AI cofounder vs hiring a marketer vs an agency.

Three ways to get marketing done, compared on the four things that actually decide it: cost, speed, judgement and risk. Including the cases where you should not pick the AI.

Side by side

The comparison

	Hire	Agency	Cofounder
Monthly cost	$5–9k loaded	$4–12k retainer	Priced as software
Time to first work	4–10 weeks to hire	2–3 weeks to onboard	Same day
Volume of tests	What one person can make	What the retainer covers	Nightly, in parallel
Judgement	Real, and yours to argue with	Real, but spread across clients	Narrow — inside the brief
Institutional memory	Leaves when they leave	Leaves when you churn	Kept, and queryable
Handles novelty	Yes	Yes	Poorly — it needs a precedent
Owns positioning	Can	Can	No

Honesty

When not to pick the AI

You have not decided what you sell or who to. An agent will happily scale a message that is wrong.

Your growth depends on partnerships, sales calls or events — the work is relationship-shaped, not creative-shaped.

You need one person accountable in a room. That is a job for a human, and it should stay one.

Related: what an AI cofounder is.

Nothing to lose

Founding cohort seats include the first month and a written teardown of your current funnel.

Claim a seat

100 seats. No card. We tell you on day 14 whether it worked.