About Matthias Stepancich
I’m a paid media strategist who understands measurement at a level most marketers don’t.
I’ve spent 10+ years building and scaling paid media across 31 countries (NA, EMEA, APAC) for B2C & B2B brands – from zero to $10M/quarter at Tesla, to managing €3M/month across 7 markets at lastminute.com, to advising growth-stage companies as an independent consultant.
The longer version
I started in Search Engine Marketing, which taught me that growth is ultimately about understanding what’s actually working – not just what platforms tell you is working.
At lastminute.com, I rebuilt paid search from the ground up, then moved into a Marketing Innovation role where I built automation tools and experimentation frameworks. That’s where I started asking harder questions about measurement.
At Tesla, I was the first global growth performance hire. I built the growth team from zero, launched Tesla’s first-ever YouTube campaigns, and enabled the company to integrate incrementality testing as the measurement standard. We scaled to $10M/quarter in paid media across three continents.
Today, I work with growth-stage companies as a fractional leader and strategic advisor. I bring the same measurement rigor I developed at Tesla – but now I get to help multiple companies instead of just one.
Why measurement matters
Most paid media people trust what the platforms tell them. ROAS looks good, so the campaign must be working.
But I’ve seen too many situations where the numbers lie. Where attributed conversions don’t match real revenue. Where scaling a “high-performing” channel actually decreased total sales.
I understand incrementality testing, marketing mix modeling, and causal inference – not as a data scientist, but as a strategist who can design tests, interpret results, and translate them into real decisions.
This doesn’t mean every client needs a measurement overhaul. It means I build paid media strategies that hold up to scrutiny. When your CFO or board asks hard questions, you’ll have real answers.
Career timeline
2024-Present | Independent Consultant
Fractional Head of Growth for growth-stage companies. Paid media strategy and measurement.
2024-Present | Founding Growth Lead, BlueAlpha
Built growth function from zero at AI-powered marketing measurement and decision-making platform.
2023-2024 | Global Growth Performance Manager, Tesla
First global growth performance hire. Built growth performance team. Launched first-ever YouTube campaigns. $10M/quarter across NA, EMEA, APAC.
2021-2023 | Marketing Innovation Manager, lastminute.com
Experimentation, automation, measurement. 12% YoY revenue increase, 397% profit growth in first two quarters.
2018-2021 | SEM Manager, lastminute.com
Rebuilt paid search across 8 products, 7 markets. €3M/month managed. +158% conversions, +67% ROAS in Germany.
Credentials
Google Ads (Search, Display, Video, Measurement); GA4; Bing; HubSpot Inbound; Customer Analytics (Wharton Online); Data Science: Data to Insights (MIT Professional Education); Pricing Strategy (IE Business School); Startup School (Y Combinator); and more. Full list here.
How I work
I’m strategic, not executional. I design the approach – which channels, how much budget, what tests to run – but I don’t manage campaigns day-to-day.
I work with your team and/or your agency to implement strategy and integrate AI tools. I provide the senior oversight and measurement perspective they might lack.
I’m based in Italy but work with teams across the US, UK, Germany, and beyond. Time zones haven’t been a problem yet.
I prefer asynchronous communication for most things. Slack over email. Loom over meetings when possible. Meetings when they’re actually needed.