Who we are

Strategic and hands-on, in roughly equal measure.

I spent five years inside Amazon and five years as the growth lead at a men’s skincare brand that went from startup to $20M+. What I kept seeing from the outside were agencies with a channel to sell, attribution that flattered the channel, and contracts that outlived the problem. DirectToGrowth is the version of that job I wanted to exist: come in, get the full picture quickly, solve the thing you were hired for, and leave the playbook behind.

Thomas Robinson on a rooftop in Victoria, BC, holding his dog

Victoria, BC. Growth strategy by day. Chief Treat Officer by evening.

How I work

Guardrails, then the biggest channel, then the project.

Start with the P&L

Marketing tagged properly, EBITDA and growth goals understood, and the guardrails agreed with finance: marketing as a share of net revenue, CAC against twelve-month contribution, how long you can stomach waiting for payback.

Judge on business numbers

Platform ROAS helps me diagnose a channel. The business runs on blended new-customer CAC, new-customer volume and marketing as a share of net revenue. If the platform looks worse for a month while those improve, I’ll take that trade.

Scope around the problem

Advising alongside your team or agency, auditing one account for the wins, or taking over a channel, building the playbook and handing it back. It depends on the engagement, and we agree it up front.

Prefer the predictable win

I’d rather find an incremental win in a channel that already works, or a market where your playbook will travel, than push you into whatever platform is getting the hype this quarter. I’ve tested the hype channels. Some of them didn’t move anything, and the opportunity cost was real.

Invest in brand, with measurement

Underinvesting in upper funnel is the belief I’ve changed my mind on most. The attribution tool won’t show it, so I don’t spend and hope. Geo uplift studies, incremental brand search, and the shift in how many customers arrive through branded, direct and organic instead of paid.

Leave the playbook

Reporting, SOPs and the decision rules your team keeps. Brands come back for the next launch or the next market, not because nobody cancelled.

What I do

Capabilities

Growth Advisory

Capital allocation for the marketing budget. I start with the P&L, agree the guardrails with finance, then work out where the next dollar does the most.

  • Marketing spend as a share of net revenue, tied to EBITDA or growth goals
  • Blended new-customer CAC and payback, defined once and used everywhere
  • Channel diagnosis: saturation, marginal decay, or a fixable execution problem
  • Strategic projects: launches, Black Friday, international and new-channel expansion

Marketplaces (Amazon first)

Five years inside Amazon and five more growing a brand on it. The easiest incremental win is usually rerunning a playbook that already works, in a market where the competition is thinner.

  • Listing optimization for CvR and SEO
  • Inventory forecasting and fulfillment management (Amazon + Walmart)
  • Demand generation systems: PPC, DSP, affiliates, referral links
  • Strategic deal and campaign planning: Prime Day, BFCM, seasonal pushes

Paid Media

Meta, Google, YouTube, TikTok. I care less about what the platform reports and more about whether net-new customers are getting cheaper across the whole business.

  • Account structure sized to the budget, so spend isn’t stuck in learning
  • Creative tagged by customer problem and format, with a real feedback loop
  • The balance between educational ads and offer ads, so Meta looks good and the brand still grows
  • Guardrails for when to pause, when to reactivate, when to scale

Brand, Creators and Upper Funnel

Most brands underinvest here because the attribution tool can’t see it. I size the test to the brand, then measure it with geo uplift studies, incremental brand search and the shift in where customers come from.

  • Creator and affiliate programs priced on real revenue impact
  • YouTube, CTV, podcast and linear TV, sized so a signal is detectable
  • Email and SMS lifecycle built around launches, retention and deal events
  • Measurement that doesn’t rely on a click or a cookie window
Who this is for

Brands with product-market fit, where the next step is the hard part.

  • Growth has plateaued and every new customer costs more than the last
  • Your biggest channel is saturating and nobody is sure whether it’s the channel or the execution
  • The attribution tool, the ad platforms and finance all report a different number
  • You’re not profitable yet and marketing spend needs to line up with EBITDA goals
  • A launch, Black Friday, a new market or a new channel is coming and you want someone who has done it before
I’m talking to CEOs and marketing leaders who already know the vocabulary. I won’t simplify the argument into “brand matters” or “cheap reach works.” The useful part is the capital allocation, the contribution economics and the measurement.

Want a second set of eyes on the numbers?

Book a free intro call. I’ll tell you where I’d look first.

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