When to Centralize a Martech Function
Use the 100-150 person threshold and b2c/b2b axis to decide when and where to own martech.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 85%
Martech ownership evolves with company size. Below ~100 people it can be a 'village' where growth folks and engineers each stand up tools. Around 100-150 people that stops scaling and someone must own how data flows, schemas, contracts, and liability. Hay decides placement on two axes: b2c versus B2B, and centralized versus decentralized, with a strong bias toward centralization for most startups.
Origin
Austin Hay's org-design matrix, built for and taught in his Reforge martech course; informed by Airbnb, Walmart, Postmates, Notion, and Ramp.
Core principles
- 01Below ~30-40 people, martech is a village: everyone chips in on the CDP and tools.
- 02At ~100-150 people the village approach breaks; someone must own data flow, schema, contracts, and liability.
- 03In b2c the growth team is martech's customer, so place martech alongside or under the head of growth.
- 04Decentralizing across product-ops, growth-ops, engineering-ops rarely works because it multiplies systems and spreads resources too thin.
- 05For B2B there is no single right answer; placement depends on whether the leader is an Ops person or a technical architect/PM.
How to run it
- 1
Watch for the scale trigger
Look for the ~100-150 person mark, or the symptom of one overwhelmed engineer who stood up all the tools two years ago and can no longer manage the growing complexity, contracts, and liability.
Pro tip Pain, not efficiency, is what actually drives the decision: 'we can't do X because only one person knows this thing.'
Watch out Mismanaged contracts create effectively infinite liability, so contract ownership alone can justify the role.
- 2
Classify b2c versus B2B
Determine your model. b2c funnels are simple (acquire users into the product, CDP as source of truth). B2B and B2B2C add CRMs like Salesforce/HubSpot and far more complexity mapping users to company entities.
- 3
For b2c, centralize under growth
Place martech alongside or reporting into the head of growth under a CMO, because the growth team is the key customer. Ensure this person is a strong technical architect to represent you to product and engineering.
- 4
For B2B, choose placement by leader type
If the function is Ops-flavored (managing processes and systems), keep it in its representative function, possibly rev-ops. If led by a technical architect or PM, it may belong in product or engineering. Ramp cycled centralized, decentralized, then back to centralized in rev-ops.
Watch out Decentralizing risks spreading resources so thin across teams that the function cannot actually get work done, with competing priorities.
In the wild
Ramp, a B2B company with a b2c top-of-funnel, started centralized in a rev-ops group, then decentralized martech into the CMO org, and then rolled it back into revenue operations, driven by who the customer was and where resources were allocated.
→ The oscillation illustrates that placement is case-specific and tied to who you are serving and how resources are allocated, not a fixed rule.
Common mistakes
Keeping a village approach past 100-150 people
Once no single person owns how data flows through tools, the schema, and the contracts, the org faces complexity and liability exposure it cannot manage, much like an IT org with no owner of SSO.
Defaulting to a decentralized ops model
Spreading a systems person into every org (product-ops, growth-ops, engineering-ops) multiplies systems and spreads resources too thin, so unless you are a massive company the function cannot get work done.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders and growth leaders at 80-200 person companies deciding whether to hire and where to place their first dedicated martech owner.
Not ideal for
Early startups under ~40 people where a village approach is still efficient and a dedicated role would be premature.
From the transcript
“usually around I would I would call it like 100 to 150 people is the critical mass where you can't just have a village approach…”
“in a b2c organization I think actually thinks it's quite simple most the time your tools your marketing tools are intended to help the growth…”
“as you add more operational people it just creates more systems and so like unless you're a massive company where you need that type of…”
From the episode
The ultimate guide to Martech
Austin Hay (Reforge, Ramp, Runway)