Randolf Leśniak

Why this persona fits the audience

He works as a fractional CMO for three startups in Warsaw, maintaining separate LinkedIn calendars for each client and his own profile, with most drafting done in Google Docs and approvals handled over Slack.

• Age: 44
• Location: Warsaw, Poland
• Occupation: Fractional CMO
• Income: PLN 220k-320k/year
• Education: Master's degree in marketing
• Company size: Consultant to three companies (Series A/B stage)
• Years in role: 6

“Marketing isn't about shouting the loudest; it's about making sure the right people hear exactly what you mean, at exactly the right time, without wasting a second of their attention.”

Randolf Leśniak is a seasoned marketing executive who transitioned from traditional full-time roles to fractional leadership six years ago, driven by a desire for autonomy and variety. Born and raised in Warsaw, he earned his Master's in Marketing from the University of Warsaw before spending a decade climbing the ladder at major advertising agencies and in-house teams. Realizing that the corporate ladder offered diminishing returns on creativity and flexibility, he pivoted to serving three high-growth startups simultaneously. This arrangement allows him to apply his expertise across diverse sectors—SaaS, fintech, and consumer tech—while maintaining a manageable workload. He operates out of a rented desk in a central Warsaw co-working space, treating his business like a precision instrument. Randolf is known for his rigorous organizational systems; he maintains separate LinkedIn calendars for each client and drafts all content in isolated Google Docs environments to ensure brand integrity. His recent decision to standardize his approval workflows over Slack was born out of frustration with email chains that lost critical context. Despite his success and substantial income, he remains grounded, viewing his role as a service provider rather than a celebrity. He is currently exploring ways to systematize his knowledge into a licensable framework, aiming to scale his impact beyond his direct time input. To Randolf, time is the only non-renewable resource, and every minute spent on inefficient processes is a theft from his future self.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

Randolf wakes up at 5:30 AM for a run, returning by 7:00 AM to shower and brew coffee. By 8:15 AM, he is logged into his first client's Slack channel, reviewing overnight metrics and drafting responses to urgent queries. His morning is dominated by deep work in Google Docs, writing thought leadership pieces for Client A's CEO. At noon, he takes a quick lunch break, scrolling through LinkedIn to engage with industry peers. The afternoon shifts to Client B, involving a strategy call and refining a carousel PDF design. He spends late afternoon preparing content for Client C's upcoming product launch, ensuring all copy aligns with their tone guidelines. Evenings are reserved for exercise or reading, with no work emails checked after 8:00 PM unless it's a crisis. He ends his day by updating his master calendar and planning the next day's priorities.

Lifestyle

Randolf resides in a sleek, modernist apartment in Mokotów, where order is paramount; everything has its place, from his minimalist kitchen to the digital folders on his laptop. He runs five kilometers every morning at dawn along the Vistula river, using this time to clear his mind before the day's chaos begins. His social life is selective but high-quality, often centered around dinner gatherings with other founders or deep conversations over craft beer at local gastropubs rather than loud clubs. Financially, he lives comfortably within his means, reinvesting heavily into his own education and health while avoiding flashy luxury goods. He views money as a tool for freedom and security, not status, and maintains a strict separation between personal finances and his consulting income streams.

Work life

His workday is a complex juggling act across three distinct startup ecosystems, each with different cultures and urgency levels. He rarely sits in one office, preferring a co-working space in Śródmieście that offers quiet zones and reliable Wi-Fi. His primary tools are Google Docs for drafting long-form content and Slack for rapid-fire approvals, though he keeps these channels strictly segmented to prevent cross-contamination of client data. He spends his mornings analyzing metrics and afternoons writing or recording voice notes for his clients' executives. The pressure comes from the need to maintain high output without burning out, constantly switching contexts between B2B SaaS, fintech, and e-commerce. He prides himself on being invisible yet indispensable, delivering results that look like organic team efforts.

Relationships

Randolf is divorced and has an adult son who lives in Kraków; they speak weekly via video call, focusing on shared interests like music rather than heavy emotional topics. He maintains a tight circle of four close friends, mostly former colleagues from his full-time agency days, who understand the unique pressures of the gig economy. His professional network is vast but shallow, consisting mainly of founders and investors he meets at conferences. He relies heavily on peer validation from other fractional leaders for advice, often turning to private WhatsApp groups when stuck on strategic dilemmas rather than asking his clients directly.

How they decide

Highly analytical and evidence-based. Randolf does not make decisions based on hype or sales pitches. He prefers to test hypotheses on a small scale before committing resources. He values data transparency and will dig into documentation or ask for case studies if a claim seems too good to be true. While he is open to new ideas, his default setting is skepticism until he sees proof of efficiency gains. He rarely makes impulsive purchases, preferring to deliberate for days or weeks, weighing the long-term utility against the cost.

How they sound

Direct, concise, and professional. Randolf speaks with a measured cadence, avoiding slang and filler words. He uses precise terminology related to marketing funnels and KPIs. When frustrated, his tone becomes sharper and more factual, cutting straight to the issue without sugarcoating. He avoids vague statements like 'maybe' or 'I think,' preferring 'the data suggests' or 'based on our agreement.' In casual conversation, he remains polite but guarded, rarely oversharing personal details. He values clarity above all else in speech, often pausing to rephrase a sentence if he feels it might be misunderstood.