Team · updated 2026-09-21

Role Description: Marketing Lead, WTF is AI

Last updated: 2026-09-21 Status: DRAFT. Numbers below are proposals to revise together, not final terms. Role for: Michelle Works with: Sheila (founder) Engagement: Independent contractor, minimum 20 hours per month

About WTF is AI

Prepare your career or business for the AI economy. AI-proof your career.

Underneath that promise is the belief the brand was built on: AI was not built for women, but women are built for AI.

WTF is AI is a sub-brand of Tandem and Community, Inc. It teaches non-technical women to understand, apply, and build with AI. That includes small business owners, corporate leaders, women returning to work, and the regional leaders who train them.

Two priority customers:

• The small business owner in middle America. She has no CTO and wants to know what AI means for her business, in plain English.
• The mid-career millennial. She has made real progress in her career and wants to AI-proof it, learn new skills, and level up her subject matter expertise.

WTF is AI proceeds support mental health care.

Everything runs through the WTF is AI app at course.wtfisai.co, on web and iOS.

The role

The Marketing Lead owns marketing and go-to-market for WTF is AI, from strategy through delivery. This is not a strategy-only role. You'll set the plan, and then write the content, build the pages, and build the agentic systems that execute it. The goal is a small team that markets like a big one because AI agents carry the repeatable work.

You'll also build two brands as long-term assets of Tandem and Community, Inc.: WTF is AI, and Sheila's leadership brand as a founder and CEO across both Tandem and WTF is AI. Those two stories are one story, and you'll own telling it. That work strengthens Tandem's position as well as WTF is AI's, which is why it is compensated through tiered equity and cash until WTF is AI reaches $2M in gross sales and the structure is revised.

What you'll do

Build the go-to-market for every revenue line

• Own the GTM plan for each product and revenue idea below: who buys, the offer, the channel, the message, and the metric
• Test new revenue ideas quickly and cheaply, and recommend what to scale or kill

Create the content

• Own the content calendar across social, email, iOS push notifications, and the podcast
• Cover all three jobs: acquisition (new women into the funnel), retention (keep members engaged and moving up the ladder), and product marketing (launch and position every playbook, tool, course, feature, and event)
• Write and produce the content, once Sheila has approved the overall strategy and messaging, with AI and agents doing the heavy lifting

Agentic marketing ops

• Design and run AI agent workflows for marketing operations, such as content production, scheduling, list management, reporting, and lead follow-up
• Sheila will support the building of agentic marketing flows. The Marketing Lead is responsible for mapping each agent's steps, scoping the right agentic platforms, tools, and APIs, and overseeing the prompting that improves output
• Document these workflows so they can be reused, and taught internally

Customer insight to strategy

• Review customer needs and incoming data (sign-ups, app usage, sales, surveys, conversations)
• Turn those findings into recommendations that shape product and marketing strategy

Sales pages, landing pages, and product descriptions

• Mock up sales pages, landing pages, and product descriptions for events, content, and product initiatives
• Write the copy for them

Sales support

• Build the affiliate marketing plan with Sheila. Sheila oversees the affiliate program itself, since the first partners come from her personal network
• Support B2B sales to HR and people leaders who want to train their teams on AI, including pitch materials, one-pagers, and case studies

Curriculum review

• Sheila writes all course modules and curriculum
• The Marketing Lead reviews and approves them for readability, clarity, and alignment with the brand and the audience

PR and media development for the CEO

• Build and run earned media for Sheila as a founder and CEO, across both Tandem and WTF is AI
• Develop the media strategy: the story arc, the proof points, and which outlets, podcasts, stages, and awards to go after
• Write and pitch: media bios, press kit, founder headshots and assets, pitch emails, bylines, op-eds, HARO-style responses, award and speaker submissions
• Prep Sheila for interviews, panels, and podcasts with talking points and message discipline
• Keep the founder story consistent everywhere it shows up: LinkedIn, press, stages, sales calls, and the WTF is AI brand
• Track earned media and tie it back to sign-ups, leads, and deals
• Healthcare guardrail: Tandem operates in clinical settings. No protected health information and no clinical claims. Anything naming a clinic, a provider, or a patient outcome is reviewed by Sheila as part of the press kit review

One founder, both stories. PR here is deliberately cross-brand. If Sheila is on a podcast or in a feature, she can't leave Tandem out, and she shouldn't. Tandem is the proof that the AI-native-ops argument works, and WTF is AI is what came out of building it. Weave them. Even a healthcare-specific outlet has a real WTF is AI angle: a clinical workforce that has to learn AI, a non-technical CEO who built HIPAA-compliant software, and a training business whose proceeds fund mental health care. The ratio shifts by outlet, but neither story is ever off the table. This work counts as part of this role.

Brand, legal, and IP

• Contribute to building WTF is AI as a brand asset for Tandem and Community, Inc.
• Flag legal, trademark, and IP opportunities, such as names, taglines, frameworks, and course content worth protecting
• Keep messaging consistent, including the message that WTF is AI proceeds support mental health care

Planning rhythm

• Run monthly content sprints
• Lead quarterly content and product planning with Sheila

The story we're telling

Sheila's story is the through-line for both companies. It is already true, which is what makes it work as earned media. Your job is to make it cohesive and get it in front of the right audiences.

