Launch Marketing Partner | ConTech/PropTech SaaS | Pre-Launch

Long-term partnership. Individual operator or tight team. Bootstrapped venture. Propose your engagement. Project Overview BuildQuest is a SaaS marketplace helping homeowners plan $100K–$2M construction projects — major remodels, additions, custom builds. We solve a chronic problem that has plagued residential construction for decades, and we solve it from both sides of the marketplace. Order matters: BuildQuest was built to serve homeowners first. Pros come second. That orientation defines our positioning, pricing, and every decision. What we are BuildQuest is a real SaaS platform in active development — not a slide deck and not a solo founder side project. There’s a serious engineering team, a UI/UX and product lead, and an advisory board with deep tech backgrounds. The product is in good hands. What’s been founder-built and now needs a marketing partner is the public-facing marketing layer — brand voice, story, creative, distribution, infrastructure. That’s the work this hire takes over. Companion Document We’ve also attached the BuildQuest Marketing Manifesto to this posting — eight specific beliefs that shape what we’re hiring for. Please review it before responding. Candidates who reference it directly in their proposal will be evaluated more favorably. The two-sided problem Homeowner side (B2C — primary audience, paying customer). Planning a major project today means fragmenting effort across Pinterest, contractor calls, cost calculators, and trial-and-error research — to figure out what to build, articulate a personal style, land on a realistic budget, and find qualified pros. Months or years. Many projects die in the planning phase. Pro side (B2B — served through serving homeowners). Design and construction pros burn hundreds of hours on unrealistic prospects, then get charged by referral services to chase the same kind of leads. They’re tired of being courted as the customer. How BuildQuest flips the script. Most marketplaces in this category court pros as the customer and treat homeowners as the lead being sold. We do the opposite. Homeowners are the paying customer. Pros earn access by being good at their work — and what they get is fundamentally different from a referral platform: clients with clear scope, defined style, realistic budgets, ready to engage. That’s the B2B strategy: serve pros by serving the homeowner well. Why Now • AI is rewriting consumer discovery. Google search volume is plateauing for the first time. Homeowners increasingly ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. The search-and-aggregator model that built Houzz and Angi is structurally shifting. • The referral-platform model is collapsing under pro fatigue and broken unit economics. • Consumer expectations for premium service in residential construction are at an all-time high — with almost nothing in the current landscape meeting them. Someone builds the homeowner-first incumbent in this space within the next 24 months. We intend it to be us. The marketing partner who joins now helps decide what that brand becomes. Why this engagement is different Long-term partnership, preserves your independence. Joining for the long haul — not executing a campaign and disappearing, and not a soft pitch to W-2. The best independents are independent for real reasons; we respect that. Brand DNA, not brand amplification. The narrative, voice, message architecture, and launch playbook are still being shaped. You help architect them. That window closes at launch. A storytelling and visual craft role at its core. The marketing partner owns the brand’s words and the visual output of marketing — mockups, ad creative, collateral, video concepts, social. Clint runs UI/UX and product design; the marketing partner runs marketing design. Two crafts, side by side. Founder-led content is the engine. Bill’s podcast (59 episodes and growing), book, and 30+ years of expertise are the engine. The partner builds the systems around it that scale the founder’s authority — amplification, distribution, repurposing. Founder-engaged collaboration. Bill is present at the weekly working session, looped in on meaningful decisions, and reviewing what goes out before it ships. The partner brings finished thinking and finished work; Bill reacts, we refine, we ship. Decisions happen in days, not months. Core focus areas Creative voice, copy & visual execution (primary) • Develop the brand voice and message architecture for both audiences (homeowner-first B2C, pro-serving B2B) • Write the core marketing collateral — landing pages, email sequences, ad copy, sales pages, social posts, video scripts, podcast descriptions • Produce designed mockups and finished-feeling marketing collateral — show up to working sessions with visualized concepts, not just briefs • Identify hook points — the moments where a homeowner (or pro) commits — and architect messaging and creative