Hi, I’m Phil.

I started Paperplane because I kept seeing the same pattern. An ambitious company builds a product that solves a real problem. Then the pressure to "do marketing" kicks in, and the team ends up busy but you can't tell if any of it is actually growing the business.

Many products should earn more attention. The companies behind them have no system to generate demand. That's the commercialization gap. Closing it is a resource allocation challenge: which customers to pursue first, which activities to prioritize, and which to keep for later. Positioning an offering is about making those decisions and framing the right narrative to spark demand.

I've run 40+ engagements across HR tech, fintech, legal tech, marketing agencies, and professional services. The pattern is often the same: positioning wasn't treated as a conviction. It takes the same discipline you'd bring to an M&A deal or a tech stack choice.

I've been the in-house marketer too. I've launched offerings into markets that didn't exist yet, moved companies from SMB to enterprise, and repositioned products mid-growth.

I don't take on work I can't be close to. Every engagement is me in the room with your team, with specialists brought in where the work needs it.