Fractional Business Partner

Emma and Jo, the two founders behind Shoestring, on your team every month. Pipeline, pricing, processes and operations, allocated to whatever your agency needs most.

Book a 30-minute call See a first month

Founding offer ~~Was $5,000~~ now $3,000 a month. No equity, no profit share, no lock-in.

6 figures: revenue in our first year
300+: B2B clients served
8+ years: running our own agency
10+: global team members and contractors
$0: spent on our own marketing

Sound familiar?

You've built a real marketing agency. Good clients, solid revenue, processes that work. But you're the whole thing. Sales, delivery, account management, finance, all of it runs through you. So the stuff that would actually move you up a level never gets touched. The pipeline only gets attention when it dries up. Pricing hasn't been looked at in two years. And you haven't had a proper holiday since you started.

You don't want a 20 person agency. You want more from what you've already built, and some breathing room.

What we actually do

Emma

Builds and refines your pipeline and lead gen. Sets up AI automation. Tightens the processes that keep landing on you.

Jo

Goes through the numbers. Pricing, margins, where you're leaving money on the table, and the operations behind it.

Both of us

Support account management and daily operations when you need it, so things keep moving while you're stretched or away.

We don't hand you a report. We're in it with you, doing the work, on whatever matters most right then.

Why it's different

A fractional CMO does marketing. A fractional CFO does finance. A coach gives you frameworks. We do whatever your agency actually needs that month, and we've run one ourselves for eight years.

The money

~~Was $5,000~~ now $3,000 a month for two founders' time. For context, that's less than a junior account manager costs you, and it comes with people who've already solved the problems you're facing.

Founding offer $3,000 a month for our first agency partners. Standard price $5,000 a month.

Flat fee. Not a share of your profit, not a slice of your business. Three month minimum, then month to month. We also do fixed-term engagements: six months while you're on parental leave, three months while you travel. We step in, support what needs supporting, hand it back.

The honest bit. This only works if we understand your kind of clients. Our world is B2B and founder-led marketing. If that's your world, we can add value fast. If it's not, we'll tell you.

What a first month looks like

Month one

Every agency is different, so the time goes where it's needed. But most first months follow this shape: understand the business properly, fix the obvious things fast, then build the engine.

Week 1. Get under the hood

Emma
Walks through your pipeline end to end. Where leads come from, what happens to them, where they stall, what's automated and what isn't.

Jo
Goes through the books, your pricing and your margins by client and service. Finds what's actually profitable and what's quietly costing you.

You get
A clear, honest picture of where the money and the time are going. Usually a few things you already suspected, and a couple you didn't.
Week 2. Fix the obvious things

Emma
Quick wins on the pipeline. Follow up that isn't happening, outreach that's stalled, the first automation that saves you hours a week.

Jo
The pricing and margin fixes that pay for the engagement fast. A service that's underpriced, a client that's costing more than it earns, a cost that's crept.

You get
Money back in the business inside the first fortnight, and the first sign that things run without you pushing them.
Weeks 3 and 4. Build the engine

Emma
Rebuilds the lead gen and pipeline so new business is a system, not a scramble. Sets up the automation that keeps it running.

Jo
Puts structure around the numbers. A simple monthly view of margin and cash you can actually read, and the operating rhythm behind it.

You get
A pipeline that's working while you're delivering, and a clear view of the business every month instead of guessing.

End of month one. We sit down together, look at what moved, and decide where the time goes in month two. Sometimes it's more pipeline. Sometimes it's ops. Sometimes it's supporting your accounts so you can step back for a bit. That's the point of a partner rather than a fixed service.

What we need from you

Access to your numbers, your pipeline and your tools. We can't fix what we can't see.
An hour a week with one of us. That's the only fixed commitment on your side.
Honesty about what's not working. We've run an agency. Nothing will surprise us.

Not a coach. Not a hire. Two people who've done this, doing it with you.

Book a 30-minute call