I hand code machines
so smaller, mightier teams
can drive massive growth
Dalton Kane
Technical VP of Growth & Revenue Operations
From bootstrapping SaaS to $240k ARR in 3 months, to scaling unicorns to a $6.6B exit. I bridge the gap between Engineering and Marketing. 120+ companies helped from seed to mid-market to Fortune 100.
Worked for/with companies such as:
Built my own stuff:
- OddBronco: Agency to fix growth and ops so companies move faster with less
- Superscript AI: Sales and Marketing assets at scale
- Athena: Shows what's not working and how to fix it for organic
- Abstractify: Commercial Real Estate lease abstractions on auto-pilot
- Speak: Replaces meetings with clear answers and documents, 10x faster
- Repclones: Clones your best rep for voice, chat, and sms
The "Lean Growth" Operating System
How I scale revenue without bloating headcount
Phase 1: Listen - Audit & Instrument
(The Truth)
I listen to key internal stakeholders, external knowledge holders, bring together disparate data sets to provide the necessary context to uncover the signal from the noise and provide the baseline knowledge required to form good hypotheses. I use my own custom tools to speed the process of learnings up, literally in 5X speed. Let me show you how.
Phase 2: Build - Create & Automate
(The Machine)
I specialize in scaling human impact through systems engineering. By establishing operational frameworks that prioritize clarity and alignment, I remove the bottlenecks of low value manual effort, to maximize high-value human work. I build teams centered on automation-first workflows—turning documented processes into streamlined systems that allow talent to focus on high-value innovation.
Phase 3: Grow - Scale & Optimize
(The Juice)
Once the foundation is solid, we pour fuel on the fire. I believe in rapid proto-typing, good-is-better-than-perfect execution that provides learnings for rapid iteration and improvement. I always try to find an edge and if it can't be found, we build one.
The Era of "Growth at All Costs" is Over.
Most VPs hire expensive agencies and bloat the headcount. I build systems.
I use Python, SQL, and AI Agents to automate the mundane, driving EBITDA and efficiency.
I don't just ask for dev support; I prototype solutions.
# Marketing Funnel Automation
import pandas as pd
from crm import pipeline
def optimize_conversion():
leads = pipeline.fetch()
scored = leads.apply(
lambda x: score_lead(x)
)
return scored.top_n(100)
# Result: 45% conversion liftExit Contribution
For Ecom SaaS Company
Direct Generated Revenue
Career Total
Peak ROAS Achieved
Performance Marketing
Product/IP Exits
Bootstrapped
Selected Ships & Wins
Deep-Dive Case Studies
Multiple Marketplace Companies
Chickens and Eggs
THE PROBLEM
SDRs were wasting 20 hours/week manually pricing equipment. Zero automation, slow inventory turns.
THE FIX
Built a program to monitor hundreds of thousands of competitor listings daily. Created a dynamic pricing model to auto-adjust inventory.
THE RESULT
35% faster inventory turnover. $120M GMV run rate.
THE PROBLEM
Sellers were abandoning listings 60% of the time due to complex onboarding. Revenue left on the table.
THE FIX
Rebuilt the entire seller flow with real-time validation, automated listing optimization, and instant approval workflows.
THE RESULT
Onboarding completion +72%. Time to first listing reduced by 5 days.
THE PROBLEM
Customer acquisition costs were bleeding the business. CAC hit $380 per seller with no clear attribution.
THE FIX
Built multi-touch attribution system and launched targeted ABM campaigns using enriched firmographic data from custom scrapers.
THE RESULT
CAC reduced to $145. LTV:CAC ratio improved from 2:1 to 8:1.
The Right Audience
Better Audiences require Better Data.
THE PROBLEM
Salesforce out-of-the-box lead scoring was ignoring 40% of our best prospects. Marketing blamed sales, sales blamed marketing.
THE FIX
Architected a custom SQL-based scoring model based on product usage data, not just marketing clicks.
THE RESULT
45% lift in lead-to-opportunity conversion. Peak career ROAS (at least of those at scale) of 54:1.
THE PROBLEM
Marketing spend across 12 channels with zero visibility into what was actually driving revenue. Pure guesswork.
THE FIX
Designed end-to-end tracking infrastructure with custom UTM taxonomy and built real-time attribution dashboard connecting ad spend to closed revenue.
THE RESULT
Identified 3 underperforming channels burning $45k/month. Reallocated budget for 180% revenue lift.
THE PROBLEM
Paid campaigns were targeting too broad. Wasting 70% of ad budget on unqualified clicks from wrong company sizes.
