Volume VII · Inside Cover · Est. 2017
A letter from the partners, before you write a single word about your company.
We do not run an intake queue. Daniel and Sofia read every submission themselves, usually within two business days. What follows is a short note on what we look for, what we will ask you next, and what kind of founder tends to get the most out of working with us.
§03 · Conditions of Engagement
Who this studio is built for, and what it will not take on.
Plain prose, on purpose. We would rather a founder self-select out at this step than arrive at a strategy call with the wrong expectations. Everything below is policy, not marketing.
Calibrated for
- 01Series A through C. Companies between their first million and their first hundred million in revenue, with a brand decision worth the partner-level attention we trade headcount for.
- 02A defined brief, not a vague one. Founders who can articulate the problem in a paragraph, even if they cannot yet articulate the solution.
- 03Budget for judgment, not line items. A typical engagement begins at the mid-six figures and includes the 40-page verbal identity playbook that ships with every project.
- 04A 9-week runway. Our average kickoff-to-launch window is roughly half the industry standard. Founders who need that cadence respect the calendar.
Deliberately outside our remit
- ×No media buying, performance, or paid social. We are not an advertising agency and we do not pretend to be one. We will refer you to a partner firm.
- ×No packaging, industrial, or environmental design beyond the brand-guideline specification in our playbook.
- ×No rush deliverables or same-week turnarounds. We are a studio of two partners and fourteen people. Speed is not our product.
- ×No pre-seed or unfunded work. The minimum engagement is calibrated for companies with revenue or meaningful funding; we will point you elsewhere if that is not where you are.
§04 · On Preparation
"The founders who get the most out of a thirty-minute call are the ones who arrive with a paragraph they have argued with themselves about. Bring the disagreements, not the slide deck. Leave the consensus behind."
A short, opinionated piece of partner advice. No charge for the read.
§05 · Plain Answers
Four questions that arrive in every inbound, answered once, on the record.
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Can we work together at $500K ARR or a $3M seed round?
Honestly, probably not. The studio's minimum engagement is calibrated for Series A and beyond, or companies with the revenue and brand stakes to justify a partner-level engagement. If you are earlier than that, we will suggest two or three studios we trust who work at your stage. We would rather point you to the right fit than take you on at the wrong one.
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What should I bring to the strategy call?
A paragraph on the problem, written by you, not by your comms lead. Two or three brands you admire, with a sentence on why. The internal disagreement, if there is one, about what the brand should do next. You do not need a deck. You do not need consensus. The disagreement is the most useful thing in the room.
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What happens after I submit the form?
Daniel or Sofia reads your brief personally, usually within two business days. If there is alignment, we propose a 30-minute call and send two or three times that fit your calendar. If there is not, we tell you plainly and, where we can, suggest a studio better suited to the brief. We do not enter you into a sequence.
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What does the studio not do?
We do not buy media, run paid social, or operate as a full-service advertising agency. We do not design packaging, industrial products, or built environments beyond the brand-guideline specification. We do not turn work around in a week, and we do not pretend that headcount produces judgment. The full list of disciplines we deliberately stay out of is in the conditions of engagement above.
§06 · Colophon
Begin a project.
Or begin a conversation.
Martin & James, LLC 68 Jay Street, Suite 415, Brooklyn, NY 11201 [email protected] · +1 (212) 555-0188
M&J · Est. MMXVII · Brooklyn, NY