Peter Murphy Lewis didn’t plan to start StrategicPete.com. His business grew naturally while working on a private equity project. “I realized my clients needed me to get in and get out as quickly as possible and set up strategy with a team of operators,” says Peter.
Peter’s path wasn’t typical. He went from working with homeless populations to teaching at a university to running two businesses on different continents. His story shows how paying attention to what customers really need can lead to business success—even if that wasn’t your original plan.
StrategicPete.com helps mid-sized businesses make their marketing more effective without hiring a full-time marketing executive. Peter fills this gap by stepping in as a fractional CMO, setting up strategies that work, and giving companies exactly what they need to grow—no more, no less.
The Background
Peter’s path to business ownership wasn’t typical. Before focusing on marketing strategy, he worked with homeless HIV/AIDS populations in Boston. This early work helped him develop skills in understanding complex human needs and finding practical solutions – abilities that would later prove valuable in the business world.
Seeking new challenges and experiences, Peter moved to South America where he earned a master’s degree in Chile. His academic journey continued as he became a professor at the University of Chile in Santiago. Teaching at a university in a foreign country required him to communicate complex ideas across cultural differences—another skill that would serve him well later in his business career.
In 2007, while still in Chile, Peter started his first business. “I built something from nothing — in a second language, in a culture that didn’t hand me anything,” he says. That sharpened his instincts and taught him to be scrappy. He built this company over 17 years, growing it to “multiple cities, 50 employees, seven figures” before selling it in December 2024.
Meanwhile, in 2021, Peter established StrategicPete.com based in Wichita, Kansas. The business operates 100% remotely, letting him work with clients anywhere. But what led him to create this specific type of business?
During his work on a private equity turnaround project, Peter spotted a significant market gap. Mid-sized companies making $5-15 million per year faced a common challenge: they needed sophisticated marketing leadership but couldn’t afford a full-time Chief Marketing Officer’s salary.
These businesses had grown beyond basic marketing tactics but were caught in a difficult position. They needed strategic direction yet couldn’t justify hiring an executive-level marketing leader – a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) who would typically help them make smart decisions about reaching customers.
This is where Peter saw his opportunity. He created the concept of a “fractional CMO” service—providing high-level marketing leadership on a part-time basis, allowing companies to access the expertise they needed without the full-time cost.
“I was used to running everything — product, team, service, sales. StrategicPete was me putting a flag in the ground, saying, ‘I’m not just a founder — I’m a builder of other people’s revenue machines.'”
The Approach
Getting that first paying client wasn’t easy. “The challenge was narrowing the message down enough so that people could see themselves in the offer… while still making it sharp enough to scare off the wrong clients,” Peter explains.
His solution came from an unexpected place — generosity.
“I gave everything away for free — not in a ‘please hire me’ way, but in a ‘let me show you how I think’ way.”
Peter offered advice in communities like Growth Mentor, hosted workshops, and posted detailed breakdowns on LinkedIn. This strategy worked better than he expected.
“My first paid client came straight out of a Growth Mentor call. I spent 30 minutes helping them find their revenue bottleneck, and they came back a week later asking what it would cost to have me actually implement it.”
This became his guiding principle: “Be valuable first, price second.” By focusing on helping before selling, he built trust and demonstrated his expertise.
Like any business owner, Peter made mistakes along the way. With honesty, he shares one of his costliest errors:
“I once tanked traffic to one of my own sites because I misconfigured our Google Analytics and told it to prioritize South American traffic. Problem is, all our customers were in North America and Europe. It took six months to figure out, and I lost over $200,000 in revenue. That one still hurts.”
These painful lessons became part of the expertise he now brings to clients.
Startup Stories
The Services
Today, StrategicPete.com offers several services that work together to help businesses improve their marketing:
- Fractional CMO services for high-level marketing leadership
- Strategic planning to organize marketing
- Revenue-driving strategies tailored to each business
- Marketing agency services for implementation
- Documentary production for businesses wanting to tell their stories
With larger clients — “banks, venture-backed SaaS companies, even zoos” — Peter tackles complex problems: “dirty data, misaligned teams, sales blaming marketing, marketing blaming sales.”
“I clean house,” he says. “I help them see what’s working, what’s dead weight, and how to build a pipeline that matches their pricing and buyer psychology.” He also helps them work better with marketing agencies by “setting up internal teams or aligning business goals with the agency execution.”
SaaS means “Software as a Service” — businesses that sell access to software through subscriptions rather than one-time purchases.
Peter’s documentary production, “People Worth Caring About,” makes his business different from traditional marketing agencies.
“I wasn’t trying to create viral content. It started with my work in healthcare — I was doing podcast interviews with caregivers and industry leaders, and after a while, I realized: these people’s stories needed more than a 30-minute audio episode.”
The docuseries had a meaningful impact. “People reached out after watching it and said it changed the way they felt about aging and healthcare.”
Peter explains his approach: “We’re not here to hype a product. We’re here to make people care.”
The Lessons
Even if you’re just starting out, Peter says you can learn from how larger companies approach marketing, even without their resources.
“Your data matters just as much as theirs. Even if you only have 100 customers, your 80/20 still applies. The difference is scale, not strategy.”
The 80/20 rule means that often 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. This applies to businesses of all sizes.
His advice: “The big guys have more zeros. But if you can think like them — build systems, set KPIs, track what’s moving the needle — you can grow without hiring an army.”
Peter credits his time in Chile with shaping his business approach in important ways.
“I built something from nothing — in a second language, in a culture that didn’t hand me anything. That sharpened my instincts. I had to be scrappy, I had to understand people, I had to sell without hiding behind a pitch deck.”
A pitch deck is a presentation used to explain a business idea to potential investors.
This experience taught him that “business is human — not corporate.” He brings this mindset to U.S. companies “that have become too bloated to see what’s in front of them.”
His international background also influences his hiring philosophy: “I trust international talent more than most U.S. companies do. Because I’ve seen what happens when you give someone hungry a shot.”
The Future
Peter offers simple but powerful advice for those looking to start a business:
“Build a personal brand to make yourself stand out.”
His own company name, StrategicPete, puts his personal expertise at the center of his brand identity.
Peter also offers an unexpected insight about business positioning: “Don’t pick tourism for the travel company.” He’s suggesting that sometimes the most obvious market category is actually the most competitive and crowded. A travel business might find more success by focusing on a specific niche—like business travel, educational experiences, or cultural immersion—rather than general tourism. This approach helps you find less competitive spaces where your business can truly stand out.
Peter is publishing a book soon and plans to film two more documentaries this year, further establishing his expertise while creating new opportunities for his business.
His story shows that success can come from solving specific problems for specific clients, rather than trying to please everyone. By paying attention to what customers really need, you can build a thriving business—even if that wasn’t your original plan.
Peter’s business can be found at StrategicPete.com.
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