From operator to owner.
Finally start your internet business — be it consulting, a software or media — and leave with a priced offer, sharp positioning and a plan to land paying clients.
Free Builder Diagnostic · 3 minutes
Madalena Rugeroni · ex-Google, advisor and investor · scaled startups from 0 to $10M in revenue · runs a portfolio of internet businesses today
Advising leaders in tech from companies like
Most leaders in tech know roughly what they want to build. Then it sits for months.
You've shipped products, led teams and hit targets at companies people know. You want more control over your time and something of your own. Maybe that's a fractional role, an advisory practice, an agency or a SaaS idea you keep coming back to. Four questions keep it from starting.
Is this the right thing to build?
You have an idea, maybe three. With no way to test them against the market and against how you like to work, all of them stay open and none of them start.
Who buys it, and why me?
"I help companies grow" gives nobody a reason to call. A buyer has to recognize their problem in one line and see why you're the person to fix it.
How do I package and price it?
Day rate, retainer, project or product. Most people anchor on their last salary, charge too little and end up with more work than they planned.
Where do the first clients come from?
Your network gets you a few conversations. After that you need people who already know what you do before you pitch them, and that audience takes months to build.
Recognize three or more? See which business fits how you work, free, in 3 minutes →
Five steps from an idea to paying clients
It's the sequence I used to build my own businesses. Every product below follows these five steps. The difference is who does the work.
Decide
Is this worth building?The Go / No-Go scores your idea against the market and your Builder Archetype, then gives you the cheapest way to test it. No idea yet? Start with the free Expertise Audit.
Position it
Who buys it, and why me?Customer interviews, your ICP, positioning and messaging. Every claim gets an evidence grade, so you know what's proven and what's still a guess.
Package it
What do I sell, and for how much?The offer, the price and the numbers behind it. You end with a clear scope, a price you can defend and a check that the economics work.
Build the audience
Who hears about it?A content plan built from your messaging and one lead magnet that leads to your offer. Start this early, because inbound takes months to build.
Launch it
Who pays first?The landing page, the launch plan, your acquisition channels, the sales conversation and a client's first 90 days.
For leaders in tech ready to build something of their own
A fractional role, an advisory practice, an agency or a SaaS product all start with the same decisions: what you sell, who buys it and what you charge.
Still employed, ready for more autonomy
Product, growth, revenue and engineering leaders with 5 to 10+ years at startups and scale-ups. You want flexibility and income that doesn't depend on one employer, and you'd rather build it while you still have the job.
Recently independent
Fractional executives, consultants, agency founders and solo founders in their first year, including anyone fresh out of a layoff. You have deep expertise and a network. You still need a clear offer, a price and your first three clients.
Ready to build a product
Operators who want to turn a problem they've dealt with for years into software or a digital product, with evidence people will pay before six months go into building it.
Already running a startup and need help with go-to-market strategy and scaling it? Startup GTM advisory →
Options you've probably considered
…ask ChatGPT or Claude?
You'll get generic advice that could fit any business. The Stack runs the agent for the business you're building, whether that's a fractional or advisory practice, a service or a SaaS. Each agent comes from my own go-to-market work and from experts in that specific topic. See the agents →
…take a creator course?
The catch with courses is finishing them: most people stop partway through the videos. The Stack has you build your audience as you go, with a content plan from your positioning and a lead magnet that leads to your offer. In The Build I review it with you and keep you posting.
…join a fractional marketplace?
Useful once you know exactly what you sell and to whom. Marketplaces take a cut of every engagement and expect you to pitch yourself.
…figure it out alone?
Possible. It's also why so many people think about this for a year or more and never launch.
Start where you are
Start free: the Builder Diagnostic shows which business fits how you work and the Expertise Audit finds your angle. From there, run the agents yourself with The Stack, or build it with me in The Build.
The Stack
Go from idea to a launched, priced offer with 15 AI agents — do it yourself.
399€ · one-time
15 AI agents that decide, position, price and launch your business for you. Answer eight questions once — every agent after that already knows your business.
- A Go/No-Go verdict on your idea, scored against how you work
- Your ICP, positioning and messaging, with an evidence grade on every claim
- An offer and a price you can defend, numbers checked
- A content plan and lead magnet to build your audience
- A live landing page, launch plan and sales script
See every agent and the frameworks behind it →
Runs in Claude, in the app or Claude Code. Frameworks from April Dunford, Blair Enns, Alex Hormozi, Bob Moesta and others. Free updates.
The Build
Launch your product, consulting or media business in 90 days, with me by your side.
1,200€/month · 3-month minimum
We do the five steps together, twice a month, and you do the work between sessions. Month 1: angle and positioning locked. Month 2: offer and pricing set. Month 3: site live, launch done. After that it's month to month, and you can cancel anytime.
