Ethan Hays

Tucson, AZ, USA

Founder, builder & scaler: I've helped 6 startups generate successful exists

I'm a founder, builder and scaler. I've worked with companies ranging from VC-backed startups to the Fortune 10, and I've helped 6 startups to successful exits.

As a P&L owner, I've been responsible for the P&L of B2B SaaS businesses earning 8 figure revenues annually. I understand how to align teams across Goals / Strategies / Operations / Tactics to deliver revenue and profit.

I'm a strong leader who values building and up-skilling teams. But I came up as an operator, so I enjoy getting …

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Work

Plus Company: creating a performance marketing function for a global holding company
I led the M&A function to locate, qualify, acquire and integrate performance marketing agencies into Plus Company, completing 2 acquisitions in 3 years.

Plus Company holds ~30 marketing agencies worldwide. Performance marketing became a priority for the network, as it delivers outcomes (e.g. qualified sales leads) that can be directly tied to client revenue.

I led the M&A prospecting, owned …
pluscompany.com
PathIQ: building a performance marketing agency from a cold start
I founded PathIQ, a performance marketing agency, for Plus Company, a global holding company.

PathIQ delivered cost-per-results campaigns (CPL, CPA, CPI) for clients in financial services, insurance, and medical devices.

I led recruiting, onboarding and managing a 100% remote, globally distributed team of marketing experts (8 FTE, 47 freelancers).

We built the martech stack & operations to enab…
ArborCrowd: building a SaaS Fintech startup from a cold start
I was employee #3, brought in to build the technology infrastructure, systems, and teams necessary for this SaaS Fintech company to scale, while growing revenue.

Grew investment by 708% to over $38MM of capital committed in the first 24 months. Grew investor base by 6X.

The core of my work was planning, building and optimizing SaaS lead generation, nurture and conversion across the buyer lifecycle to drive new investments in multi-family housing initiatives.

I was also responsible for marketing operations, replatforming the company onto Account Based Marketing (ABM) marketing technology.

arborcrowd.com
Healthline: building a startup to fight the 800 pound gorilla
I helped Healthline.com scale their startup in a market dominated by huge players (WebMD). My responsibilities were building traffic, delivering revenue, and proving impact.

I led the search practice, where I scaled SEO traffic from 25K/month to over 3M by integrating SEO into the Product & ENGR groups.

I built our SEM team & practice, managing a $3.5M budget profitably.

I was also the first ad trafficker for Healthline Networks.

I was also the web analytics lead for Healtline.com & Healthline Networks, an ad network reaching over 200M UVs/month.
healthline.com