THE FIX
Built automated audience segmentation using Clearbit enrichment + custom SQL filters. Created dynamic remarketing based on behavioral triggers.
THE RESULT
CPC dropped 42%. Conversion rate 3.2x increase. Same budget, better quality.
Hybrid Human-Automated Sales and Support
Maximized Closers and Keepers.
THE PROBLEM
Early-stage startup needed to prove PMF fast without burning cash on a full sales team.
THE FIX
Built AI agents handling 80% of Tier-1 sales/support via SMS & Phone. Full GTM stack from scratch.
THE RESULT
$20M ARR. Zero SDRs needed. Hired more engineers and grew via PLG faster.
THE PROBLEM
Support tickets averaging 18-hour response times. Customers churning before getting onboarded properly.
THE FIX
Deployed conversational AI handling FAQs, troubleshooting, and routing edge cases to humans with full context already captured.
THE RESULT
Response time to <2 minutes. Resolution rate 89% without human intervention. NPS +28 points.
THE PROBLEM
Manual data entry eating 15+ hours per week per sales rep. CRM data quality was garbage, forecasting impossible.
THE FIX
Built automated pipeline that syncs meeting notes, extracts action items, and updates CRM records in real-time using NLP.
THE RESULT
Data accuracy from 60% to 95%. Reps gained 12 selling hours/week. Forecast accuracy +34%.
Revenue Operations Infrastructure
The Data Backbone That Powers Growth
THE PROBLEM
Executive team making decisions based on 3-week-old data from manual Excel exports. No single source of truth.
THE FIX
Built real-time data warehouse syncing CRM, product usage, and billing data. Created executive dashboards with automated alerts.
THE RESULT
Decision velocity 5x faster. Identified $2M revenue leak in first month. Ops team reduced by 40%.
THE PROBLEM
Sales and Marketing using different metrics. Revenue attribution was a monthly 3-day spreadsheet nightmare.
THE FIX
Implemented unified data model and built custom attribution engine. Automated monthly reporting into real-time dashboards.
THE RESULT
Cross-functional alignment achieved. Marketing budget reallocation drove $1.2M additional ARR. Reporting time: 3 days to 10 seconds.
THE PROBLEM
HubSpot and Salesforce instances were fragmented disasters. Duplicate records, broken workflows, zero trust in data.
THE FIX
Complete CRM overhaul with data deduplication algorithms, rebuilt automation workflows, and established data governance framework.
THE RESULT
Data quality from 52% to 96%. Sales team adoption 100%. Pipeline accuracy enabled confident forecasting.
Organic Growth Engine
Programmatic SEO That Actually Converts
THE PROBLEM
Content team publishing 4 blog posts per month. Zero traffic growth. Competitors dominating search results.
THE FIX
Built programmatic SEO system generating 10,000+ optimized landing pages from structured data. Implemented AI-assisted content workflows.
THE RESULT
Organic traffic +450% in 6 months. Ranked keywords grew from 800 to 14,000. Organic now 40% of pipeline.
THE PROBLEM
High-intent organic traffic bouncing immediately. 78% bounce rate on top landing pages. Traffic without conversions.
THE FIX
Rebuilt landing page templates with intent-based personalization. A/B tested CTAs and forms. Implemented smart content recommendations.
THE RESULT
Bounce rate dropped to 31%. Organic conversion rate 4.2x improvement. Same traffic, better quality leads.
THE PROBLEM
Technical SEO was a mess. Site speed issues, indexing problems, and zero schema markup. Google couldn't crawl effectively.
THE FIX
Complete technical SEO overhaul. Implemented lazy loading, CDN optimization, structured data, and dynamic XML sitemaps.
THE RESULT
Page load time from 6.2s to 1.4s. Domain Authority +32 points. Indexed pages increased 300%.
Executive Track Record
Boom & Bucket | Head of Growth
2021 – 2024 | Series A MarketplaceScaled from Pre-Revenue to $10M GMV. Employee #5.
The $0 to $10M Engine:
Scaled Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) from $0 to $10M in <18 months while reducing CAC by 60%.
AI Product Architecture:
Built the industry's first AI-powered search engine for heavy equipment, driving user acquisition from 0 to 120,000+ monthly active users.
Automated Sales Ops:
Designed a custom lead scoring system to route high-value leads, helping a lean SDR team to prioritize volume that typically requires 2x headcount.
Multi-Touch Attribution:
Implemented a real-time dashboard and attribution model that identified our most profitable channels, leading to a 250% revenue increase in a single 5-month sprint.
