Marketing Partnership Finalized — Aviary
Call with Aaron Grossman (Aviary) and Mark Hope (Asymmetric) finalizing the marketing engagement terms, pricing, and onboarding plan.
Date: 2025-12-18
Attendees: Aaron Grossman (agrossman@helloaviary.ai), Mark Hope (mark.hope@asymmetric.pro)
Overview
This call closed out the commercial negotiation for Aviary's marketing engagement. Pricing was finalized after Aaron flagged a co-founder concern about the initial price increase, and the two-phase structure (blitz + retainer) was locked in. The strategy discussion confirmed a shift to parallel execution to meet Aviary's aggressive speed requirements. Onboarding logistics were agreed upon: soft launch the week of Dec 29, full launch Jan 5.
Key Decisions
| Decision | Detail |
|---|---|
| Blitz pricing | $8,500/mo for Months 1–2 (reduced from $10k to address co-founder concern) |
| Retainer pricing | $9,500/mo for Months 3–6 |
| Retainer structure | Flat retainer chosen over base-plus-performance model (simpler, less definitional overhead) |
| Execution strategy | Parallel (simultaneous) rather than sequential task execution |
| Lead timeline target | First lead in 45–60 days (compressed from 90) |
| Soft launch | Week of Dec 29 — team alignment and asset checklist |
| Full launch | January 5 |
| Month 4 review | Check-in to assess progress and plan long-term partnership |
Strategy: Parallel Execution
Aviary's co-founders (Blessing and Justin) pushed hard for speed, citing aggressive competitive pressure. Asymmetric's response was to restructure delivery from serial to parallel:
- Before: Build landing page → build ads → launch
- After: Build landing page and ads simultaneously, teams coordinating in real time
Trade-offs acknowledged:
- Some rework is expected (e.g., ads may need adjustment once landing page is finalized)
- Requires pulling Asymmetric resources from other work (opportunity cost)
- Introduces coordination overhead
What can't be compressed:
- Credit union sales cycles — decision timelines are externally determined
- Brand trust and social proof — these accumulate over time regardless of launch speed
Aviary's team explicitly accepted a "build the plane while flying it" approach and is not expecting perfection out of the gate.
Pricing Negotiation
Aaron surfaced a concern from co-founder Blessing: Mark had previously indicated the price wouldn't double, but the proposal came in at $10k/mo for the blitz — roughly double an earlier informal figure. This wasn't a deal-breaker, but Aaron asked for any reduction to get Blessing comfortable signing.
Mark agreed on the spot to reduce the blitz rate to $8,500/mo. The retainer (Months 3–6) stays at $9,500/mo.
Aaron confirmed Aviary is not evaluating other vendors — all other agencies have been dismissed.
Onboarding Plan
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Dec 29–30 | Soft launch meeting — align teams, define Aviary's pre-launch deliverables |
| Jan 5 | Full engagement begins |
| Month 4 | Progress review and long-term planning discussion |
Aaron noted Blessing signs quickly once he's comfortable, so the revised proposal was expected to be signed within 1–2 business days of receipt.
Action Items
- [ ] Mark — Send revised proposal: Blitz at $8.5k/mo (Months 1–2), retainer at $9.5k/mo (Months 3–6), flat retainer only (remove base-plus-performance option)
- [ ] Mark — Send written summary of parallel execution strategy ("how the sausage is made") for Aaron to share with Blessing and Justin
- [ ] Aaron — Secure Blessing's signature on revised proposal
- [ ] Both — Schedule soft launch kickoff meeting for Dec 29 or 30 with Aaron, Blessing, and Justin
Notable Transcript Moments
Mark: "Instead of sort of doing things in a serial way where we do one thing and then another thing and then another thing, now we're saying, what can we do simultaneously?"
Mark: "We can compress the timeline from the day we start to the day we get the first lead from 90 days to 45."
Aaron: "If there could be an eight, it would be signed tomorrow."
Aaron: "I told everyone else to kick rocks. So it really is just what do you feel comfortable with."
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