Index N° 001 / 2026
Location Austin · Texas · -
Status Taking Q2 engagements

Performance as a craft. / STUDIO Not a spreadsheet.

I'm Blake Burnett, a performance marketer who moonlights as a creative, and an AI operator who can't stop shipping. Eight years, $15M managed, $50M+ pipeline influenced. I don't run campaigns. I build systems that get smarter, and I care what they look like.

Ask what I've done
Scroll · Six chapters · ~ 4 min read
Chapter 01Philosophy

Marketing is the engineering of demand. Not the decoration of it.

Most operators optimize for clicks. I optimize for the next quarter's revenue, the next five customers' LTV, and what a system is worth a year from now when it's still learning. Every campaign is instrumented, every decision reversible, every dollar attributable.

Operator · Creative · AI-native
Chapter 02Proof

The numbers, unembellished

Eight years · five industries
01Managed spend
$0
Across eight years, fourteen accounts, five industries.
02Pipeline influenced
$0
B2B SaaS, FinTech, enterprise cloud, DTC education.
03AI agents shipped
0
Creative scoring, budget pacing, cohort tagging, brief writing, anomaly detection — and growing.
04Accounts managed
0
Enterprise to zero-to-one. Agency-side, in-house, fractional.
05Years in paid
0
Started when attribution still mostly worked. Rebuilt the muscle when it stopped.
06Channels operated
0
MetaGoogleLinkedInTikTokRedditXThe Trade DeskCTVEmail
Chapter 03Selected work

Four live operations

View all work
04 cases · Drag to explore
Chapter 04The operating system

Marketing as a machine, not a campaign

Every engagement I take on gets re-architected through the same six-stage loop. It's the reason compound returns show up in month three, not year two.

STAGE 01 Intake AUTO
› the question
What does a dollar have to do to pay itself back?
Business model, first.
› signal
› deliverable
Unit-economics scorecard
Unit economics, contribution margin, payback period. If the math doesn't work, nothing downstream will.
Chapter 05Stack

The working stack

Not a list of logos — a terminal view of what actually ships work. Filter by category on the left. Every tool has an opinion attached.

~/blake/stack.sh 0 tools · 0 categories · last updated 2026
tooluse-casefreq
paid-media Meta · Google · LinkedIn Core paid trio — where 80% of spend lives. daily
$11M+ managed across the three. LinkedIn for B2B ABM, Meta for lookalike + creative testing, Google for capture + brand defense. I run them as a triangle, not a silo.
paid-media YouTube · TikTok · Reddit · X Secondary channels — niche audiences, creative upside. weekly
Reddit for technical B2B buyers. TikTok for DTC scale. YouTube for consideration-stage video. X for creator partnerships and event amplification. Each earns its spend by proving lift the core trio can't.
programmatic The Trade Desk · StackAdapt Display + CTV for upper-funnel reach. project
TTD for enterprise-grade inventory and CTV. StackAdapt for B2B contextual + IP-based ABM. I only light these up when there's a reach gap the social platforms can't fill.
analytics Google Analytics · Mixpanel Behavioral truth layer. daily
GA4 for acquisition + site flow. Mixpanel for product + event funnels. I treat them as complementary: GA tells you what channels sent the user, Mixpanel tells you what the user actually did.
dashboards Power BI · Tableau · Looker Studio Reporting surface layer. weekly
Power BI for enterprise finance-owned dashboards. Tableau for analyst teams. Looker Studio for quick channel reports that don't need to survive a quarter. Dashboard choice should match who's reading it.
llm Claude · Gemini Claude for build. Gemini for enrichment. daily
Claude is the reasoning engine — it builds apps, writes agents, pressure-tests strategy. Gemini handles enrichment context where Google's graph is strongest. I deliberately don't use ChatGPT — one model, one voice, deeper muscle memory.
build / ide Claude Code · Claude Design · Antigravity · VS Code Ship apps + landing pages same-day. daily
Claude Code for agent + backend builds. Claude Design for frontend + design-in-browser. Google Antigravity as my IDE surface. VS Code for anything legacy. Marketing work that used to need a three-week agency sprint now ships Tuesday.
agents n8n · Claude Workflow + reasoning layer. daily
n8n for deterministic pipes (data in, data out). Claude for the judgment call inside the pipe (score this lead, classify this creative, write this brief). 20+ agents shipped — creative scoring, budget pacing, cohort tagging, anomaly detection.
enrichment Clay · Apollo Signal + list layer. daily
Clay for waterfall enrichment + intent-driven list-building. Apollo for prospect-grade contact data. I stopped using Clearbit — Clay's flexibility won. These two feed every ABM motion I run.
marketing-ops Marketo Lifecycle + nurture engine. weekly
Marketo for enterprise-grade nurtures, scoring, and sync to Salesforce. I picked Marketo over Customer.io intentionally — B2B lifecycle needs the depth of program logic, not just message scheduling.
crm HubSpot · Salesforce Pipeline operations. daily
HubSpot for mid-market speed and marketing/sales alignment out of the box. Salesforce for enterprise data depth and custom workflow. Right tool depends on revenue stage — I've run both as source-of-truth.
Chapter 06Voices

