Building Your Marketing Dream Team

Hey everyone,

Welcome back for another bite to chew on.

DTC growth is mostly about your marketing. So building a killer marketing team can be one of the highest leverage things you can do. 

Easier said than done, right?

When do you hire? Who do you hire first? What should you keep doing yourself?

We recently sat down with Rob Schutz, who's built marketing teams at some brands you definitely know - BarkBox (employee #7) and Ro (co-founder). 

He shared some eye-opening insights about scaling marketing operations that we think are super valuable for any brand looking to staff up (or struggling to build their team).

Rob’s journey is wild → Going from early BarkBox (back when Facebook ads were new) to co-founding Ro (where they had to navigate healthcare regulations) to now running Snagged (his domain acquisition company). 

Each step taught him something different about building high-performing marketing teams.

On the Menu: 

• The Hidden Traps of Early Marketing Hires

• When (and How) to Build Your Dream Team

• Real Talk About Channel Ownership

• BONUS - What Success Actually Looks Like

Don’t forget to check out our whole podcast with Rob, where he shared how he builds billion-dollar companies:

The Hidden Traps of Early Marketing Hires

Here's a story that might sound familiar: You're growing fast, working 80-hour weeks, and thinking "I need to hire someone to take some of this off my plate."

So you post that VP of Marketing job.

After all, you need someone experienced to come in and build out the whole marketing operation, right?

Wrong.

Rob learned this lesson the hard way, and he shared something that stopped us in our tracks → Most founders hire too senior, too early.

Here's what usually happens:

• You bring in a senior marketing hire before validating channels

• They spend months building a "strategic framework"

• Meanwhile, your working channels get less attention

• Growth slows, but hey, great PowerPoints! 

Instead, Rob suggests this → start with the channels that are already working, and build your team around those.

Think about it. 

If you're crushing it on Facebook ads but struggling with email, why hire a VP of Marketing when what you really need is someone who can own that email channel?

Rob faced this exact challenge at Ro.  

They were pioneers in the DTC healthcare space, dealing with strict regulations and platform restrictions. Instead of bringing in a marketing leader to figure it all out, they focused on finding channel specialists who could execute within those constraints.

When (and How) to Build Your Dream Team

At BarkBox, Rob was their first marketing hire. But instead of trying to do everything at once, he took a surgical approach:

→ First, test different channels (organic, paid social, search) 🔍

→ When something works, go ALL IN on that channel 🚀

→ Only then, hire someone to take it over 🤝

→ Repeat 🔂

His exact words: "If you find something that works, lean into it. Put all your emphasis there. You earn the right to diversify later."

This might sound obvious, but here's where it gets interesting...

At Ro, they faced a unique challenge. They were selling ED medication - not exactly something people share on Instagram. 

But the principle stayed the same:

1. Find what works (in their case, podcast advertising)

2. Double down until it stops working

3. Only then, look for the next channel

The Real Framework

Let’s take a look at a clear, simple hiring framework:

• Start with channel specialists, not marketing generalists

• Look for people who can execute TODAY, not map out a 5-year plan

• Hire for channels you've already validated

• Junior talent who can grow > senior talent who might be stuck in their ways

Want to hear something wild? Rob told us how at BarkBox, they built something called the "Bark Pack" - a network of 500 popular dog accounts on Instagram. 

This was before “influencer marketing” was really a thing. 

Instead of hiring a social media director, they just had someone focus on coordinating these accounts and measuring results.

Real Talk About Channel Ownership

One of the most interesting things Rob shared was about what happened after finding winning channels.

At BarkBox, they struck gold with Facebook's News Feed ads right when they launched. Rob's instinct? Hand it off to someone else and go find the next big channel.

His verdict years later? Big mistake.

"I spent two years looking for another channel like Facebook when I should have just doubled down on what was working."

This hits close to home. At Obvi, we've definitely caught ourselves early on chasing new channels when we should have been optimizing our winners. 

Don’t get us wrong - over time, diversification in your marketing channels can be a key to unlocking new growth, but that’s when you’re hitting ceilings due to saturation or maturity.

Out of the gate, find things that work and keep leveraging them to scale. 

The Right Way to Handle Channel Ownership:

• Don't rush to delegate a winning channel

• When you do hand it off, hire someone who can focus 100% on that channel

• Give them clear KPIs and a timeline (3 months, 6 months, 12 months)

• Look for people who can execute on day one, not just talk strategy

What Success Actually Looks Like

One thing Rob emphasized that really stuck with us - success in marketing hires isn't about their past experience or fancy titles. It's about their ability to move specific metrics in your business.

Here's how he suggests evaluating marketing hires:

First 3 Months:

• Are they asking the right questions?

• Can they execute independently?

• Do they understand your customer?

6 Months:

• Are key metrics trending up?

• Have they identified optimization opportunities?

• Are they building processes that scale?

12 Months:

• Has the channel grown significantly?

• Can they train others?

• Are they spotting new opportunities?

At Ro, Rob's team had to navigate platform restrictions, medical regulations, and taboo topics - all while scaling to a multi-billion dollar valuation. 

The key? 

They hired people who could execute within constraints, not just come up with grand marketing plans.

Sum it up

From Rob’s experience, building a marketing team isn't always about hiring the most senior person you can afford. 

It's about:

• Starting with channel specialists over marketing generalists

• Only hiring for channels you've already validated

• Being patient with new hires (3-6 months to see real results)

• Focusing on execution over strategy in the early days

• Building clear evaluation frameworks for each role

Remember this → You don't need a VP of Marketing to tell you Facebook ads are working. You need someone who can make them work better.

And take it from Rob - when something's working, double down. You can diversify later.

All the best,

Ron & Ash