around them • Build the educational content strategy that translates 30+ years of construction expertise into content that genuinely teaches and converts • Develop launch narratives across pre-launch, beta, soft launch, public phases Launch & lifecycle systems (primary) • Design and execute waitlist and beta tester recruitment • Recruit design and construction pros to the platform’s free tier • Architect the full lifecycle — acquisition, activation, retention, expansion, referral, win-back • Run early acquisition tests with discipline on owned vs. rented attention Distribution & owned channels • Build distribution systems that turn content into actual attention • Prioritize owned media (email, podcast, community) over rented (paid) • Establish partnership and co-marketing strategy with adjacent brands Polish & revamp the marketing layer • Elevate the current marketing websites (founder-built; in need of partner-driven polish or revamp) • Audit and elevate current social presence and email list • Keep / optimize / rebuild decisions; lead execution Marketing infrastructure • Propose and implement CRM, automation, analytics, reporting • Email automation workflows • AI-augmented content workflows turning 59+ podcast episodes into multi-channel reach Content strategy, SEO & AI-era discovery • Modern SEO: semantic search, topic clusters, E-E-A-T • AI-era discovery: GEO/AEO, structured content for LLM citation, presence inside AI-generated answers • Repurposing systems for long-form expertise • Local SEO for the pro side Required capabilities Creative voice and copy. This role lives or dies on storytelling. You take 30+ years of construction expertise and turn it into stories homeowners feel and pros trust. You write hooks that convert. You design educational content that earns trust by genuinely teaching. You think in hook points and architect messaging around them. You write in long-form and short-form, B2C and B2B. Visual design fluency. You bring concepts to life visually — mockups, layouts, ad creative, social posts, video concepts, marketing collateral that’s already designed when it hits the table. Fluent in modern design tools (Figma, Canva, AI design and video tools). You produce finished-feeling work without waiting on a designer. Sector experience. U.S. home improvement, real estate, or residential design/construction — or proven ability to go deep on a complex category fast, with portfolio evidence. 0→1 launch experience. You’ve shaped brand positioning from scratch and taken products through pre-launch → beta → soft → public launch. Portfolio work to show. AI-era discovery (GEO/AEO). You build for presence inside AI-generated answers, not just search results pages. The most consequential shift in marketing discovery since Google itself The mission for a 2026 launch. Distribution-first thinking. Content abundance is no longer the constraint; distribution is. You measure success on reach and engagement, not output volume. Lifecycle marketing. You think in the full arc — acquisition, activation, retention, expansion, referral, win-back — not just the funnel top. Modern, AI-augmented marketing practice. You’ve built technology-augmented workflows that deliver meaningful productivity gains. Show us how a single operator or tight team uses today’s tools to deliver what used to take ten people — and how that leverage serves both sides of a two-sided marketplace. Analytics, stack architecture, systems thinking. Expert-level analytics, A/B testing, attribution, dashboard design. Can propose and implement a marketing stack appropriate to an early-stage two-sided SaaS. Reusable workflows. Strongly preferred • Two-sided marketplace experience — chicken-and-egg dynamics, geographic clustering, network effects • Vertical SaaS marketing — deep industry credibility, partnerships, community over feature comparisons • Founder-led content systems — you’ve built repurposing and distribution around a founder’s voice without losing the voice Helpful, not required • Performance marketing (Meta Ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn) • Podcast and long-form content optimization • Conversion rate optimization • Prior fractional or agency experience with early-stage clients What you’d be working with • Podcast: 59 episodes (and growing) of long-form expert content with established production workflows • Quinn AI Guide: designed character with voice synthesis and locked tagline, integrated into the platform • Companion brand: book + podcast feeding the platform’s AI knowledge base • Brand Standards v2: visual identity foundation in place • Two marketing websites — founder-built; in need of partner-driven polish or revamp • Live interactive tools on the platform site (proof of the platform philosophy) • Social presence across multiple channels — also founder-built, also needs elevation • Small email list ready to grow and segment How the founder works High standards, intense