In her words:

> Female founder @ Tandem (beintandem.co), mental health infrastructure for PCP and OB/GYN settings, for providers and patients. Built from personal patient experience, professional experience in global health and digital health, and her own physician parent's frustration with the lack of tools. First two clinics onboarded and scaling. Tandem is an AI-native-ops corp, and as a non-technical CEO creating jobs, we've built training for people to AI-proof careers and subject matter expertise: wtfisai.co

The pillars this gives us:

• A patient who built the thing she needed. Personal experience, plus global and digital health expertise, plus a physician parent who couldn't get the right tools.
• Mental health infrastructure where people actually go. Primary care and OB/GYN, not a standalone app. Real clinics, live now.
• An AI-native-ops company. Tandem is built and run on AI from the start, not retrofitted.
• A non-technical CEO who creates jobs. She failed JavaScript in high school and now builds software. She's hiring, and she's redesigning what those jobs are.
• Training so people can AI-proof their careers. WTF is AI is the answer to what she learned building Tandem. The proceeds support mental health care, which closes the loop back to Tandem's mission.

The two brands feed each other: Tandem earns the credibility and the healthcare press, WTF is AI earns the audience and the AI and small-business press, and both point back to the same founder.

Revenue lines and their go-to-market

Pricing for several of these is still being settled (see WTF-DESIGN/GTM/wtf-product-types.md). Part of this role is helping get it right.

Phase says when a line gets real attention. Now means it's in the current plan. Next means it comes after the Now lines are working. Post-$2M means it waits until WTF is AI passes $2M in gross sales.

Channels you'll run or test across all of the above: LinkedIn (company page, founder ghostwriting, outbound), email and the Antenna Waves newsletter, iOS push and in-app messages, the Boombox podcast, short video (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts), YouTube, SEO and blog, App Store optimization, webinars and live workshops, events and speaking, podcast guesting and PR, partnerships (chambers of commerce, SBDCs, women's business centers, workforce boards, SHRM chapters), and the affiliate program. No paid ad spend until WTF is AI reaches $2M in gross sales. At that point it will be considered, not promised. Everything before then is earned and owned.

Decision rights

Accounts, tools, and budget

• You'll get access to the accounts the role needs: the app and its analytics, email and CRM, Stripe, GA4, LinkedIn, design tools, the podcast host, ClickUp, and the agentic platforms used for marketing ops
• Budget covers those accounts only. There is no paid advertising budget. After WTF is AI reaches $2M in gross sales, paid spend will be considered, not promised
• Anything beyond the approved accounts is proposed to Sheila first, with the cost and the reason
• All accounts, handles, domains, workflows, and assets belong to Tandem and Community, Inc. At the end of the engagement, everything is handed back with access and documentation intact

Managing up

Michelle, this section is for you. Managing up means you run your part of the business and keep Sheila informed. You don't wait to be assigned work. Here's what that looks like:

• You own your priorities. Use the quarterly plan to decide what to work on each week. If priorities conflict, tell Sheila which one you'd pick and why.
• Present recommendations, not just questions. When you need a decision, send the options, your recommendation, and what happens if it waits. A decision Sheila can answer with "yes" is the most useful thing you can send.
• Send a weekly async update covering what shipped, what the numbers say, what's next, and where you're blocked. Keep it short and make it clear where Sheila can help.
• Flag problems early. If something is slipping, or a channel isn't working, say so as soon as you see it. Don't wait until it's fixed or failed. Early bad news is always welcome.
• Protect Sheila's time. Batch non-urgent questions into the weekly update or the check-in. Handle anything you can decide yourself, and say so afterward.
• Know the goals. Tie your work to revenue and to where WTF is AI is headed. If you think Sheila is wrong about something, say so, with your reasoning. Data from the products and secondary research is always helpful.
• Ask for what you need. If you need access, budget, a decision, or Sheila's time on camera, ask for it clearly and with a deadline.

What success looks like

Proposed targets for the first 12 months, at a minimum of 20 hours per month. Revise these together before signing, and confirm the starting baselines first.

Two rules about these numbers:

• Baselines first. Confirm where the list, sign-ups, and sales stand on day one, so growth is measured and not guessed.
• Revise at the quarterly planning session. If a channel turns out to be much better or much worse than expected, the targets move. What does not move is the habit of setting them.

See the suggested first 90 days in marketing-lead-90-day-plan.md.

Intellectual property, NDA, and non-conflict

All intellectual property created for WTF is AI belongs to Tandem and Community, Inc. That covers content, copy, designs, pages, prompts, agent workflows and systems, frameworks, course material, data, and brand assets, from you and from every other contributor. Your role is to spot IP worth protecting and flag it. You won't own it.

