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.
Exactius was co-founded by David Manela and Paul Hurley — two operators who had collectively scaled businesses to hundreds of millions before launching Exactius. Having sat in the seat of the CMO, CRO, and CEO, they understood firsthand the frustrations of working with growth firms that lacked real business context: capital allocated to channels, campaigns optimized for ROAS, no reliable LTV:CAC signal, no cross-functional accountability.
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 the answer. Not a consultancy that produces decks. Not an agency that manages channels on retainer. An embedded growth operator — deploying the Growth Operating System inside scaling companies and running it until growth turns into long-term profit.
Leadership
Meet the Founders.
Exactius is co-founded by two operators who've built and scaled businesses through every phase of growth — and 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 five 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; Governance that defines who owns which decision; and an active focus on Growth Debt — the accumulated inefficiency that blocks scale.
Most growth firms run pieces of this. Exactius runs all of it, end-to-end, inside the partner's organization. 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 an agency. An embedded operator.
The agency model
The Exactius model
Testimonials
What partners say.
Operators we've embedded with, 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 embed inside.
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 embed with 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 125+ operators gives Exactius near 24-hour coverage capability across performance marketing, BI, CRM, and creative production — deployed as a single integrated growth squad inside each partner organization.
What makes Exactius different from a growth marketing agency?
Exactius is not a marketing agency. Agencies manage channels on retainer and optimize for ROAS — we embed a cross-functional growth squad inside your organization and operate the full Capital Allocation Loop. The distinction is accountability: agencies are accountable to campaign metrics, Exactius is accountable to LTV:CAC and contribution margin. We don't produce recommendations and leave — we execute, operate, and stay through Scale.
What industries does Exactius operate in?
Exactius squads have been deployed across DTC and ecommerce, subscription businesses, multi-location services, B2B demand generation, fintech, healthcare, iGaming, nonprofit and membership, and sports and live events. Across seven core industries, the Growth Operating System has generated over $1B in enterprise value and $550M+ in incremental revenue for partners.
What does an engagement look like?
Every engagement runs through four phases: Diagnose (weeks 1–2) — the squad audits infrastructure, data, and the existing growth motion; Deploy (weeks 2–6) — 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 embedded as the system compounds and the partner team owns more of the cadence. Exactius offers three deployment models: Full Squad, Focus Lane, and Growth Analytics.