Agency Strategy & Positioning
Your studio does excellent work. The business behind it could be just as good.
I’m Alex. I run the commercial side – the sales, the pricing, the pipeline, the positioning – so it stops running through you. I co-founded a design agency and ran its commercial side before I sold my stake. This comes from having done it, not advised on it.
A real conversation, not a pitch. If I can’t help, I’ll tell you on the call.
The work was never the problem
The work goes out the door looking great. And you personally sign off every quote, every hire, every fire, and sit on every sales call. You didn’t build a studio to become its sales department, but here we are.
The market isn’t helping. Outbound barely works now that every inbox is full of AI slop and “Hi {FirstName}, love your work” opens nothing. Clients ask why they’d pay a studio when the model does a first draft in an afternoon. The straightforward, profitable work is moving in-house.
None of it is on fire. It’s the same small fire, same place, every month, and everyone is too busy to put in a sprinkler. That’s the part I take off your plate.
The unglamorous half
Most people who do this turn up, advise, and leave you a deck. I do the opposite. I tell you what’s wrong, then I stay and fix it.
That means the positioning, the offer, the pricing, the sales motion and the pipeline. Built properly, run for real, and handed over as something your team can keep running without me. The design stays yours. The business behind it becomes mine to sort.
How this goes
Four steps. The first is a free call; the rest only happen if it's a fit.
Step one · Free · one call
First conversation
One call. I work out whether your studio is fixable, whether it’s worth fixing, and whether we’d work well together. If it’s not a fit, I say so on the call.
Then, if it's a fit
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The teardown
Paid, from £150 an hour. I go through the commercial side end to end and come back with the real problems and a plan, in plain English. Take it and run it yourself if you like – you’ll still be ahead.
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The build
Where I stop advising and start executing. I rebuild the positioning and offer, fix the pricing, build a sales system that runs without you, and put the pipeline on rails. I embed for as long as it takes to land.
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Handover
Systems your team actually follows. Then I step back – or stay on as a fractional lead or an equity partner if it’s a business we’re building for the long haul.
I’ve done this from the inside
Four businesses of my own. Not retired and lecturing — two of them are running right now.
2026 — Present · 6 months
UAREUX
UX design agency built by creative directors
The newest of the four. Building the commercial half while the founders build the practice.
2025 — Present · 1 year
DNSK.WORK
Digital Product Design Agency from London
Tanya Donska handles the design work; I handle the business, sales and marketing. Clean positioning, async-first, a premium client base.
2024 — 2025 · 1 year
Outreach.Software
An AI startup, zero to exit
Built the business around someone else’s technology — the offer, the pricing, the route to market. Acquired at MVP.
2014 — 2025 · 11 years
Ester Digital
An Estonian design agency
Co-founded it and ran the commercial side for its whole life. From a standing start to an established agency serving dozens of businesses. I sold my stake when the time was right.
Who this is for
I only take on studios I believe in – it’s the only reason a yes from me means anything.
This is for you if
- You run a design or UX studio and the work is genuinely good.
- The commercial side – sales, pricing, pipeline – runs on you personally.
- You’re roughly three to twenty-five people.
- You want it fixed, not workshopped.
This isn’t for you if
- You want a strategy deck and a motivational quote.
- You’re looking for the cheapest option.
- You’d rather keep doing it all yourself.
You won’t find numbers splashed across this site.
Most of what I’ve done is under NDA. Fixing the money and sales side of a business isn’t the kind of thing people want broadcast, and I’d treat yours exactly the same way.
What’s above is a track record, not a pitch.
What it costs
Clear from the start, and priced so you’re never locked in.
Start here
The teardown
from £150 / hour
Fixed scope
Clear output, no surprise invoice. Take the plan and run it yourself if you like – you’ll still be ahead.
Then
The build
Retainer, day rate, project or equity
Whatever fits
I take on a handful of studios at a time, so the work gets done properly rather than spread thin.
Optional
Equity
Paid when you win
Never the price of entry
Your studio worth more, and worth selling, sooner. Cash works perfectly well too.
Start with a call
If the work is good and the business behind it isn't, that's the whole job. It's the bit I'm best at, and the bit you'd probably rather not spend another weekend on.
Questions people ask first
What does “fractional” actually mean here?
I take the commercial side of the studio as a job, part-time, for as long as it needs doing. Not an advisor who reviews your work — someone who owns the number and is in the pipeline with you every week.
How small is too small?
If there is a studio, a few people and real clients, there is something to work on. Below that it is usually a positioning problem you can solve yourself, and I will say so on the call.
Do you replace our new business person?
No. If you have one, they get a system to run and a reason for the price. If you do not, the aim is that you still do not need to hire one for a while.
We only want one thing fixed. Is that fine?
Yes, and it is how most of this starts. The teardown is deliberately small so you can take one problem, get a plan, and stop there if that is all you wanted.
Do you take equity?
Sometimes, and only where I am building toward something specific like an exit. Most work is paid straightforwardly. If equity would suit us both, I will raise it — you will never have to ask.
What happens if it is not working?
You stop. There is no long tie-in on any of this, and I would rather end an engagement early than keep invoicing one that is not moving the number.