05 · Competency
Building departments from scratch
I build a team around the outcome: hiring for the role where a person does their best work.
Roles
CMO, General Producer, co-owner
Departments
Marketing, production, analytics
Principle
Hiring for the role where a person performs best
Departments I owned
GrowthMedia buyingHiring
Marketing
GrowthLive opsTeams
Production
Analytics
Embedded in marketing and production
What I own
- Owned the entire commercial side of the studio: product, monetization, marketing.
- Built and led the marketing team: strategy, media buying, creatives, analytics in one hand.
- Board member, strategic planning across product and marketing.
- Hiring the right people for the roles where they perform best.
Principles I build a team on
Consistency as a value: we agree, we do it. If we walk something back, I say so out loud.
Prioritisation over volume of activity: one important decision beats ten reports made for show.
Growth through coaching, especially for the people who lead other people.
A transparent hierarchy: who owns which decision, with no blurred authority.
Three directions
- Marketing: built the department from scratch and led it, strategy, media buying, creative production, performance analytics.
- Production: as General Producer, owned the teams behind the games end to end, from concept to live operations, in-house and with external studios.
- Analytics is embedded in marketing and production work: payback, traffic quality, audience feedback for the production team. I never built a separate analytics department, and that boundary is deliberate.
A team works when everyone sees their contribution and knows who owns what.
Hiring and team buildingCoaching managersTransparent hierarchyStrategic planningBoard membershipShared process