We’re Makk. And we’re exactly who you’re looking for.

The name Makk comes from the old Norse word meaning “make”. We’re here to support the makers. The startup founders and their teams who are passionate about what they do.

About Us

Founded by 2 marketers and business leaders, with the belief that startup marketing can be done better, Makk is a unique consultancy providing high-potential businesses with the right strategic guidance at the right time.

We work almost exclusively with early stage and vc-backed startups, because our collective experience of scaling and marketing these types of businesses means we can deliver real value.

Paddy O’Neill

Founding Partner

With 15 years of marketing agency experience, Paddy specialises in brand development, digital acquisition and customer retention for startups.

As an experienced Fractional CMO, Paddy has developed and executed countless successful campaigns for early-stage and established startups alike, helping them to develop impactful GTM strategies and marketing communications.

Mike - Founder

Mike Grindy

Founding  Partner

Mike is the Founder and Chairman of digital agency Passion Digital and CMO at tech startup Dropless. His background has provided a rounded understanding and practical experience in the challenges that startups encounter.

As well as a marketer and agency leader, Mike’s experience of scaling a number of his own companies enables him to offer a unique insight, helping businesses to get the most value from working with a consultant.

Darcie - CMO

Darcie Tanner

Partner, Fractional CMO

A senior consultant and CMO with 20 years of experience working with multi-faceted organisations on structure, operations, growth and global campaign delivery.

Darcie left the agency world in 2019 and began consulting as an Interim & Fractional Chief Marketing Officer for scaling startups, supporting companies and brands to establish requirements, develop solutions, support integration and advising on operations and measurement.

Matt Dibben

Consultant, Fractional Sales Director

Matt brings 25 years of authentic Sales Leadership to any organisation that is ready for their next stage of growth.

He has worked successfully in several markets and is most prominent in his quick understanding of the value proposition, rapid relationship building and a deep understanding of the sales process and how to effectively deliver long term and repeatable growth.

Charlie - CMO

Charlie Southwell

Consultant, Fractional CMO

Charlie is a digital marketing strategist who has had a varied career with start-ups, big brands and governments. He launched TaskRabbit into the UK, led Red Bull UK social media channels and wrote the first ever social media guidance for MPs for the House of Commons.

As a fractional marketing director Charlie now focuses on helping businesses make the biggest possible impact. He helps companies build long term lead and demand generation building repeatable systems for business growth.

Heledd-Jones

Heledd Jones

Consultant, Fractional CMO

Heledd is an all-round marketer with 20 years experience, with 15 years spent on building and growing brands within FTSE100 Admiral Group: Confused.com, Admiral Money and Veygo – taking them all from start-up to scale-up by working across both marketing strategy and tactical implementation.

Now a startup marketing consultant, she applies her experience to a range of high-growth businesses.

Katie Mcphee

Consultant, Fractional CMO

Katie is a leader in go-to-market, growth and marketing strategy for category disruptors. She played a key role in scaling Eventbrite’s European business from 2011 up to and following its 2018 IPO; launching peer-to-peer car sharing platform Karshare; and more recently building the marketing and demand generation function of climate tech challenger, Sust Global. Katie graduated from a Masters in Behaviour Change in 2022 and is passionate about applying the behavioural insights from her studies to the go-to-market planning process for innovative businesses.

Gareth Edwards CMO

Gareth Edwards

Consultant, Fractional CMO/CPO

With over 20 years of experience in marketing and strategy, Gareth is a seasoned professional with a proven track record of success. He has spent 15 years leading digital strategy and marketing for some of the UK’s largest financial services brands, including Bank of Scotland, Standard Life, NatWest, and Scottish Widows. More recently, he has taken on leadership roles within MedTech/Climate Tech scaleups as Chief Product Owner and Chief Client Officer.

Partnerships over billable hours.

We value long term partnerships over billable hours, which allows us to align our objectives with those of our clients.  This requires a relentless commitment to acting in the best interests of our clients, but ultimately delivers more value for everyone.

Don’t waste anybody’s time.

As a consultancy it’s our expertise and our time that we sell, so we believe in treating everybody’s time as equally valuable. That goes for clients, suppliers and our own time. It’s important to respect other peoples’ time by being transparent in every interaction.

Honesty is the best policy.

Makk was born out of frustration from agency politics and a desire to build better relationships with clients.  We believe that transparency and honesty are critical for successful, long term relationships with both clients and suppliers.

Horses for courses.

Consultants, tools and methodologies are all matched to the needs of our clients on a case by case basis.  One-size-fits-all is ineffective and, frankly, not as exciting.

Anthemis
Uncapped
Hatch Enterprise
GrowthMentor
Joshin
Ember
https://www.krepling.com/
https://proportunity.co/
https://grain.co.uk/
Serendipity
Axle
https://kloudle.com/

Make something happen

We’d love to hear about your business and to tell you more about how we can help you to grow it. We don’t waste time so we’ll be back in touch quickly.