Robert Tomkinson

CMO - Fractional or Full-time

at Self

I’m Robert Tomkinson, a senior operating executive with 20+ years of experience building, scaling, and integrating consumer and marketplace businesses across venture-backed, PE-backed, and public-company environments. My background includes leadership roles at companies such as eBay, EA, Yelp, TouchTunes, Ingenio, Puls, and CoPilot. I’ve served in CMO and VP-level roles, partnering closely with founders and CEOs, and helping teams navigate key inflection points including brand and product launches, go-to-market resets, monetization expansion, fundraising, and M&A integration. A significant part of my career has been hands-on operating work at moments of complexity: diagnosing and aligning product, marketing, data, and finance around growth priorities; clarifying positioning and customer value propositions; and turning strategy into execution. I bring a strong analytical foundation from earlier consulting and VC investing experience, combined with practical leadership experience building, reorganizing, and leveling up teams, partners, and vendors; operating at scale; navigating exogenous shocks; and presenting to Boards and investors. I enjoy working directly with founders as a sounding board and thought partner, particularly around marketing and adjacent disciplines when the path forward isn’t obvious. My style is pragmatic and operator-first: helping teams focus on what actually moves the business, avoid over-engineering solutions, and make confident decisions under uncertainty to drive results.
California
AI & Data Science, Consumer FinTech, DTC (Direct-to-Consumer), Media & Entertainment, Social Media & Community Platforms
#Board#Leadership#Mergers/Acquisitions#TransformationA/B TestingASOAttribution and AnalyticsB2BB2CBrand partnerships and monetizationBrand Positioningbusiness developmentCRMCROCustomer AcquisitionCustomer RetentionExecutive LeadershipFinancial modeling and strategyGo-To-Market (GTM) StrategyMarketing StrategyPerformance MarketingPRProduct MarketingSEMSEOSMB marketingSocial Media Advertising

Articles by Robert Tomkinson

Stop Hiding Behind Your Screen: In-Person Events Are How You Win in 2026

2026 is shaping up to be the year businesses rediscover the power of shaking hands, clinking glasses, and actually meeting their prospects in person. Don’t take my word for it...

Build Alignment Before You Burn Out

Everything Feels Urgent At early-stage companies, everything feels urgent: shipping product, closing customers, raising money. In that environment, planning can feel like a luxury, or even a liability. In my...

Colin Belyea - How To Use Reddit To Scale Organic Growth For Your Startup.

How To Use Reddit To Scale Organic Growth For Your Startup

In this Mucker Growth Series session, Colin Belyea, founder of Karmic and an expert in Reddit organic growth, breaks down how Reddit has become one of the most influential discovery...

Sales Comp Kick Start: Keys to Getting It Right as You Begin to Build Your Sales Team

Webinar Recap featuring Donya Rose, Managing Principal from The Cygnal Group Sales compensation is one of the most critical aspects of building a successful sales organization. Many early-stage founders stumble...

Austin Tech Week 2025 Recap

Mucker Capital hosted two powerful days of programming during Austin Tech Week, bringing together founders, operators, and growth leaders to share real-world insights from the startup trenches. Across four sessions,...

LA Tech Week 2025 Day 3 Recap: AI Search – Wednesday Oct 15

After two packed days exploring AI startup building and go-to-market growth, Day 3 of LA Tech Week shifted focus to the evolving world of AI Search, how new AI technologies...

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