The scale behind the squad
Built across industries. Accountable to outcomes.
One integrated growth squad. Four cities. Deployed across seven industries.
Our Story
Built by operators. Run by operators.
We started Exactius because the agency model was broken in a specific way: agencies were graded on dashboards they controlled, not on the profit their clients actually made. So we built the agency we would have wanted to hire. Ten years and 100 operators later, the companies we've worked with have reached IPOs, nine-figure exits, and $1B+ in combined enterprise value.
We'd both scaled businesses to hundreds of millions and watched the same system fail. So we built the one we wished we'd had.
Exactius is a full-funnel growth agency accountable for its clients' P&L. Its AI-enabled senior operators provide performance marketing, strategy, creative, and whole-business analytics and data science, engaged one function at a time or as a full team. It serves consumer and B2B companies where paid marketing is a main growth lever, through two practices: one for companies from $5M to $100M and one for companies from $100M to $1B.
Leadership
Meet the Founders.
Exactius is co-founded by two operators who've built and scaled businesses through every phase of growth, then built the operating system they wished they'd had.
- CRO at Fiverr — scaled growth across 180 countries into IPO.
- Executive at ideeli — #1 on the Inc. 500, nine-figure exit.
- 50–100% YoY growth — in the US across Google, Meta, YouTube, affiliate, outdoor, and TV.
- Developer of the Growth Operating System — the methodology every Exactius squad deploys.
- CEO of four VC-backed companies — two DTC, two SaaS, across 30 years of operating.
- $0 → $200M at ideeli in 5 years — #1 on the Inc. 500.
- $150M+ raised — in venture capital across the companies he's led.
- Brings the execution discipline — that turns methodology into outcomes.
The Team
The Operators.
A global team of growth marketers, data engineers, creative strategists, performance specialists, and designers, grouped by department. Every function inside an Exactius squad is led by someone who has run it inside a scaling business.
The Exactius Growth Loop
Marketing: optimizes investment. Finance: sees the result in the P&L.
Every marketing dollar reconciled against the P&L. First-party conversion events sent automatically back to a central platform. CEO, CFO, and CMO sharing a single source of truth to work in partnership.
The Exactius Growth Loop is one piece of the broader Growth Operating System, the methodology David developed across Fiverr, ideeli, and the businesses he's scaled since. The system has four components: a Growth Engine that runs the Capital Allocation Loop (Data → Decision → Execution → Deployment); Growth Infrastructure powered by Violet, which produces the LTV:CAC signal the squad operates against; a Growth Culture that defines how the squad works; and Governance that defines who owns which decision. It also tracks Growth Debt, the accumulated inefficiency that blocks scale.
Most growth firms run pieces of this. Exactius runs all of it, end to end, as part of the partner's team. That's the difference between recommendations and outcomes, and it's why every engagement is accountable to LTV:CAC and contribution margin, not to ad metrics.
How we're different
Not a retainer. A growth team.
The traditional agency
The Exactius model
Testimonials
What partners say.
Operators we've worked alongside, in their words.
The team at Exactius have been instrumental in helping us think how best to scale our audience, spend time to understand the nuances of our business and what success looks like both in the short and long term. This passion for business growth enables them to craft a solution, that is not one size fits all, but very specific to the needs of MLS.
A high growth business, we met Exactius when looking for strong commercial alignment with a partner. They promised a unique approach towards managing our growth, and are still delivering a smart, integrated suite of services, two years into our relationship.
We had a huge growth opportunity and we were in a hurry to go faster, but didn't have the leadership, tech or teams to make it happen. Exactius came in, did it all, and delivered big-time!
Our Values
What we stand for.
The principles that shape how we work with each other and with the companies we work with.
Operator Mindset
We don't just advise. We've built and scaled companies ourselves. Every strategy is informed by real operational experience, not theory.
Capital Efficiency
Growth at any cost is not growth. We obsess over unit economics and LTV:CAC to ensure every dollar invested drives sustainable, profitable returns.
Data-Driven Execution
Decisions are grounded in data, not gut feelings. Our proprietary analytics infrastructure gives us, and our partners, an unfair advantage.
Long-Term Partnership
We're not a vendor. We join your team, align incentives, and build for long-term profit over quarters and years.
Questions about Exactius
Frequently asked
Who founded Exactius and what is their background?
Exactius was co-founded by David Manela and Paul Hurley. David previously served as CRO at Fiverr, scaling growth across 180 countries before IPO, and at ideeli, which he helped build to #1 on the Inc. 500 and a nine-figure exit. He developed the Growth Operating System, the methodology Exactius deploys inside scaling companies. Paul Hurley led four VC-backed companies, grew ideeli from $0 to $200M in revenue, and raised $150M+ in venture capital across his career.
What is the Growth Operating System?
The Growth Operating System is the methodology Exactius uses to deploy and operate growth inside scaling companies, developed by David Manela. It combines a Capital Allocation Loop (Data → Decision → Execution → Deployment), Growth Infrastructure powered by Violet, and a cross-functional squad structure. It replaces ad hoc campaign management with a system accountable to LTV:CAC and contribution margin. The full framework is documented at https://davidmanela.com/frameworks/growth-operating-system.
Where is Exactius based?
Exactius operates across four cities: Brooklyn (New York), Tel Aviv, Kyiv, and Madrid. The distributed team of 100 operators gives Exactius near 24-hour coverage across performance marketing, BI, CRM, and creative production, deployed as a single integrated growth squad on each partner's team.
What makes Exactius different from a growth marketing agency?
A traditional agency manages channels on retainer and optimizes for ROAS. Exactius is a full-funnel growth agency built differently: senior operators join your team and operate the full Capital Allocation Loop, accountable to LTV:CAC and contribution margin, not campaign metrics. We don't hand back recommendations and leave. We execute, operate, and stay through Scale.
What industries does Exactius operate in?
Exactius has worked across DTC and ecommerce, subscription businesses, multi-location services, B2B demand generation, fintech, healthcare, sweepstakes and prize draws, nonprofit and membership, and sports and live events. Across seven-plus industries, partners have generated over $1B in enterprise value, including nine-figure exits and IPOs.
What does an engagement look like?
Every engagement runs through four phases. Diagnose (weeks 1 to 2): the squad audits infrastructure, data, and the existing growth motion. Deploy (weeks 2 to 6): the squad sets up the Capital Allocation Loop and the Violet infrastructure. Operate (ongoing): the squad runs the loop week over week, against LTV:CAC and contribution margin. Scale (ongoing): the squad stays on your team as the system compounds and your team owns more of the cadence. Exactius offers three deployment models: Full Squad, Focus Lane, and Growth Analytics.