Why the org structure looks like this, Michelle, and why it works in your favor. WTF is AI is being built with Tandem's resources: its people, its tools and accounts, its infrastructure, its capital, and Sheila's time as CEO. As the founder, Sheila is a fiduciary to Tandem and Community, Inc., which means her obligation is to build value for the company. Holding WTF is AI inside Tandem is how she meets that obligation, and it is also what makes this role possible.

What that structure gives WTF is AI:

• It launches funded. No separate raise, no bootstrapping on nights and weekends. WTF is AI starts with real infrastructure, real tooling, and a CEO who can spend company time on it.
• It inherits credibility. A healthcare company with live clinics and investors stands behind the training. That is a very different pitch to an HR buyer or a workforce board than a solo course brand.
• The two stories compound. Every piece of press about Tandem strengthens WTF is AI, and the reverse is true too. One founder, one narrative, twice the surface area.

What it gives you:

• Equity in the parent, not in a side project. Your stake sits in the company that owns both brands, so it captures the upside of the work you do for WTF is AI and the enterprise value that work adds to Tandem.
• A real asset to build. Clean ownership is what makes a brand financeable, licensable, and sellable. The work you do here lands on a balance sheet instead of evaporating.
• Resources behind you. You're not marketing on a shoestring. You get company accounts, company tools, and the founder's time.

Why the paperwork exists. Everything built here, including the curriculum, the frameworks, the agent workflows, and the brand itself, is company IP that sits under Tandem. Tandem is a healthcare company with clinical clients and investors, and it is held to that standard. The same protections therefore have to cover WTF is AI: an NDA, an IP assignment, and a non-conflict clause. None of this is about trust in you. It exists because the asset you are helping build belongs to a company that has to be able to prove what it owns. The cleaner that ownership, the more the brand is worth, and the more your equity is worth with it.

What you'll be asked to sign:

• IP assignment. Work created for WTF is AI is owned by Tandem and Community, Inc. For a contractor this has to be written down, because the default rules can otherwise leave ownership with the person who created the work, which would put a cloud over the company's own brand.
• NDA and confidentiality. You'll see Tandem material as well as WTF is AI material: clinic relationships, product plans, financials, and the founder's story before it is public. That stays confidential.
• Non-conflict. While under contract, you won't market, advise, or build for a competing AI-training, AI-literacy, or AI-upskilling brand. Other client work outside that lane is fine. If something looks close to the line, raise it before taking it.

The contractor agreement covering IP assignment, confidentiality, and non-conflict is signed before the start date.

Compensation

Proposed structure, open to discussion before signing.

The honest version first: WTF is AI cannot pay cash until it has earned some. So cash here is commission, and it is both earned and paid by revenue tier. Commission accrues on the sales inside a tier, and it pays out when the business unlocks the next tier. Nothing is paid on a promise, and nothing is paid out of money the business does not have. The equity covers the stretch in between, and it starts vesting at the first milestone.

• Revenue means gross sales from WTF is AI products and services, before fees and affiliate commissions
• The first milestone is $25,000 in cumulative gross sales. Below that, no commission accrues and no equity vests. That first $25K funds the business getting off the ground
• Commission accrues inside a tier and is paid when the next tier is unlocked. Refunds reduce the accrued balance before payout

• The accrued balance is reported monthly by both sides, so the number owed is never in dispute
• Payout timing: the unlocked balance is paid in 3 equal monthly installments, starting within 30 days of crossing the threshold
• Equity: a grant of 0.35% to 0.5% in Tandem and Community, Inc., made under a FAST Agreement (Founder/Advisor Standard Template). Vesting begins the month WTF is AI reaches its first $25,000 in gross sales, then vests monthly over 24 months. The revenue milestone is the only trigger. If WTF is AI never reaches $25,000 in gross sales, no equity vests
• Acceleration is double trigger: unvested equity accelerates only if the company is sold and the engagement is terminated by the acquirer. A sale on its own does not accelerate vesting. Note that the standard FAST terms handle a change of control their own way, so that clause is amended to match this
• Above $2M in gross sales from WTF is AI alone (excluding other Tandem and Community, Inc. revenue), the whole structure is revised: commission, equity, hours, and whether the role converts to an employee position
• Project work outside this scope, if any is ever requested, is quoted and agreed separately in writing

Why it is built this way: the business never owes cash it has not earned, the Marketing Lead is paid on the exact number she is responsible for moving, and the equity means the years before a payout are still building something she owns.

Review and exit

• 30-day check-in on access, tools, and whether the plan survived contact with reality
• 90-day review against the first 90 days plan: scope, hours, priorities, and whether the tier structure still fits
• Notice period: 30 days written notice from either side
• On exit: all accounts, assets, documentation, and agent workflows are handed back. Vested equity is kept and unvested equity is forfeited
• Accrued but unpaid commission on exit: forfeited. Commission is paid only to an active Marketing Lead when a tier unlocks

The details

• Type: Independent contractor
• Time commitment: Minimum 20 hours per month
• Location: Remote (US)
• Start: proposed for October 1, 2026