
Private clinics and practices, professional firms, SaaS and technology, industry, gastronomic restaurants: businesses where the client chooses on trust and results, not on the lowest price.
The growth partner works with the person who signs. If someone else approves the investment, the conversation starts with them.
If your client compares three quotes and picks the cheapest, the system can't sustain the investment. We'll tell you on the first call.
A website, a brand or a campaign on their own are projects, and we do them, but they are not a growth partner. Start with the specific service.
A 30-minute discovery call to understand what you sell, how you win clients today and where it stalls. If we fit, a diagnosis of the constraint with your data (analytics, CRM, ads) and a proposal with the system, the timeline and the invoice. The first 90 days build the system; from then on it is run and measured every week.
Most businesses that sell something expensive don't have a marketing problem: they have a system problem. They do disconnected things, none of them measured, and growth keeps depending on someone recommending them. A growth partner exists to fix that, and only makes sense if its invoice depends on fixing it.
Marcel Garcia, founder of HAKI. Ten years building acquisition systems for businesses that sell on value.
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