I've been building the bigger version for twenty years.
Hi, I'm Nathan Phillips in Asheville. I spent a decade running my own agency with 500+ clients, built a string of businesses from a blank page, and now run Chaordal, where one senior operator with AI does the work that used to take a team. If I can't make a noticeable difference, I won't take the job.
Why I do this.
I've spent twenty years watching good businesses buy marketing they didn't need. Logos, campaigns, decks full of ideas nobody could tie back to a dollar. Nobody needs that.
I got into this because I love watching a business turn into what it could be, and I've done it enough times now to know what actually moves the number and what's just activity.
So I only work on the stuff that improves the bottom line. If that's not what you need, I'll tell you on the first call and I'll point you somewhere else.
The track record.
Concept to concrete is the pattern across a wide range of industries. Every line links to the full case study.
Any Color You Like, my agency.
Ten years, 500+ clients, 400+ websites, and a team of more than 20 at the 2019 peak. Revenue grew more than 500% from 2014 to 2019. From 2016 I ran an in-house incubator out of it and took fractional CMO and COO roles in the ventures it backed. That's where three of the next four come from.
Elevate Golf. Partner and CTO.
Two websites for a stake in a small golf marketing startup, then CTO, then a three-agency merger under the Golf Web Design name in early 2016. The combined company passed 300 golf courses and PGA pros on flat monthly plans with unlimited support.
Women’s Golf Day. Fractional CMO and COO.
A founder with a network and capital, and nothing built. I built the website, the event technology, and the marketing engine. It went from an idea to over 1,000 locations across 100 countries, on six continents. In 2019 the hashtag went viral and Nike and Callaway picked it up. The first venture in the incubator, from 2016.
Hemp Flower Naturals. Cofounder, fractional CMO and COO.
A logo sketch and an idea. I built the pitch deck that raised the seed, then the brand, the product, the supply chain, the sales team, and the website. $1.5M in revenue and 100+ stores in eighteen months. The $110K seed repaid in year one. Early to CBD, before the category went mainstream.
Apotheca. Founder-level builder.
I led the charge to convert a dozen tired head shops into a health and wellness apothecary: the name, the brand, the stores, the staff, the code of ethics, the suppliers, and every operating procedure. Five locations in year one, 40+ suppliers, 30+ staff hired and trained. Today it's over 60 stores across North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina.
CanvasPrints.com. Head of Product and Business Development.
A brand new startup with a handful of employees. I redesigned the ordering flow, added seven product lines, and signed white-label agreements with two global print companies. Site-wide conversion went from 2% to 6.4% in under a year.
ReSource Network. Head of Marketing.
A barter network for local businesses, run on a shared credit. I helped build the Asheville pilot, launched Chattanooga myself, and supported Austin. Three cities, 200+ member businesses, and $500K+ in trades in 16 months, before the funding ran out. Early to crypto, and the years that taught me what a real pipeline looks like inside a company instead of an agency.
Unique Places to Save. Fractional CMO.
Rebuilding the brand, marketing, and outreach for a small conservation nonprofit as it grew into a B2B brand: the rebrand, the site, the content, and a one-person, AI-powered corporate partner pipeline. Now the largest US nonprofit holding mitigation conservation easements. Restored river miles up 155%, projects up 82%, acres up 63%, stewardship fund up 50%.
Chaordal, and the current bench.
Fractional CMO at New Chapter Ventures, which I took from a stalled logo to launch with no paid advertising. Fractional creative director at Friends of Asheville Muni, which rebranded and launched September 1, 2026, with memberships up 20% in the first four weeks. Terra Alta, strategy to a live site in about ten weeks.
What Chaordal means.
Chaordic is a word Dee Hock, the founder of Visa, coined for organizations that work the way living things do: chaos and order at the same time, in the right balance. Every organization is fighting to create order from chaos, and it's an unnatural fight, because the chaos never stops coming. Technology is moving faster than most teams can absorb, and the feeling that everything is changing at once can be overwhelming.
My job is to find the opportunities for order inside that chaos, build the systems that turn chaos into order, keep those systems healthy, and enjoy the chaos around us. Chaordal is the name I gave that work.
How I work.
I oversee everything that happens. I ensure the quality of everything we present to our clients, whether a human or a machine created it. I don't sacrifice quality for quantity, but I'm always looking for ways to work more efficiently.
A number on everything, reported monthly on one page. I also have a filter called a requirement: I only work with businesses that are good for the people they serve. I've turned down work that failed it and I'll keep doing that.
Asheville.
I live and work here in the most beautiful city in Appalachia. I organize local meetups for people making things with AI, have run a food truck in downtown, opened retail stores downtown, and am a frequent customer of many local businesses. This is my city and I want to support those making it better.
Some credentials.
Twenty years in frontier tech and marketing. A decade running an agency. Google AI Fellow. Early to CBD, crypto, and now AI, which is a pattern, not luck: I look for the category that's about to grow and get a business into it first.
Start with the free call.
Sixty minutes. I'll ask a lot of questions, tell you what I'd do, and tell you what I think it's worth. Within 48 hours you get a written playbook you can run with or without me. No pitch, no obligation.