Finale Inventory | Director of Growth Marketing
Ecommerce Inventory SaaSModernized a legacy stack to drive efficiency and expansion.
Revenue Expansion (Code-Based):
Wrote custom scripts to analyze the customer database and identify high-volume "Amazon Sellers" hidden in lower tiers, uncovering a 20% immediate revenue expansion opportunity.
Data Enrichment at Scale:
Engineered a data pipeline processing 1M+ merchant records to identify Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) automatically, replacing manual list building.
Technical SEO Framework:
Architected a new SEO content structure that increased Domain Authority by 200% and grew ranked keywords by 40% year-over-year.
Conversion Engineering:
Led web redesign and CRO sprint, resulting in a 212% conversion rate improvement on core landing page.
HubSpot Architecture:
Overhauled a broken instance, implementing "Weighted Pipeline" forecasting and automated lead scoring that improved lead-to-deal conversion by 27%.
ShipStation (then Auctane)| Director of Performance, Director of Product Marketing, and Director of Content
2016 – 2021 | Shipping SaaS (ShipStation, etc.)Key leader scaling multiple brands to a $6.6B Strategic Exit.
The $6.6B Exit Strategy:
Operationalized Go-To-Market strategies across multiple brands (ShipStation, ShippingEasy) and geographies (US, UK, AU), directly contributing to the company's multi-billion dollar acquisition.
54:1 ROAS at Scale:
Managed high 8-figure annual budgets, achieving a peak Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) of 54:1 through algorithmic audience segmentation and creative testing.
Organic Revenue Engine:
Transformed the content team into a performance channel, growing organic traffic by 150% and increasing the "Top 3 Ranked" keyword footprint by 175%.
Operational Efficiency:
Rebuilt the creative and campaign workflows, improving team output by 200% while effectively reducing headcount requirements through automation.
Customer Journey Optimization:
Developed a comprehensive lifecycle map that reduced customer "Time-to-Value" by 30%, significantly lowering early-cohort churn.
The Actually Skilled Generalist Advantage
Why companies hire me when they're stuck
The Problem Most Companies Face
Your Growth team wants features but can't articulate them to Engineering.
Your Engineering team builds what's asked, not what's needed.
Your Ops team patches broken processes with more headcount.
Your Product team optimizes for users, not revenue.
Everyone speaks a different language. Nothing gets done efficiently.
What I Bring to the Table
I speak all four languages fluently. I've written the code, run the campaigns, built the dashboards, and scaled the teams.
When Growth says "we need better attribution," I write a solution that afternoon.
When Engineering says "that's impossible," I prototype it over the weekend and demo it on Monday.
When Ops says "we need another hire," I automate the workflow instead.
I'm the translator your executive team didn't know they needed.
The Four-Way Bridge
Growth/Marketing
Performance marketing, programmatic AI friendly SEO, CAC/LTV/ROAS modeling, growth experiments, multi-channel ownership
Operations
RevOps, data pipelines, CRM architecture, process automation, workflow optimization
Product
Revenue-driven roadmaps, pricing strategies, PMF validation, feature prioritization, requirements
Engineering
Full stack prototyping, databases, quick scripts, and reporting magic.
My Stack is My Leverage
// Engineering & Data Science
// AI & Machine Learning
// Growth & Marketing Technology
// RevOps & Data Infrastructure
// Analytics & Business Intelligence
// Automation & Integration
// GTM Strategy & Execution
Some Kind Words
"Dalton doesn't just run ads; he rebuilds the entire revenue engine. He did in 3 months what our previous agency couldn't do in a year."
Former CEO (Series C)
"The most hands-on marketing leader I've ever worked with. He replaced our need for two hires with a single Python script."
VP of Sales (Series A)
"Dalton has the unique ability to find the line between what is technically feasible and what the business actually needs. Now I always try to work with technical marketers. Saves engineering a lot of time."
CTO (Bootstrapped, Mid-Market)
Featured Thinking
Insights on Growth, AI, and Efficiency
When You Should Call Me
Your growth stalled and nobody can agree on why
You're burning cash on headcount that could be automated
Your teams can't execute because they're speaking different languages
You need to prove efficient growth before your next raise
Your ops tools are failing and "no-code" isn't cutting it
You need someone who can prototype solutions, not just strategize
You want to build with AI but don't know where to start
You're preparing for exit and need to fix unit economics fast
I don't just consult. I build.
Most consultants give you a deck. I give you working code and real results.