Experience

Cybee
CEO
Mar 2025 - Present
Cybee is building automated cybersecurity, cloud security & regulatory compliance management tools that are usable & affordable for underserved small and medium businesses (SMBs).
- Building the brand, product and GTM for a new AI-powered cybersecurity startup
- Built revenue operations infrastructure from the ground up - Hubspot, Intercom, Stripe
- Built marketing technology infrastructure from the ground up - GA4, Appsflyer, GTM, Smartlook, Hubspot
- Leading investor relations and building of operational artifacts for our data room
Moz
General Manager
Jan 2024 - Mar 2025
Moz is a suite of B2B SaaS tools for search engine optimization (SEO). Moz is one one of the best-loved brands in the SEO space, with a focus on education. MozCon continues to be the premier SEO conference for thought leadership.
- Moz Data launched w/ API plans starting at $5/month, democratizing access to world-class SEO data
- Rebuilt flagship all-in-one SEO suite, Moz Pro, powered by new Moz AI
- Rebuilt flagship global rank tracking solution, STAT Search Analytics
- Relaunched Moz Local, a best-in class local SEO solution for SMBs
PathIQ
Founder
Jun 2020 - Jul 2023
PathIQ is a performance marketing agency, specializing lead generation on a cost-per-lead, cost-per-action basis. Primary industries include financial services, insurance and medical devices.
- Hit 7-figure ARR in year 1
- Recruiting, onboarding and managing a 100% remote, globally distributed team of marketing experts.
- Delivered hundreds of thousands of qualified leads per month
Plus Company
SVP
Dec 2018 - Dec 2023
Plus Company is a global holding company for marketing agencies. Plus has an aggressive market position, having acquired 4 marketing agencies in the last 5 years.
- Performance marketing M&A lead: pipeline, qualification, due diligence, integration
- 2020 acquired AIM, a global leader in affiliate marketing
- 2022 acquired 55 Rush, a global leader in performance marketing
Gyro
Head of Performance Marketing
Jan 2012 - Mar 2016
Leading B2B marketing agency.
- Spearheaded all performance marketing work
- Responsible for defining & building digital products and marketing campaigns that deliver ROI
- But the Project Management function, managing 26 creatives building over $35M of digital products annually
Spinmedia Group, Inc.
SEO Product Manager
Jul 2011 - Jun 2012
spinmedia group is a digital-first media company connecting a vast network of entertainment and music fans to the content, celebrities and brands they love. we’re the passionate fans behind some of the web’s most loved sites and we harness our collective pop culture obsession to create authentic connections through online content, social and mobile platforms, events and integrated marketing programs. through iconic brands such as spin, vibe, celebuzz, buzznet, the frisky, idolator, death and taxes, and stereogum, spinmedia group provides brands with authentic and credible connections to fans by feeding pop culture obsessions.
- SEO platform engineering
- SEO training for network content creators
Uptake Networks
Director of Revenue
Feb 2011 - Aug 2011
Uptake was a VC-backed superaffiliate in the Travel space, the 4th largest travel information website in the world at the time.
- Led all SEO work
- Conversion rate optimization to increase AOV
- Programmatic SEO content strategy
- Recovery from Panda Update, setting up sale of company to Groupon
Lq Digital
Director of SEO
Aug 2010 - Jan 2011
as consumers become increasingly mobile and connected, every business is turning to digital channels to acquire new customers more effectively and efficiently. of the $83 billion spent on digital this year, google and facebook account for 60 cents of every dollar. the result? massive investment, overabundant data and rising expectations for better results. here's the problem. the lead process is wasteful. for every 6% in conversion success, 94% goes nowhere. ads on the wrong channel, messaging that doesn't land, and potential leads that lack consistent follow-up—if any at all. even if you get your funnel performing, everyone knows that not all customers are created equal. it's tough to land new customers, but even harder to find the right ones—the profitable ones. lq digital is a customer acquisition company with a simple goal: to help you win more profitable customers digitally. #1 fastest growing internet company nationwide (deloitte fast 500) #1 fastest growing private internet comp
- Led SEO-focused client engagements for companies including ZipRealty and Bettern Homes & Gardens
- Doubled average SEO contract value
Stone Temple Consulting
Principal SEO Engineer
Oct 2009 - Aug 2010
perficient digital acquired stone temple consulting in 2018. our digital agency is purpose built to help companies who believe customer experience is the defining strategic imperative of our day. we dream big, build beautiful, measure confidently, and optimize obsessively. end-to-end is just the beginning. originally founded as a small consultancy in 1997 by eric enge – a top seo practitioner and co-author of the book the art of seo – stone temple consulting has since expanded into an award winning, full-service digital marketing agency providing a broad range of white hat seo and digital marketing services. stone temple has been honored as: > best large seo agency 2016 (us search awards) > an inc. 5000 fastest growing privately-owned company in the us > search personality of the year (founder & ceo eric enge - us search awards) > male search marketer of the year (founder & ceo eric enge - landy awards) content marketing – stc’s content marketing services have an admirable track record
- Led SEO focused client engagements with brands including Proctor & Gamble and United Healthcare
Healthline
Senior Product Manager
Apr 2006 - Nov 2009
Healthline.com is a leading health and medical information website. Healthline Networks was the largest health-specific advertising network in the world at the time I worked there.
- Built the SEO function into the Product and ENGR pipeline
- Built the SEM function to drive traffic and revenue
- Led web analytics for Healthline.com and Healthline Networks
Quinstreet
Business Development
Mar 2003 - Apr 2005
QuinStreet is one of the largest and most successful online performance marketing companies in the world
- Hired to build distribution by recruiting, managing & growing online affiliates
- Search engine marketing, SEM, SEO
- Conversion rate optimization of offer pages to increase ROI
- Brought in $2.9M in revenue in year 1, and $6.8M in year 2, managing 6 of the 10 largest affiliates in the network