Your tech
is brilliant.
Your story
isn't.
Let's change that.
Sound familiar?
You built something the world actually needs. Batteries that last longer. AI that runs faster. Chips that didn't exist five years ago.
And yet, nobody outside your lab gets it.
Your website reads like a PhD thesis. Your pitch deck is 47 slides of specs. The last agency you hired made it look pretty but said nothing. You paid them anyway.
But it's bigger than the story.
You've got a team now. Engineers, product, sales. But marketing? That's still a mess. Maybe there's a junior hire posting on LinkedIn. Maybe there's a Slack channel called #marketing where ideas go to die. Nobody owns it at the leadership level. There's no strategy. No structure. No one who actually owns this.
You know your tech is special. You just can't get it out there.
Meanwhile, some startup with half your tech raises twice your funding. Because someone told their story first.
I fix that.
I'm Merlijn and I do fractional marketing and communications for deep tech companies. Based in the Netherlands, working wherever the technology is interesting.
I take PhD-level technology and compress it into a story that makes people care. Not by dumbing it down. By finding the emotional core that was always there.
But I don't stop at the story. I build the entire marketing function around it. Brand. Positioning. Go-to-market. Website. Content. PR. Investor comms. Events. If you need it, I can help you. If it needs hiring, I hire it.
From lab bench
to headline.
Helped Axelera AI go from early-stage venture to Europe's most-funded AI-chip challenger. Built a $100M pipeline. Supported $200M+ in fundraising.
Got them into Bloomberg, the Financial Times, Reuters, the New York Times, TechCrunch and many more. Grew their LinkedIn from 5K to 30K followers.
At NXP, steered global communications through multi-billion-dollar M&A. Currently building Balthazar's marketing function from scratch.
What working
with me looks like.
Story & brand
Where I'm at my best. I find the narrative inside your tech that makes investors lean in and customers reach out. I make it a story your customers love.
Go-to-market strategy
From "we have a product" to "we have a plan." Target audience, channels, messaging, priorities.
Website that converts
Not a brochure. A website that makes visitors think "these people know what they're doing" and actually reach out.
PR & investor communications
Press that picks up the phone and cover you. Pitch decks that land. Investor materials that do the talking before you walk into the room.
Content that sounds human
LinkedIn, blogs, case studies, thought leadership. Written like a person, in your tone, that people like to read.
Senior brain, startup speed
I use AI to move fast. What took weeks we can do in a couple of days. You get a high-output marketing function without the six-figure salary.
How it works.
You tell me where it hurts.
In 30 minutes we go through what you built, where you're stuck, and what's not working. I'll tell you honestly whether I can help. Just a real conversation.
I build the picture.
I talk to your team, your customers, your investors. I look at your competitors. I look at your tech. Then I build it: your story, your brand, your positioning, your GTM plan. You'll get a clear strategy you can actually execute.
I make it real.
I don't hand you a strategy and walk away. I stay. I lead the execution. I hire the people you need when you need them. I'm your head of marketing until you're ready to hire a full-time one.
Every founder's situation is different. Some need me three days a week. Some need a single sprint. A messaging framework. A new website. A GTM plan. I don't do fixed packages. You tell me what you need, and we build around that.
What happens without
marketing leadership?
Nothing dramatic. You just keep doing what you're doing.
Marketing by committee.
Everyone has an opinion, nobody has a plan. Another agency that burns €30,000 on a website that says nothing. Another six months lost.
Founder-led growth hits a ceiling.
Every pitch lives in your head. Every demo runs through your calendar. Sales hires can't close without you in the room. You're not scaling the company, you're scaling yourself.
Growth stalls and nobody knows why.
Sales blames product. Product blames sales. The real answer: nobody outside your building can explain what you do, so they don't.
The next round gets harder.
Investors ask "great tech, but where's the market?" You don't have a good answer.
Let's figure out
your story.
30 minutes. If it's a fit, great. If not, you'll still walk away with at least one idea you can use today.
Book a call directly