About us
Everyone starts somewhere.
Dropout provides growing organizations with vetted junior talent for fractional marketing, sales and operations work. You get the everyday work done. Someone grows their career.
Dropout, defined
drop·out
/ˈdrɒp.aʊt/ · noun
- 1.A curious mind building a real career outside the 9-to-5, without skipping the hard work.
- 2.The fractional model, brought to the everyday work of marketing, sales and operations.
Dropout brings the two together.
Why we exist
The work needs people. People need a start.
Every career starts with the hard work. The leaders running today’s businesses earned theirs: the early mornings, the first roles, the people who backed them. That foundation still matters.
What’s changed is how work fits together. Entry-level roles are harder to find, and growing organizations can’t always hire full time. Dropout is built for both: real roles with real businesses, on fractional hours that fit around a life. Businesses get dependable people doing the work. The next generation gets real experience and a real start.
Work. Life.
A week at Dropout
Real work. Real life.
- Mon · Client follow-upsDone
- Tue · Social posts and newsletterSent
- Wed · Ski dayLife
- Thu · Client project workDone
- Fri AM · Weekly summarySent
- Fri PM · Upskilling courseGrowth
✓ Room for both
Our values
What we believe.
01
Character first.
Skills can be taught. Character is shaped. We vet for who people are before what they’ve done.
02
Look after people.
Our people and yours. Do that well, and the work takes care of itself.
03
Real work. Real experience.
Flexible doesn’t mean easy. Our people do real work for real clients, with deadlines and results that count. That’s where judgment, confidence and references come from, and they go wherever our people go.
04
Freedom isn’t a perk.
It’s how the best work gets done. A life outside work makes for better work inside it.
How we build
Built to be redemptive.
Every organization decides why it builds, how it builds and what it builds. Praxis maps those choices across three ways of working: exploitative, ethical and redemptive. Dropout is committed to building in the redemptive space.
Why we build · Leadership
Others first.
We measure success by how far our people and clients grow, not just by how far we do.
How we build · Operations
Bless people, don’t just respect them.
Fair work, real mentorship and references that open doors. Everyone who works with Dropout should leave better off.
What we build · Strategy
Renew the first rung.
A better start for the next generation, and a better way for growing organizations to get the everyday work done.
The Redemptive Frame is the work of Praxis, adapted here with credit.
From the founder
I grew up in Colorado racing skis and bikes, and playing lots of golf. As a multisport athlete, I learned to respect my equipment as well as my craft. Though I participated in individual sports, learning to connect with my peers while still competing with one another was one of the highlights of my childhood years.
I started college on an Army ROTC scholarship and left after a year. Leaving didn’t mean skipping the work. It meant learning it for real, without a safety net and with nothing to lose: door-to-door sales, cold calls, insurance and a few ventures of my own. I found my way one job at a time, and each one started with someone willing to give me a shot.
I seem to have found something that works for me. These days I do marketing work I really enjoy, it’s slowly growing into what Dropout is today, and I get to do it from Bali. The best of both worlds. But the hard work continues. Now I just get to surf too. And I’m finding that having a life outside of work makes my work better, brighter and sharper. Shouldn’t we all be working this way? As my grandpa says it best, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
Austin Salem · Founder & Managing Partner
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