Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
I build the commercial operating system around AI, deep tech, and infrastructure. CMO, GTM operator, and Chief AI Officer advisor for companies where technical complexity has to become revenue, capital, and market belief. Twenty-five years compounding the whole stack: technical systems, GTM, RevOps, pricing, capital narrative, category creation, and AI commercialization. Early at two esports/media companies later associated with ~$850M+ in exits/valuations — one $400M (employee #5 and first marketing leader; built marketing from zero through rapid expansion), one $450M (early GTM, brand, roadmap, and partnership strategy). Co-Founder & CMO at FaaStrak, automated lender matching built years before "AI GTM" was a category: 0→$1M ARR in 9 months, 38.1% MoM growth, 54.5% faster time-to-fund, platform IP later acquired by a major lender. Founder of Tabbris, a Charlotte innovation hub for 50+ early-stage startups. Startup Grind. Former VC associate. Advisory & board-level rooms. Now the work is heavier: ▸ Authored the strategic narrative behind a $50M Defense Production Act award for a U.S. specialty manufacturer, part of a commercial engine that drove $185M+ in new business. ▸ AI-native B2B SaaS: architecting the commercial layer around vector search, embeddings, RAG retrieval, LLM routing, usage-based pricing, packaging, and per-customer model-cost economics. ▸ AI personalization: authored the board-ready GTM and category-creation strategy for first-visit, cold-start-proof personalization on Shopify Plus — ICP, pricing, launch sequence, competitive positioning; strategy IP retained. ▸ Interim CMO/Chief Strategy Officer for a publicly traded battery technology company. Built the premium challenger position against Tesla Powerwall: installer-led distribution, pricing architecture, technical messaging, and investor narrative. Strategy survived three management transitions and an acquisition; now a $20M+ business. ▸ Interim Head of GTM for an institutional Bitcoin mining venture. Reframed a speculative crypto play as bankable energy-backed digital infrastructure. Strategy behind a $114M raise in under 30 days. Same playbook applies to AI/ML compute and GPU infrastructure. What I do: Build full-funnel revenue engines from zero to scale. Architect pipeline, forecasting, pricing, packaging, RevOps, and GTM systems. Translate LLMs, RAG, vector search, agentic workflows, and infrastructure economics into commercial advantage. Stack: HubSpot, Salesforce, 6sense, Clay, n8n, Snowflake, GA4, Claude, Power BI, Looker. jeffbrokaw.com
I plug into companies where technical complexity has to become revenue, capital, and market belief, as interim or fractional CMO, Chief Strategy Officer, Head of GTM, or Chief AI Officer level lead. Engagements run 6–24 months, 8-person AI startups to publicly traded manufacturers. The pattern: diagnose what's wrong, rebuild the commercial system - positioning, pricing, packaging, RevOps, capital narrative, AI commercialization and hand over a strategy built to keep working after the engagement ends. Selected engagements (clients confidential under NDA): ▸ Energy-Backed Digital Infrastructure — Interim Head of GTM & Strategic Partnerships. Reframed a speculative crypto-mining venture as bankable, energy-backed digital infrastructure. Strategy behind a $114M raise in under 30 days. Maps to AI/ML compute and GPU economics. ▸ Premium Residential Energy Storage Interim CMO/Chief Strategy Officer for a publicly traded battery technology company. Built the challenger position against Tesla Powerwall: installer-led distribution, pricing architecture, technical messaging, investor narrative. Strategy survived three management transitions and an acquisition; business scaled past $20M. ▸ Defense / Advanced Materials — Authored the strategic narrative behind a $50M Defense Production Act award for a U.S. specialty manufacturer; part of a commercial engine that drove $185M in new business. ▸ AI-Native B2B SaaS — Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) & AI GTM Lead, current. Architecting the commercial layer: vector search, embeddings, RAG retrieval, LLM routing, ERP-grounded workflows, usage-based pricing, per-customer model-cost metering, proprietary training-data moat. ▸ AI Personalization — Authored the board-ready GTM and category-creation strategy for cold-start-proof personalization on Shopify Plus: ICP, pricing, launch sequence, competitive positioning, beta strategy, sales motion. Strategy IP retained.
Co-founded and helped build Tabbris, a 23,500 sq ft innovation hub and startup platform supporting 50+ early-stage startups, venture teams, founders, and ecosystem partners. Led founder programming, GTM mentorship, community strategy, and partner activations across Charlotte’s startup ecosystem. Helped turn a converted 1920s factory at 1300 South Blvd into a physical operating layer for founders: offices, event space, workshops, investor conversations, startup education, and community collisions. Key contributions: ▸ Built founder programs around positioning, early go-to-market, investor readiness, pitch development, and market strategy. ▸ Supported startups through mentorship, programming, ecosystem access, and founder education. ▸ Hosted and supported 100+ startup, investor, technology, and community events. ▸ Helped connect founders with mentors, regional capital, technical talent, universities, and ecosystem partners. ▸ Positioned Tabbris as more than a workspace: a founder platform combining infrastructure, mentorship, access, education, and community. Selected proof: 23,500 sq ft innovation hub · 50+ startups supported · 100+ events/workshops · founder programs · investor meetings · GTM mentorship · startup ecosystem building Tabbris was built around a simple belief: early-stage founders do not just need desks. They need density, access to operators, capital, talent, mentorship, and the right room.
Co-founded FaaStrak, an AI-assisted lender-matching platform for embedded finance, business lending, and payment-enabled capital access. Built the commercial engine from zero: positioning, product marketing, lender onboarding, partner distribution, lifecycle automation, paid/organic acquisition, and revenue operations. Key outcomes: ▸ Scaled from 0→$1M ARR in nine months. ▸ Achieved 38.1% average month-over-month growth. ▸ Reduced time-to-fund by 54.5% through automated lender matching and workflow design. ▸ Led a 15-person team across growth, partnerships, operations, and performance marketing. ▸ Owned channel P&L across paid search, paid social, SEO, PR, content, lifecycle, and partner programs. ▸ Engineered near-zero-CAC partner loops through embedded widgets, lender workflows, and distribution partnerships. ▸ Built lender onboarding systems, partner network programs, PLG onboarding, and retention playbooks. FaaStrak was an AI-assisted matching and workflow automation company before AI became a category. The core work was not just demand generation, it was building a marketplace trust engine between borrowers, lenders, partners, and embedded distribution channels.
Led a professional esports org with national visibility (incl. weekly ESPN coverage). •Ran strategy, partnerships, capital planning, and audience/content distribution. •Negotiated sponsorships and partner integrations; managed P&L and ops. •Scaled team to 20+
Founded a full-service marketing agency focused on delivering measurable growth for clients across real estate, healthcare, automotive, and B2B industries. In the early years, helped scale QC Marketing’s offerings from traditional design to a fully integrated digital agency. •Led brand/web/growth strategy for hundreds of SMBs and mid-market clients. •Evolved from traditional to fully integrated digital; mentored internal leads.