- 2 × 60-min 1:1 sessions a month, unlimited chat in between
- A strategy doc updated after every session
- Reviews of your positioning, offer page, website and launch plan
- The Stack included
- Limited to 10 active clients
A free 20-minute call. Bring your diagnostic profile.
hi, I'm Madalena. I turn tech operators into owners.
Over the last decade, I've lived the tech operator trap.
Leading teams at Google. Scaling startups from zero to $10M in revenue. Six-figure salary, fancy titles, and zero ownership of my time.
I had built everything the agent said to build. But my income still depended on one employer, my expertise was trapped inside someone else's company, and my time wasn't my own.
So I built a way out. Then I built Madgrowth to help others do the same. Today I advise and invest in startups and run a portfolio of internet businesses.
I work with leaders in tech who are done building for others and ready to build for themselves, whether that's a fractional role, a services business or software.
I've been where you are: the knowledge, the experience and the drive, with no clear path to make it work independently.
That's the path I'll help you find.
The four questions, answered in full
What to sell after a tech career
Sell an outcome you've delivered more than once to a buyer who already pays for it. How to find your angle and test it.
Read the guide →Fractional, consulting or software?
Fractional and consulting pay within weeks; software pays later but grows past your hours. A side-by-side comparison.
Read the guide →How to price fractional and consulting work
Price from the cost of the problem and the hire it replaces. Day rate vs retainer vs value pricing, with numbers.
Read the guide →How to become a fractional executive
Package one problem you've solved as a monthly role with set days and outcomes, then sell it to your network first.
Read the guide →All guides · Newsletter archive · Claude skills for business
Questions, answered
Do I need to quit my job?
No. The system is built to run alongside a job, and most clients create their first offer while still employed.
What if I don't know what I'd sell?
Many people have a direction and no specific offer yet. The free Expertise Audit finds your three strongest angles in about ten minutes, using the career you already have, and the Go / No-Go tells you which one is worth building.
I already use ChatGPT or Claude. Why pay for The Stack?
A general assistant gives you a reasonable answer for any business. The Stack runs a specific agent for the business you're building, based on my own go-to-market work and on frameworks from practitioners like April Dunford and Blair Enns. Each agent uses what the earlier ones produced and ends with a document you keep: an ICP, an offer, a price, a launch plan.
Fractional, services or software: does it matter which?
Not at the start. All of them begin with what you sell, who buys it and what it costs. The Stack has a version of each agent for each model, and in The Build we adapt the plan to yours. The Go / No-Go scores the idea against your Builder Archetype before you commit months to it.
I have around 5 years of experience. Is that enough?
If you've owned an outcome, like a number, a team or a launch, yes. The Expertise Audit looks for the angle in the work you've done, whatever your title was.
Do I need a big audience?
Not a big one. You do need a focused one, and it pays to start early. The audience step builds it from a content plan and one lead magnet, and a few hundred of the right people is enough to launch.
How do I go from a tech job to fractional or consulting work?
Start with a problem you've solved more than once and a type of company that has that problem and the budget to fix it. Package it as a monthly retainer with a clear scope and sell it to your network first. The Builder Diagnostic shows whether fractional work suits how you operate, and The Stack takes you through positioning, the offer and pricing.
How should I price a fractional role or consulting offer?
Price against the cost of the problem and the full-time hire the client would otherwise make, and sell a defined monthly scope in place of hours. The Pricing skill in The Stack runs this with Blair Enns and Alan Weiss for services and Madhavan Ramanujam for software.
The Stack or The Build?
They follow the same five steps. The Stack is the fifteen agents to run on your own (399€ once). The Build is all five steps with me, 1:1 (1,200€/month, 3-month minimum). If you're unsure, book the free 20-minute call from The Build card.
Do I have to run the skills in order?
No. The first agent you run asks eight questions about your business, once. Every other agent reads those answers, so you can start with the Go / No-Go, pricing or the landing page. The recommended sequence starts with Decide, and you're free to skip around.
Can I talk to you before starting The Build?
Yes. Book the 20-minute call from The Build card and bring your diagnostic profile.
I'm already running a startup. Where can I get go-to-market help?
This page is for building something new. For a startup that's already running, there are two options.
1:1 with me. I advise founders between 0 and $1M in revenue on go-to-market strategy and scaling. See startup GTM advisory →
Self-serve, for B2B SaaS. Mazo is my AI go-to-market advisor. It reviews your go-to-market using your own numbers, pushes back when it disagrees and sets the tests to run next. Try Mazo →
What kind of business are you built for?
Answer 10 quick scenarios and find out in 3 minutes. It's free, and your full profile lands in your inbox.
See which business fits how you work →