Date: 2026-09-08 Time: 2:00 PM EDT Attendees: Michael Houck, Alice Hansen (Intrepidarc), Blake Stewart, Luca Foglio (Miller Companies), Tatem (JOLT!) Context: Sales/discovery call with Manse (AI home manager app by DMG / Rob Miller). Prospect, not yet a client.
Summary
Manse is an AI home management app targeting dual-income homeowners in the $1.5M-$5M home range, currently focused on Chicagoland with Naples and Park City as secondary markets. They have an active influencer/UGC campaign (paid spikes via Luca and Cole) and are exploring organic content to build a durable owned audience alongside it.
Michael and Tatem pitched a founder-led, person-led content strategy with Rob Miller as the primary face. Scope covers everything except filming: trend research, scripting, editorial calendar, post-production, scheduling, profile setup, account management, and community management. Reddit and SEO/AEO (Emma already engaged) discussed as layering opportunities after social traction is established.
Key Points
- Founder-led content outperforms brand accounts; Rob Miller is camera-ready and willing
- Brand account needs one consistent face as a visual hook for recognition
- Beehive ecosystem model recommended: Rob as primary node, Don McKenna and others as complementary nodes with distinct perspectives, not duplicative content
- Organic-first, paid-second framework: influencer/UGC spend (what Luca is currently running) treated as paid spikes, not owned audience; reserve for high-leverage moments (launches, feature releases, milestones)
- Geography question unresolved: Chicagoland-focused vs. location-agnostic debated; Don McKenna already reaches 8 states; Luca leans location-agnostic; Michael’s stance is do whatever gets Manse to the next stage
Decisions
None made by Manse team. They need to huddle internally to align on strategy direction before kickoff.
Action Items
- Michael: send written summary of everything covered
- Alice + Luca: huddle internally and align on brand-level (Rob as Manse face) vs. hyperlocal account strategy
- Michael: schedule kickoff call once Manse aligns (target later this week)
Pricing Quoted
- 3-month foundational period: $15,000 flat (not per month) for one account
- Includes: trend research, scripting, editorial calendar, post-production, scheduling, account setup, profile optimization, community management
- Volume: minimum 1 post/day; sweet spot 1-3/day
- 60-day check-in built in; then month-to-month or annual (with discount)
- Multi-account: 10% discount applies to all accounts when running multiple
- AI digital twin available if Rob’s availability is a constraint
Notable Excerpts
“Any consumer brand that’s breaking out in 2026… you need to have a movement behind you. You need to have a groundswell. This isn’t like let’s throw a bunch of money at this and we’ll get some top down thing where everyone suddenly loves us.” - Michael
“A person almost acts as a visual hook and visual hooks are very powerful in video content. If we can get people to start associating a brand with a person, that’s an automatic visual hook that you don’t even have to worry about anymore.” - Tatem
“Influencer/UGC spend is paid spikes, not owned audience. We’d just be paying for spikes over and over again. Whereas if we’re building something organically around Rob or around Mance, it’s compounding.” - Michael
On geography: “What you’re trading off is TAM for trust in the market. Don or somebody who’s local to one market is not going to have the same TAM for their follower count that Rob is talking about the company broadly.” - Michael