Compare
TechStack vs a marketing agency,
a dev shop, and a strategy consultant.
The scannable version of the honest positioning on /why. Head to head, row by row: what each side actually builds, how they price, who's on the engagement, and what you own when it ends.
→DIRECT ANSWER
A marketing agency runs channels without the systems underneath. A dev shop builds software without demand attached. A strategy consultant delivers slides and hands execution to someone else. TechStack Consulting installs the operating system that wires all three together — one accountable team, fixed-fee pricing, documented hand-off. Best fit for service businesses and B2B SaaS at $1M–$50M in revenue.
Head to head
Nine dimensions. Four alternatives.
| DIMENSION | TECHSTACK TechStack Consulting Growth systems consultancy | MARKETING AGENCY Marketing Agency Channel execution | DEV SHOP Dev Shop Software delivery | STRATEGY CONSULTANT Strategy Consultant Advisory + slides |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What they actually build | Full revenue operating system: CRM + attribution + apps + search + automation + intelligence, integrated as one stack, with documented hand-off. | Ad campaigns, content, GBP, social. No underlying systems (CRM, attribution, apps) — those stay in the vendor of the moment. | React / Node / mobile apps. Ships the software; does not own how it acquires or retains users. | Slides, frameworks, phased 12-month roadmaps. Nothing installed — you hire someone else to actually build. |
| Runs on real production code | ||||
| Owns marketing/RevOps side | ||||
| Owns product/software side | ||||
| Owns strategy/positioning | ||||
| Pricing model | Fixed-fee. Audit $7,500; sprints $8K–$25K; retainer $4K–$25K/mo; custom build $40K–$250K. Written change orders. | Monthly retainer + ad-spend fee, often with a "creative" line-item that scales with hours. | Fixed-fee per project OR T&M by developer-hour, depending on shop. | Weekly rate × weeks × senior partner headcount. Often $150K–$400K for a 12-week engagement. |
| Who's on your engagement | Founder-led, US-based. Small bench of operator-grade specialists. No offshoring, no junior rotations. | Account manager + junior specialists on 3–5 accounts each. Senior strategist appears at kickoff and QBR. | Engineering lead + 2–4 developers, often distributed. Product manager if bought as an upgrade. | Senior partner (< 20% of hours) + 2 associates + 2 analysts. Analysts do the deck work. |
| What you own at the end | Every account, every credential, every line of code. Documented runbooks. Removed access on request. | Nothing structural. The ad accounts and content are yours, but the "growth" was on their platform accounts. | The codebase. Usually not the deployment story, the runbooks, or the operating knowledge. | A slide deck and a 90-day playback recording. |
| Failure mode | Best fit only for service businesses at $1M–$50M. Under $1M is usually pre-system-fit; over $50M usually wants their own in-house function. | Great reporting; flat revenue. Attribution and lifecycle systems that would prove or disprove ROI never get built. | Production-ready code, zero users. No demand engine attached to the app they just shipped. | A framework your team can't operationalize and a bill you can't justify to the board. |
TECHSTACK
TechStack Consulting
Growth systems consultancy
- What they actually build
- Full revenue operating system: CRM + attribution + apps + search + automation + intelligence, integrated as one stack, with documented hand-off.
- Runs on real production code
- Yes
- Owns marketing/RevOps side
- Yes
- Owns product/software side
- Yes
- Owns strategy/positioning
- Yes
- Pricing model
- Fixed-fee. Audit $7,500; sprints $8K–$25K; retainer $4K–$25K/mo; custom build $40K–$250K. Written change orders.
- Who's on your engagement
- Founder-led, US-based. Small bench of operator-grade specialists. No offshoring, no junior rotations.
- What you own at the end
- Every account, every credential, every line of code. Documented runbooks. Removed access on request.
- Failure mode
- Best fit only for service businesses at $1M–$50M. Under $1M is usually pre-system-fit; over $50M usually wants their own in-house function.
MARKETING AGENCY
Marketing Agency
Channel execution
- What they actually build
- Ad campaigns, content, GBP, social. No underlying systems (CRM, attribution, apps) — those stay in the vendor of the moment.
