How to hire · 10 min

When a productized sprint beats a traditional retainer

Retainers are comfortable for agencies. Sprints are honest for teams that do not yet have a converting machine. If no live asset exists, a monthly invoice is a standing meeting. Buy the sprint. Upgrade when the number moves.

Written for: Founders and marketing leads writing the first SOW of a new year or round

What a productized sprint is

Fixed scope, fixed price, fixed window. Brand Starter in two weeks. Landing Page + Ads in two weeks, live or we do not invoice. You know the artifacts before you pay. That is the opposite of “phase one discovery.”

When the retainer becomes the right instrument

When a destination converts, the kit factory is defined, and you need weekly volume. Lite is the on-ramp ($2k, cancel after two months). Growth is for full-funnel ads and more content. Full is only when a senior lead and weekly cadence will be used.

No converting page → sprint.
Page exists, cadence does not → Lite.
Cadence exists, paid and CRO need a home → Growth.
You want an embedded pod and will actually show up weekly → Full.

How traditional retainers fail this test

A US shop will often sell $6–8k/month before a single page converts. You will get process. Aether’s recovery started when creative became a weekly sprint inside a defined system — the spirit of productized work — not when the retainer got “more strategic.”

Checklist

Name the artifact you need in 14 days.
Refuse retainers that will not list week-two delivery.
Put a kill criterion on the sprint (what “worked” means).
Book the upgrade conversation after week four, not at kickoff.
Keep Lite cancelable so you are not hostage.
Do not run two retainers that produce the same object.

Common mistakes

Buying a retainer because the agency “had availability.”
Stuffing a sprint with a full rebrand, a site, and always-on ads.
Never upgrading after the sprint worked — then blaming the model.
Upgrading because of a sales deck, not a number.

Benchmarks

14 days — Sprint window. Landing + Ads guarantee
2 weeks — Brand Starter. $1,500, two revision rounds
$2,000/mo — Lite on-ramp. Cancel after 2 months
After the number moves — Upgrade rule. Not after the pitch

FAQ

Can a sprint become a retainer without another sales cycle?

Yes. Start the package, then step to Lite or Growth. The kickoff checklist is the same spine.

What if we already know we need six months of help?

Still start with a sprint unless the destination and cadence already exist. Six months of the wrong machine is expensive.

Is a sprint enough for Series B?

A sprint can rebuild a broken creative or landing system. Ongoing volume still wants Growth or Full. See the Series B guide.

What happens if the sprint misses the 14-day window?

On Landing + Ads, if we miss because of us, we do not invoice. Client-side access delays are called out at kickoff.

Do retainers include ads media?

No. Media is yours. Management sits in the tier (light on Lite, full funnel on Growth).

Where do I buy?

Packages on this site. Or send a brief if you need the 90-day plan to choose.