Founded 2009. Gold Coast, Australia.
MSQ began as a simple observation: businesses fail at marketing not because they lack tactics, but because they lack alignment. The C-suite says one thing, marketing does another, and agencies execute in the dark.
Over 15 years and 5,000+ assessments, that observation became a methodology. Nine pillars. 45 questions. A diagnostic framework that surfaces the misalignments that kill marketing effectiveness — and gives strategists the data to fix them.
Today MSQ is a platform. The methodology is encoded in software. The assessment is automated. The analysis is AI-augmented. But the strategy still comes from humans — trained, accredited strategists who combine MSQ's data with their own expertise and contextual intelligence.
Headquartered in Brisbane with an active presence in London, MSQ is building the operating system for independent agencies that want to lead with strategy.
Human-centred AI. Strategy augmented by technology, never replaced by it.
Strategy before tactics. The brief before the execution.
Alignment over assumption. Measure it, surface it, fix it.
The team
Ben Slater
Co-founder / Product
30-year industry veteran. Former agency owner — built and ran a tier-one digital agency for 10 years, serving as Nestlé Oceania's digital partner for six of them. Bridges the gap between technology and creative strategy. Brisbane-based.
LinkedIn →Debbie Richardson
Co-founder / Methodology
The architect behind MSQ's nine-pillar framework and the driving force behind 5,000+ business assessments over 15+ years. Practising strategist with active client engagements across the UK. The methodology is her life's work.
LinkedIn →Seth Hawthorne
Investor & Thought Leadership
Investor and co-host of "The Space Between" podcast. Tracks the structural shifts reshaping the agency landscape — from holding company collapse to independent agency opportunity. Connects market dynamics to strategic action through the Agency by Agency initiative.
LinkedIn →