MARK ZIDES
MARK ZIDES
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Most founders arrive knowing the symptom and not the engagement. Every one of these starts the same way, find what is actually capping growth, and ends the same way: a company that scales without you in every deal.
The routing
Seven engagements, one diagnostic. Sales consulting rebuilds the whole revenue engine; the others are narrower and cheaper when the constraint sits in one place, the top of the funnel, the team, the founder, or an exit that is twelve to twenty-four months out.
Read more on the blog
The fit
Founders and leaders at growth-stage technology and services companies, including SaaS and AI, plus private equity and venture backed portfolio companies. The test is repeatable revenue rather than a revenue band, and somebody in the business who is personally accountable for the number.
The start
Three steps before any work is scoped, and the first two cost nothing. Most consultancies sell a paid diagnostic; here the diagnosis is the conversation, because a scope written before anyone has looked at your pipeline is a guess with an invoice attached.
Where revenue is stuck, what you have already tried, and what the number has done for three quarters. Enough to know whether there is an engagement here at all.
Mark comes back with what he thinks is actually capping growth, and which engagement addresses it. Sometimes the answer is that you do not need one yet.
Written against that constraint, with an exit criterion in it. The engagement is designed from the start to end.
The method
What is actually preventing the next stage, written down where the board can see it.
The few levers capable of meaningful growth, separated from the ones that only create motion.
The highest-return moves, sequenced against the cash and the calendar you have.
People, systems, technology and accountability aligned so the motion survives a quarter.
What works turned into a playbook the company owns, not one that lives in the advisor.
Growth that no longer depends on the founder for every decision or sale.
The constant
Whichever of the eight you end up in, the same things belong to the company at the end. That is the point of the method: the work is built to be handed over rather than to be renewed.
The cost
Scope follows the constraint rather than the hour, so the number is set on the first call once the constraint is named. Three things move it: what is actually broken, how much of the work Mark holds himself, and how fast you need it done.
A pricing question is a short diagnostic. A revenue motion with no team to run it is a year of work. Naming the constraint is what makes a scope possible.
Advising the person who carries the number costs less than carrying it himself. That choice is yours, and it can change part way through.
Compressing the work costs more and holds less, because hiring and coaching move at the pace people actually learn.
Nobody should quote you a scope before they know the constraint, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What the first call produces is the shape of the engagement, its likely length, and an honest answer if the timing is wrong.
Before you book
If you would rather see how Mark thinks before speaking to him, these four cover most of what comes up in a first conversation.
The record
The full history is on the about page.
FAQ ( Here to Help )
The first call. Thirty minutes on where revenue is stuck, what has already been tried, and what the number has done for the last three quarters. The constraint decides the engagement, not the other way round, and sometimes the honest answer is that you do not need one yet.
Both are available. Consulting designs the motion and your team runs it. Fractional leadership means Mark carries the revenue number himself while the team is built and hired into, then hands it to the full-time leader he helps you choose.
Founders and leaders at growth-stage technology and services companies, including SaaS and AI, plus PE and VC portfolio companies. The test is repeatable revenue rather than a revenue band.
Three to twelve months for most of the work: long enough to name the constraint, rebuild the motion, hire into it and coach the leaders who own it. The commitment is built around what the business needs rather than a fixed schedule.
Scope follows the constraint rather than the hour, so it is set on the first call once the constraint is named. What you get on that call is the shape of the engagement, its likely length, and an honest answer if the timing is wrong.
A named constraint, a rebuilt process, the hires and accountability to run it, and a codified playbook. The exit criterion is the same in every engagement: the company grows without depending on Mark, or on the founder, for every decision and every deal.
The first call
Thirty minutes on where revenue is stuck and which of these fits. No deck, no pitch, and an honest answer if the timing is wrong.