What people say when I'm not in the room

Joann SteccaMedia Director, Digital Marketing Consultant · worked with Blake at Envisionit

"I had the pleasure of working alongside Blake as an Associate Media Director at Envisionit, and I can confidently say he is one of the most strategic and results-driven media professionals I've worked with. Blake brings a rare combination of analytical expertise, creative problem-solving, and deep platform knowledge to every campaign. He consistently found innovative ways to optimize performance, ensuring our clients saw measurable success. Beyond his technical skills, Blake is a fantastic collaborator — always willing to mentor, share insights, and approach challenges with a positive, solutions-oriented mindset. Any team would be lucky to have him, and I highly recommend him to anyone looking for a media leader who can truly make an impact."

March 4, 2025
Anna LuoEVP Customer Innovation & Marketing · AI + Commerce Media · Jivox (client)

"Blake was a paid media consultant to Jivox while he was on the Leadtail team, to whom we outsourced our social media programs. One big challenge we faced at the time was using LinkedIn Lead Generation to produce marketing qualified leads. I most appreciated Blake's thinking outside the box that helped us reach and often exceed our target. Well done, Blake!"

August 19, 2024
Alex Jonathan BrownYour favorite content strategist's favorite content strategist

"There are three questions that need to be answered before a client's thought can turn into a real strategy: Is it possible? Will it perform? And even if we can do it… should we? Blake is incredible at answering all three of those, finding just the right balance of platforms, strategies, and tactics to deliver results on the ideas we should do, and finding creative replacements for the ideas we shouldn't. Can't recommend working with him enough."

June 13, 2024
Joseph CantuVP Marketing & Growth · Scaled Digital Agency Revenue $30M → $37M+ · Led 70+ Member Teams

"I had the opportunity to manage Blake at Iron Horse while he worked as a Senior Manager, Performance Media. His exceptional expertise in performance media strategies and meticulous attention to detail consistently resulted in outstanding campaign outcomes. Additionally, Blake's ability to lead and inspire cross-functional teams, combined with his strong analytical skills, make him an invaluable asset for any organization aiming to achieve remarkable results in the digital advertising landscape."

May 25, 2023 · managed Blake directly
Benjamin StewartMarketing Strategist · Brand Builder · Team Developer · Advocate of Marketing Automation

"Having worked closely with Blake I can confidently say he would be an asset to any organization. Blake has a wide range of skills and abilities, takes initiative, and goes the extra mile. Specifically, as a Paid Social Media Manager Blake put in considerable time and effort to improve his skills and abilities, staying on top of the trends and changes to platforms while keeping a firm hand on each account."

September 15, 2022 · managed Blake directly
Chapter 07Hand-shake

Let's run numbers.

I take on a small number of engagements each quarter: fractional CMO, growth operator, or build-the-engine projects. If your team is serious about commercial outcomes and tired of vendor decks, we should talk.

blake@studio · zsh · 80×24
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