Approach

The strategy work that makes everything else work.

What we do, how we do it, and what it's actually like to work with us.

The Foundation
01

The Positioning Sprint

A two to three week engagement that gives your company the strategic foundation it should already have.

from £8,000 · 2–3 weeks

The Positioning Sprint is for companies that are producing content and running campaigns but can't articulate clearly why their market should care. We start by auditing what you currently say about yourself — across the website, sales decks, content, pitch, sales calls if we can sit in on a few. Then we map where the gap is between your language and where your buyers actually are.

From there we build the narrative architecture: the language that organises everything else. Plain enough that your CEO can use it in a board meeting and your sales team can use it on a call. Specific enough that a marketer can brief from it and a designer can lay it out. We follow with the buyer-stage language map — separate messaging for buyers who don't yet know they have your problem, buyers who are exploring solutions, and buyers who are comparing products. And we close with a 90-day content architecture so your team knows what to make next, and why.

What you leave with

  • A working narrative document — one source of truth, used across the company
  • A buyer-stage language map covering problem aware, solution aware and product aware audiences
  • A 90-day content architecture mapped to those stages, ready to execute from day one
  • A handover session with your team so they can run with it

Best fit if

  • You're between Seed and Series B with a product the market is responding to slowly
  • You have someone in marketing but no strategic direction for them to execute against
  • You're approaching a fundraise or launch and need the story to be right
Own The Conversation
02

The Market Authority Programme

For companies who need to own a category conversation, not just participate in it.

from £30,000 · 3–6 months

The Market Authority Programme is for companies who have the budget and the conviction to set the terms of a market conversation rather than respond to one. The fastest way to do that — when the underlying product is strong enough — is original primary research. Not a vanity report. Research that names a problem the market is feeling but cannot articulate, and gives your company the language to own it.

We design or commission the research with a survey or interview cohort that matters to your buyers — senior leaders in the sectors you sell into. We build the narrative around the findings: the story the data supports, the angle the press will pick up, the framing your sales team can use for the next eighteen months. We activate through press launch, in-person events with the right rooms, and downstream content that keeps the conversation alive past the initial coverage. The outcome is that your company becomes a reference point in the category.

What you leave with

  • An original research asset — survey, qualitative cohort, or both
  • A narrative architecture built around the findings
  • A press launch strategy and tier-one outreach
  • An advocacy plan for the senior leaders we want carrying the story
  • A content programme that sustains the conversation

Best fit if

  • You're between Series A and C, with a serious commitment to category creation or repositioning
  • You sell into senior buyers in regulated or high-stakes sectors
  • You have a story worth telling that nobody has named yet
Ongoing Partnership
03

Fractional Strategic Lead

Ongoing senior strategic thinking without the full-time hire.

from £5,000 / month · minimum 6 months

The Fractional Strategic Lead engagement is for companies that have done the foundational positioning work but need someone senior staying close to the strategic narrative on an ongoing basis. Often that's because the founders are stretched, the in-house marketer is good at execution but earlier in their career, or the category is moving fast enough that the narrative needs maintaining.

The retainer covers strategic direction across content, campaigns and any major comms moment — a launch, a funding round, a category shift, a competitor announcement that changes the conversation. We own the strategic narrative; your team executes against it. The cadence is weekly: a working session, async input on what's being made, and the ability to call when something material happens.

What you get every month

  • Weekly strategic working sessions (45 minutes, fixed day)
  • Async review and direction on campaigns, content and major collateral
  • Quarterly narrative health check — what's working, what's drifting
  • On-call support for material market moments (launches, funding, category shifts)

Best fit if

  • You've completed a Positioning Sprint (with us or someone else) and want the strategy to keep paying off
  • You have execution capability internally but no senior strategic counterpart
  • You're in a category that's moving and you need to stay ahead of it
How a Positioning Sprint runs

From kick-off to handover.

Most sprints land in two to three weeks. Here's what each stage actually involves.

01

Discovery call

A 45-minute conversation to understand where you are, what's not working, and whether we're the right fit. We'll ask about your market, your buyers, your current messaging and the moments where it falls short. By the end of the call you'll have a clear sense of whether positioning is your problem — and if so, where the gap probably sits.

