I’ve spent most of my career in agencies. I know the value they bring - the breadth of talent, global reach and ability to mobilise teams across almost any brief. They play an essential role in the marketing ecosystem.
But the reality is, they’re also expensive, slow and built on a model that prioritises margin as much as it does creativity. The pitch is always slick yet the delivery often doesn't match. Too often, clients end up paying for layers of process, management and meetings, rather than outcomes.
For big global brands, that’s fine. If you’re a multinational corporation, what you need is scale - a safe pair of hands, consistency across markets and a small army of people who can execute. Large agencies are built for that.
But if you’re a scaling tech or fintech business between Series A and C, your needs are completely different. You don’t need an army. You need impact.
You need to move quickly. You need ideas that can be executed tomorrow, not next quarter. You need people who understand the pressure of proving growth to investors, attracting the next round of hires and standing out in a crowded category.
And crucially, you need people who are in it with you, who care about the result as much as you do.
That’s what small, senior teams, like ours, are built for.
Small teams don’t get lost in process. They don’t pass the brief through a hierarchy of people who were never in the pitch meeting. They don’t need two weeks to schedule a brainstorm.
Instead, you get a handful of senior, multi-skilled people who can think, create and deliver, fast. People who’ve been in the big rooms but now choose to work differently. People who want to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with founders and leadership teams, not miles away from them.
When it works, the effect is transformative:
Speed: less friction, fewer layers, faster results.
Focus: no wasted effort - every conversation, every action matters.
Accountability: the people doing the work are the same people you met at the start.
Value: You pay for expertise, not overhead.
For many start-ups and scale-ups, fractional talent is the sweet spot. You get senior-level experience, the kind that was historically locked inside big agencies or corporates but without the bloat, cost or commitment.
You can build your dream team: a brand strategist, a marketing lead, a PR expert, a content specialist, each working fractionally, collectively acting as your marketing function. You only pay for what you need but you get people operating at the highest level.
That’s why we built Rowntree² - not to compete with agencies but to offer something different. Lean, experienced, committed teams who move fast and think strategically and deliver efficiently. Because for early-stage and scaling businesses, small isn’t a compromise; it’s an advantage.