About

Hey, I'm Justin. Former founder, growth operator.

I'm a former founder and marketing exec with 15+ years of experience and three consumer tech startup exits. I thrive on helping early-stage companies define key user personas, acquire their initial users, and develop a solid growth strategy.

NJ → Bay Area
Justin Gerrard, fractional CMO and growth advisor
Notable achievements

The track record.

Bae
Co-founder / CMO

Launched a dating app with a team of three and acquired 300K users, leading to an acqui-hire by late-stage Silicon Valley startup if(we).

The Meet Group
Director of Marketing

Repositioned a dating app into a live-streaming entertainment platform, generating $55M in incremental revenue. if(we) was acquired by The Meet Group.

Twitch
Director of Performance Marketing

Established the growth marketing function, building a performance marketing team and managing a $12M+ budget.

Backyard
Head of Marketing

Drove a viral TikTok marketing strategy for a video chat gaming platform, acquiring 6M users and reaching 600K MAU on an $8K/month budget. Backyard was acquired by Discord.

Discord
Product Marketing Lead

Led the product marketing team and the launch of Activities, contributing to new user acquisition, increased revenue, and platform engagement.

Where I work

Industries and stages.

GamingSocialDatingEdtechFintechHealthcareMedia

Pre-seed → Series B, for consumer and B2B startups.

I partner best with founders who value focus, thoughtful sequencing, and momentum over hype.
Podcast

Rush Hour Podcast

Watch the latest episodes and shorts on YouTube.

Watch on YouTube →
LinkedIn

Follow my consumer and B2B tech musings

Connect with me on LinkedIn.

Connect on LinkedIn →
Next step

Let's build together.

If you're ready to accelerate growth and build a solid foundation for your startup, let's talk about how I can help.