Graphite brings unicorn product background to growth marketing

Graphite is part of a new wave of growth marketing consultancies launched by former product leaders at successful startups. With a specialization in SEO, and a client list that has included Masterclass, Thumbtack, Honey, Personal Capital, and more, its goal is to help make the difference for an ambitious company with product-market fit.

“Ethan and his team did excellent work helping Thumbtack build our SEO landing page strategy and our technical SEO infrastructure. Unlike most other agencies, they get deep in the details and help with execution, which was critical in our early days / initial growth stage.” Sander Daniels, Cofounder, Thumbtack

As founder Ethan Smith relates below, the remote-first team also has a vision to change the relationship between growth marketers and companies. Rather than being treated as relatively interchangeable employees who provide similar incremental value, growth marketers can be the main difference for a company that has a few rounds of funding and big unrealized dreams. So, why settle for a small piece of a big cap table? “In order to maximize the impact we can have on the world,” says founder Ethan Smith diplomatically, “we should work with many companies rather than only one.”

Graphite’s growth-stage focus

One of the most important metrics we look at is retention and whether a company has product market fit. Companies that are pre-product market fit should not focus on growth, they should focus on getting their product right. Once the product has fit, they’re ready to grow. We usually work with companies post Series B up to public companies because we believe we can create the most impact.

Why SEO?

SEO is one of our core foci, and it is shocking how little supply there is of SEO talent relative to the size of this channel. For many companies, SEO is not only the largest channel of growth, it is larger than all other channels combined.

Below, you’ll find the rest of the founder reviews, the full interview, and more details about how it works. This profile is part of our ongoing series covering startup growth marketing agencies with whom founders love to work, based on this survey and our own research. The survey is open indefinitely, so please fill it out if you haven’t already.