- Runs on real production code
- No
- Owns marketing/RevOps side
- Yes
- Owns product/software side
- No
- Owns strategy/positioning
- Partial
- Pricing model
- Monthly retainer + ad-spend fee, often with a "creative" line-item that scales with hours.
- Who's on your engagement
- Account manager + junior specialists on 3–5 accounts each. Senior strategist appears at kickoff and QBR.
- What you own at the end
- Nothing structural. The ad accounts and content are yours, but the "growth" was on their platform accounts.
- Failure mode
- Great reporting; flat revenue. Attribution and lifecycle systems that would prove or disprove ROI never get built.
DEV SHOP
Dev Shop
Software delivery
- What they actually build
- React / Node / mobile apps. Ships the software; does not own how it acquires or retains users.
- Runs on real production code
- Yes
- Owns marketing/RevOps side
- No
- Owns product/software side
- Yes
- Owns strategy/positioning
- No
- Pricing model
- Fixed-fee per project OR T&M by developer-hour, depending on shop.
- Who's on your engagement
- Engineering lead + 2–4 developers, often distributed. Product manager if bought as an upgrade.
- What you own at the end
- The codebase. Usually not the deployment story, the runbooks, or the operating knowledge.
- Failure mode
- Production-ready code, zero users. No demand engine attached to the app they just shipped.
STRATEGY CONSULTANT
Strategy Consultant
Advisory + slides
- What they actually build
- Slides, frameworks, phased 12-month roadmaps. Nothing installed — you hire someone else to actually build.
- Runs on real production code
- No
- Owns marketing/RevOps side
- Partial
- Owns product/software side
- Partial
- Owns strategy/positioning
- Yes
- Pricing model
- Weekly rate × weeks × senior partner headcount. Often $150K–$400K for a 12-week engagement.
- Who's on your engagement
- Senior partner (< 20% of hours) + 2 associates + 2 analysts. Analysts do the deck work.
- What you own at the end
- A slide deck and a 90-day playback recording.
- Failure mode
- A framework your team can't operationalize and a bill you can't justify to the board.
Questions
When would we not pick TechStack?
Isn't "growth systems consultancy" just an agency + dev shop under one roof?
The pricing model, the ownership model, and the deliverable are different. An agency runs channels on their platform accounts on your behalf; a dev shop builds software your team then needs to operate. TechStack installs the system — code, data, credentials, and runbooks — into your accounts, and hands off documented so your team owns it end to end. If you want the shorter version: agencies rent you results; TechStack installs infrastructure.
When would we actually pick a marketing agency over TechStack?
If your only need is channel execution — you already have the RevOps, attribution, and applications infrastructure and you just need someone to run paid, content, or GBP — an agency is more efficient. The agency-vs-TechStack decision only matters if the underlying systems don't exist yet.
When would we actually pick a dev shop over TechStack?
If you have a fully-scoped software project with clear specs, a known market, and a demand engine already in place — a dev shop optimized for that specific stack will ship faster. TechStack fits when you need the demand engine wired to the product, not when you just need the product built.
When would we actually pick a big strategy consultancy over TechStack?
If your problem is board-level governance, M&A, or transformation programs at $50M+ revenue with a large internal team that will do the execution — a McKinsey/BCG/Bain engagement is appropriate. TechStack fits when you need the strategy and the build under one accountable team.
What if we already have some of each — an agency, a developer, a consultant?
That's the most common state. Our engagements often start by mapping the current vendor stack, identifying which pieces are working, and integrating around them rather than replacing them. We are not a rip-and-replace shop.
Where can I read TechStack's honest positioning statement?
On the /why page. It names each of these three alternatives, explains the failure mode of each, and positions TechStack against those failure modes. This comparison page is the scannable version of that framework.
If the table above resonates
Book a strategy call.
Not sure which of the four we'd actually recommend for your case? The 30-minute strategy call is honest — sometimes the right answer is an agency, a dev shop, or a strategy partner, and we'll say so.