Kyndra or your first marketing hire?
The short answer: A first marketing hire is the right choice once you know what works and need someone to own it every day. A senior-led studio is usually faster when you still need the positioning, website and pipeline built, and need several skills at once.
| Compare | Kyndra Studios | First marketing hire |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Fixed monthly fee or fixed project price, from £499 a month | Salary plus employer costs, recruitment time and tools |
| Time to get started | Usually within a week or two of agreeing scope | Often months to recruit, then time to settle in |
| Skills you get | Strategy, brand, website, content, paid, creators and business development from one team | One person, usually strongest in one or two areas |
| Doing the selling | Business development is a service in its own right | Depends on the hire; many marketers don’t do outbound |
| What you need to manage | One point of contact and approvals in StudioBook | Line management, goals and day-to-day direction |
| Flexibility | Scale up or down as needs change, after the minimum term | Harder to change direction once the role is set |
| Knowledge of your business | Built up fast, but you share it with a partner | Deepest over time, and it stays in the company |
- A channel is already working and needs someone to own it full time
- You need someone in the office or in every internal meeting
- You have the budget for the role and time to recruit well
- You’ve just raised and need the basics built in the next 90 days
- You don’t yet know which channels will work
- You need marketing and selling joined up, not just one of them
Using both
Many founders do both in order: a studio for the first six to twelve months to get the message, website and pipeline working, then a hire who takes it on. We set things up so your first marketer walks into something that already works, and then we hand over.
Questions about this choice
Should a startup hire a marketer or use an agency first?
If you don’t yet know who buys and which channels work, a senior-led studio usually gets things built and moving faster. Once a channel is working and needs a full-time owner, make your first hire.
Is a studio cheaper than hiring?
It depends on the scope. Kyndra’s Founding Partner plan is £499 a month with a three-month minimum; a full-time hire adds salary, employer costs and recruitment time. Compare what each would actually deliver in the next 90 days.
Can you hand over to our own hire later?
Yes. That’s the plan for most clients: we help you hire, then hand over everything we’ve built, which you own.