"The company story is the company strategy."
Every story has a beginning
…so that's where we start.
Who
Who
GTM strategists & engineers
hillock. was founded by a group of friends — leaders in their respective fields — with a shared goal: helping visionary entrepreneurs bring to market the next generation of industry-defining products & services. Based on deep insights into customers' jobs-to-be-done—the problems they need to solve, the progress they want to make, and the language they use to describe both—we optimize every lever of a startup’s strategy: positioning, product, price, marketing, and sales.
We've launched, grown, and exited a dozen companies — and created billions of dollars in enterprise value.
We’re creatives, writers, engineers, designers, marketers, sales professionals, and executives—enthusiasts and realists, explorers and builders—supporting the people and ideas changing the world.
And you'll never get only one of us. Our contribution always comes from several of us working together.
What
What
Helping build companies
po·si·tion·ing
/pəˈzɪʃənɪŋ/ — noun
Positioning is more than words on a slide deck — it shapes your entire journey. By deeply understanding your market, you identify who needs your solution and why they'll choose you over alternatives. This clarity helps you build the right product and craft a story that resonates with both customers and investors.
road·map·ping
/ˈroʊd ˌmæpɪŋ/ — noun
Roadmapping is your company's GPS. Prioritize problems, build key features now, defer the rest. Effective roadmapping means learning from your market, running experiments, and adjusting course. Your roadmap isn't a timeline — it's a living guide to drive value.
growing
/ˈɡroʊɪŋ/ — noun
Here, your story takes off. Growth is about creating marketing, sales, and customer success content that converts. Each new customer validates your positioning and roadmap — compelling content attracts talent, drives more growth, and captures investor attention.
When
When
From the earliest stages
Pre-seed
Revenue: $0–100k (approx.)
A handful of somewhat engaged early customers. Things still feel early and messy. Focus on increasing satisfaction.
Typical challenges
- Identifying your core customer segment
- Explaining to potential customers what problem you solve
- Convincing investors that you solve a significant market need
Seed
Revenue: $100k–1m (approx.)
More engaged, paying customers and less churn — time to drive demand.
Typical challenges
- Discovering the right customer problems to tackle first
- Building a product that solves the right problems and delivers high satisfaction & engagement
- Pricing your product in a way that works for both your customers and your business
Series A+
Revenue: $1m–10m+ (approx.)
Momentum is picking up and you’re finally feeling the “pull” of demand. Focus on increasing efficiency.
Typical challenges
- Driving revenue growth and getting momentum across Marketing, Sales and CS
- Making your business sustainable by efficiently and effectively selling into the market
- Planning, launching and scaling new GTM motions into core & adjacent customer segments
Where
Where
In every market
We bring deep industry expertise gained from hands-on experience across functions, sectors, and geographies.
Tech Services
Positioning technical expertise and service offerings to capture high-value enterprise clients.
Dev Tools
Fostering developer communities and creating clear narratives that accelerate enterprise adoption.
Vertical SaaS
Crafting targeted messaging that shortens complex sales cycles and drives user activation.
Bio + Health
Translating scientific breakthroughs into compelling narratives for investors, regulators, and patients.
Marketplaces
Developing growth strategies that balance supply and demand to ignite network effects.
Consumer
Building direct-to-consumer brands that foster community and drive sustainable growth.
Fintech
Simplifying complex financial products to build user trust and accelerate market adoption.
Government
Building confidence and simplifying complex policies for public sector agencies and constituents.
Why
Why
Because words matter
Business books and online posts are full of advice on how to achieve objectives and goals, but they're light on explaining the "why" questions that matter most.
Why are we doing this? Why does this problem need to be solved? Why should we build this feature over that one? Why should you join this company? Why should you invest in it? Why should you buy from it?
The answer to "why" decides the market and the opportunity you'll spend years pursuing. It specifies the product and features you'll spend money building. It determines how you'll market and sell — and make money.
Growth doesn't happen by chance. It's the result of clear strategy, sharp execution, and informed decision-making. Whether you're refining your go-to-market strategy, launching new products, expanding your customer base, or using research to uncover new opportunities — every move should align with your "why".
Our style is not for everyone.
We go unreasonably deep to uncover the root cause and get your beginnings right. Some don't like our approach. Most who know us do.
Think slow, move fast.
There's a popular narrative that a startup's first few years are just for moving fast and figuring out the hard problems later. But for most startups, mortality is baked into the starting line. We see the same trap constantly: teams jump straight into action and immediately start firefighting. They get addicted to the chaos because reacting to problems feels like doing real work, but it never actually touches the root cause. We believe in taking beginnings seriously. You slow down to get the foundation right, so that when you finally step on the gas, you're driving toward an actual destination instead of just spinning your tires.
Brand first, tech second.
A lot of founders see the cracks in an industry before anyone else, but they assume engineering the fix is enough. It isn't. You have to make people believe in the fix. Branding needs a rebrand: most technical teams dismiss it as marketing fluff, which is a fatal mistake. Brand isn't a coat of paint, a logo, or a color palette—it is the visual and verbal execution of your strategy. A brilliant product goes nowhere if the market and risk-averse investors can't instantly grasp why it matters. If you lead with just the tech, you get lost in the noise. We lead with the brand, because technology doesn't sell itself.
Sell, then build.
The blitzscaling era sold a lie: that you can brute-force distribution and will a market into existence just by setting piles of VC cash on fire. That game is over. You can no longer incinerate capital on random acts of marketing and hope to figure out the unit economics later. We work backwards. You don't build a product and then go looking for an audience. You lock in distribution from day one. You figure out exactly how to reach your market, bring them into intentional alphas or betas, and work your way back to building the exact product they want to buy. Go to market, then build for it.