Frequently asked questions
Straight answers about M38 Partners.
Who we are, what we run, what it costs and how an engagement starts and ends. If your question is not here, ask it directly. We answer every one.
About M38 Partners
What is M38 Partners?
M38 Partners is an operating team for DTC, eCommerce and marketplace businesses. We take the seat a company would hire a Head of eCommerce for, run the Shopify store, the marketplaces, the paid media and the P&L behind them as one business, and hand it back running in three to twelve months. M38 Partners is a Meraki Business Consulting LLC company.
Is M38 Partners an agency, a consultant or a fractional executive?
A fractional executive team, which is neither of the other two. An agency executes a scope the client writes. A consultant recommends what to do. M38 Partners takes the decision rights of a Head of eCommerce, part time and for a fixed term, and answers for the revenue. The model is also called fractional Head of eCommerce, interim eCommerce leadership or outsourced eCommerce management.
Who will we actually work with?
The partner. The work is led by an operator with more than twenty years of P&L ownership inside consumer brands, across Shopify DTC, Amazon and Walmart, and eight-figure paid media budgets. You get the partner on every call, and you are never handed to a junior team after the agreement is signed.
Which brands has M38 Partners worked with?
The experience comes from inside Fortune 500, media, founder-led DTC and family-run businesses, including Stanley Black & Decker, Mac Tools, CBS, Hearst, Primo Brands and Hudson's Bay Company. Published case studies cover Juiced Bikes, Westchester Power Wash, Faux Real Jewelry and Rodo Fitness, each with the situation, the approach and the result.
What does the 38 in M38 Partners stand for?
1938, the year the founder's family started building. Nearly ninety years later, what they built is still standing. That is the standard the practice works to: foundations first, made to be handed on, and still working after the people who built it have moved on.
Does M38 Partners work remotely?
Yes. M38 Partners works with brands across the United States and embeds remotely, inside the client's Slack, calls and dashboards, so the engagement runs on the same tools the team already uses.
Services
What services does M38 Partners offer?
Five areas, run as one business: the Shopify storefront (builds, replatforms, conversion, subscription and retention), the marketplaces (Amazon 1P and 3P, Walmart, TikTok Shop and Instacart), the demand (paid media, email, SMS and lifecycle), the answer layer (answer engine optimization and AI search visibility), and the unit economics (P&L ownership, contribution margin, pricing and forecasting).
What kinds of businesses does M38 Partners work with?
Mostly consumer brands that sell online: founder-led DTC brands, eCommerce businesses without a senior eCommerce lead, private-equity-backed and family-owned companies that inherited a neglected digital channel, and wholesale or retail brands going direct for the first time. AI search visibility work also suits local and service businesses whose customers now ask an assistant before they search.
Can a small business get help showing up in ChatGPT and Google AI answers?
Yes. M38 Partners runs AI search visibility for small and mid-sized brands as done-for-you work, not a software subscription. We test the questions your real customers ask, show which competitors get named instead, and then write the fixes: the page rewrites, the FAQ content and the llms.txt file. Every fix ties back to a specific finding.
Can M38 Partners work alongside our in-house team?
Yes. The Retainer is built for companies that already have a lead in place and a gap underneath them. M38 Partners runs one or two channels, reports into your lead, and owns those channels' results without taking over the rest.
Pricing and terms
How much does M38 Partners cost?
Most engagements are a flat monthly fee against a fixed weekly time commitment, starting from as little as five hours a week. The fee depends on the hours, the number of channels in scope and how much decision authority the seat carries. A rate against a weekly cap is used for diagnostic work and for clients not ready to commit to a term. Every engagement is priced in a written proposal after the first conversation.
What are the ways to engage M38 Partners?
Three. The Audit is a two-week diagnostic of what is wrong, what it is costing and what to fix first. The Retainer runs one or two channels and owns their results. We Own The Seat takes the full digital business, with full P&L and vendor authority, for companies where nobody owns digital.
How long does an engagement last?
Three to twelve months. The engagement is temporary on purpose: the goal is a business that runs without us. Scope goes up when it is working and down when it is done.
What do we get from the Audit?
A written answer in two weeks: what is broken across the store, the marketplaces and the ad accounts, what each problem is costing, and what is worth fixing first, in order. If nothing is worth fixing, the Audit says that too.
Is there a free way to start?
Yes. The no cost needs assessment takes about a minute and returns a straight read on where the digital business is losing money, what to fix first and what it takes to fix it. There is no pitch deck attached.
Working together
How does M38 Partners report results?
Monthly, against the P&L line and the agreed budget, without a filter. That means revenue and contribution margin by channel, spend against the envelope, and for AI search work, how often the brand is named in assistant answers compared with competitors. Bad news is reported the same way as good news.
What happens when the engagement ends?
The business is handed back documented, staffed or vendored correctly, and forecastable, so someone else can run it. Where the business now justifies a full-time Head of eCommerce, the role is defined and the handover is built around that hire.
How do we get started with M38 Partners?
Email together@M38partners.com or use the contact form, and send the store, the marketplace accounts and the ad accounts. The first step is almost always the Audit. If we are not the right fit, we will say so on the first call.
Still have a question? Ask it directly.
Send the store, the marketplace accounts and the ad accounts. In two weeks you get a real answer: what is broken, what it is costing you, and what is worth fixing first.