The discovery call is free. No prep needed. We'll tell you exactly where the gap is, whether you work with us or not.
02

Positioning audit

In the first week we review everything: your website, your sales decks, your content, your pitch, your competitor landscape, your existing customer language. Where possible we sit in on two or three sales calls. We're looking for the gap between how you talk about yourselves and how your buyers actually talk about the problem you solve. By the end of the week we share an audit document with our findings and the working hypothesis for where the positioning needs to move.

Most clients see the audit hypothesis within five days of kick-off.
03

Narrative build

Week two is the build. We work with you (and ideally one or two senior stakeholders) to develop the narrative architecture — the central story, the supporting claims, the buyer-stage language map. The output is a working document we shape together. By the end of week two you have a narrative your CEO can use in a board meeting, your sales team can use on a call, and your marketing team can write from. We typically run two or three working sessions in this phase, with async iteration between.

04

Handover & activation

The final stage is making sure the strategy doesn't sit in a drawer. We deliver the final narrative document, the buyer-stage language map and the 90-day content architecture. We run a handover session with your marketing and sales teams so they can run with it. And we brief the first 30 days of content in detail — the specific pieces, who they're for, and what each one is meant to move. You leave with something your team can execute the next day.

Working Rhythm

What it's actually like.

One senior decision-maker on your side

We need someone who can say yes — usually a founder or head of marketing. Positioning by committee produces positioning that satisfies no-one.

Weekly working sessions, not status updates

45 minutes, fixed day, working through actual decisions. We don't run kickoff theatre or sprint ceremonies — we build the narrative live, together.

Documents that work, not documents that decorate

Our deliverables are written to be used. Plain language, short enough to be read, opinionated enough to be useful. No 90-slide strategy decks.

We work in your tools

Notion, Google Docs, Slack, Loom — whichever your team already uses. The strategy lives where your team already works, not somewhere they have to remember to check.

Feedback loops in days, not weeks

Async between sessions. Drafts shared live. Iteration measured in days, so the work compounds rather than waits.

One voice, all the way through

Paru runs the engagement personally. No account manager, no junior strategist on the actual work. You hire the senior person and you get the senior person.

Common questions

Things people ask.

What if our team disagrees on the positioning?
Disagreement is almost always a signal that the positioning question hasn't been resolved yet. We surface it deliberately in the working sessions rather than papering over it. Most internal disagreements about positioning are actually disagreements about who the buyer is, what they need to hear first, or what the company is willing to leave on the table. Once those are resolved, the positioning follows. That's part of the work.
Can we do just the audit?
Yes — we offer a standalone Positioning Audit for £3,500. It's the first stage of the Sprint as a fixed-scope deliverable. You get the audit document and a 60-minute findings session. If you go on to do the full Sprint with us within 30 days, we credit the audit fee against it.
What if we already have a brand agency?
We work alongside brand agencies regularly. Brand agencies are good at visual identity, naming, tone of voice and creative execution. Positioning sits upstream of that — it's the strategic decision about what the company stands for in the market, which the brand work then expresses. We hand off cleanly: your brand agency picks up the narrative document and runs with it.
How is this different from a brand strategist or marketing consultant?
Positioning consultancy is upstream of brand strategy and downstream of business strategy. Brand strategists tend to focus on how the company expresses itself — visual identity, voice, story. Marketing consultants tend to focus on channels and tactics. We focus on the language that everyone else then works from: the central story, the buyer-stage messaging, the content architecture. It's the layer that determines whether the rest of the work compounds or doesn't.
Do you write the content too?
We brief it, we don't write the bulk of it. The content architecture we deliver tells your team exactly what to make in the first 90 days — the topic, the buyer stage, the angle, the format. Your in-house marketer or a content writer executes against the brief. If you don't have anyone internal who can execute, we can recommend writers we trust who already understand how to work from a positioning architecture.
What if our market shifts in six months?
Good positioning is durable but not static. The narrative architecture we build is designed to hold for 12–18 months in a stable market. In faster-moving categories (AI, deep tech, certain fintech) we recommend a quarterly narrative health check — usually a half-day engagement — to confirm what's still landing and what needs adjusting. The Fractional Strategic Lead retainer is the version of this that's always-on.
How quickly can we start?
We take two new Sprint clients per month. Lead time is usually two to four weeks from signed engagement to kick-off. If timing is tight — usually around a launch or funding round — we'll tell you on the discovery call whether we can move faster.
Get Started

Start with a conversation.

A 45-minute discovery call. We'll tell you exactly where the gap is — whether you work with us or not.

Book your call→ Two new Sprint clients per month.