attention to detail. Every element of design, development, and brand reflects 30+ years of working on projects where one missed detail costs months and tens of thousands. Founder-engaged collaboration. Bill is present at the weekly working session, looped in on meaningful decisions, and reviewing what goes out before it ships. The partner brings finished thinking and finished work; Bill reacts, we refine, we ship. Decisions happen in days, not months. Deep respect for marketing’s value. Bill is not the founder who treats marketing as “spend” or expects magic. He’s looking for a partner whose expertise he respects, whose work he’ll back, and whose voice carries weight in decisions. Dual-vantage perspective. Bill operates from rare understanding of both homeowner and pro perspectives. Expect this to enrich every conversation about positioning, message, and audience. Engagement Structure We are intentionally not specifying fixed hours, retainer amounts, fee structures, or budget. We want you to propose what fits this engagement. Tell us: • Solo operator or tight team • Time commitment you’d propose for this scope • Engagement model (retainer, project-based, hybrid) • Marketing stack you’d recommend and approximate run-rate cost • How you’d structure the first 90 days • Your view on staying beyond launch as a long-term partner We evaluate on quality of thinking, fit with our reality, and the strength of the work itself — not just on price. Application Requirements Please submit your proposal through Upwork with the following: 1. Respond to the Manifesto Review the BuildQuest Marketing Manifesto (attached to this posting). In your cover letter, name 1–2 principles that most resonate with you and 1 you’d push back on or refine. This isn’t a trick — we want genuine engagement with how we think. 2. Cover Letter (300 words max) • Your reaction to the Manifesto • Your sector experience — home improvement, real estate, residential design/construction, or how you’ve gone deep on complex categories before • How you operate as a modern, AI-augmented marketer — and how that leverage serves both sides of a two-sided marketplace • Your view on long-term partner vs. project-only work 3. Writing Sample One piece of writing you’re proud of — a landing page, email sequence, long-form post, ad campaign, or brand narrative. The piece that best represents your voice and your craft. Attach it directly, or describe it in your proposal with a clear summary. 4. Visual Sample One piece of marketing design work you’ve produced — ad creative, social, landing page mockup, video frame, or marketing collateral. Attach it directly, or describe it clearly. We want to see your voice and your visual craft. 5. Portfolio (2–3 examples) • A 0→1 brand or launch you’ve shaped from scratch • A modern marketing workflow or system you’ve built — using technology including AI tools as force multipliers • A messaging architecture or positioning framework you’ve developed • Bonus: home improvement, real estate, marketplace, ConTech/PropTech, or founder-led content systems 6. Stack & Approach • The marketing stack you’d propose for an early-stage two-sided SaaS (homeowner-first) • Your view on AI-era discovery (GEO/AEO) and how you’d execute on it • Your default tools and why — especially CRM, automation, content, analytics • Approximate monthly run-rate cost of the stack you’d propose 7. Engagement Proposal • Solo or tight team • Time commitment • Model (retainer, project, hybrid) • Indicative fee structure • 90-day approach at a high level • Long-term partnership perspective 8. Three References • Preferably from B2B/B2C SaaS engagements • At least one able to speak to modern, AI-augmented capabilities Optional but valued • Short Loom video (2–3 minutes) introducing yourself • Example of a workflow or automation you’ve shipped Interview Process • Initial call with the founder (30 min) — fit, background, sector experience, Manifesto reaction • Take-home exercise (finalists only) — brand audit, positioning hypothesis, 90-day approach, stack recommendation, AI-era discovery move, and a 200-word creative sample • Working session with founder + designer (90 min) — present the exercise, discuss thinking, share visual samples • Reference checks • Final negotiation on engagement terms and offer About the Founder 30+ years in residential design and construction. Author of a published book on the homeowner experience. Host of a long-running industry podcast (59 episodes and growing). Advisory board includes past clients from Apple and senior tech leadership roles. Has built the AI guide and content workflows powering the platform — which is part of why he thinks differently about what a small team can do with modern tools. Mission: Serve homeowners first. Solve a chronic, decades-old problem at the front of the residential construction value chain. Deliver pros a fundamentally different kind of client — by serving the homeowner well.