About · Launch & Expansion Strategist
Good launch decisions take more than a marketing plan.
I’m Ericka Valenciano, a Launch & Expansion Strategist working with established consumer brands and multi-location businesses.
My work brings together marketing, operations, and people leadership. I help leadership teams evaluate a growth opportunity, make a clear launch decision, and coordinate the execution that follows.
Ericka ValencianoLaunch & Expansion Strategist
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My story · Ericka Valenciano
“I don’t have a dream.”
For the longest time, that was my answer whenever someone asked me what I wanted to become.
Chapter 01 · Making doMy story
Growing up, I was taught not to ask for too much.
To be grateful for what I had. To make do with what was available. To understand that there were things we needed more than the things we wanted.
And I carried that with me.
I learned to be practical. To adjust. To work with what I had and figure things out along the way.
Chapter 01 · Making doMy story
I also grew up knowing what was expected of me.
- Study hard.
- Be responsible.
- Make good decisions.
- Find a stable career.
- Be someone my family could depend on.
And I did my best to live up to those expectations.
Chapter 01 · Making doMy story
I had goals, of course. Things I needed to accomplish. Responsibilities I wanted to fulfill.
But dreams?
I wasn’t sure I had any that were entirely mine.
Chapter 02 · A supporting characterMy story
For much of my life, I felt like a supporting character.
I was more comfortable being behind the scenes, helping people figure things out, and celebrating their wins.
I’m also an introvert, which made my career choice a little surprising to some people.
Marketing? Of all things?
Chapter 02 · A supporting characterMy story
But what drew me to marketing wasn’t necessarily the social side of it.
It was that we got to create.
We could take an idea and turn it into something real. A campaign. A product. A brand. Something that started as a conversation and eventually reached people.
I loved that.
Chapter 03 · Coming homeMy story
And the more I worked, the more curious I became about everything happening around the creative process.
I wanted to understand how things worked together, not just how they looked from the outside. That curiosity eventually led me to go-to-market strategy and launches.
And somehow, it felt like coming home.
Chapter 03 · Coming homeMy story
Because I realized that what I loved most wasn’t just creating something.
It was helping people take an idea they believed in and figure out how to make it happen.
Looking back, I find it a little funny. Someone who spent most of her life saying she didn’t have a dream ended up building a career around helping other people pursue theirs.
Chapter 03 · Coming homeMy story
But somewhere along the way, I started learning to dream for myself, too.
Not because I suddenly had everything figured out. But because I started realizing that being grateful for what I have doesn’t mean I can’t want more for myself.
And that the life I build doesn’t have to be limited to what I once thought was possible.
Chapter 04 · Three things I’ve learnedMy story
If there’s anything I’ve learned through all of this, it’s these three things.
Chapter 04 · Three things I’ve learnedMy story
And I think that’s something I’ll continue learning. Because the things I wanted five years ago aren’t necessarily the same things I want today. And I imagine they’ll keep changing as I grow.
Life, to me, is becoming an ongoing process of navigation and expansion.
Learning what matters. Making decisions. Changing direction when needed. And allowing myself to want things I never thought I’d be able to have.
Chapter 05 · My answer nowMy story
And if you ask me now if I know what I want to be when I grow up?
I think I finally have an answer.
I want to become someone my younger self would be proud of.
- Someone who made something of the opportunities she was given.
- Someone who learned to ask for more without forgetting how to appreciate what she already had.
- Someone who helped other people build their dreams while finding the courage to pursue her own.
Chapter 05 · My answer nowMy story
And someday, I hope I can look back at everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve built, and everything we’ve achieved, and tell that little girl:
To that little girl
“Look how far we’ve come. Look at everything we got to do.”
I think she’d be proud. And I hope she’d be excited about everything we still get to become.
Cover
Ten years on every side of the launch handoff.
Launches break between teams. Marketing promises what operations can’t deliver yet, or the team learns its role the week before opening. I’ve worked in each of those seats, so I know where the gaps open up.
Marketing
Multi-location F&B marketing, local-store marketing, promotions, and creator campaigns across branch networks.
What it gives youDemand read from real customers, not optimism
Operations
Agency operations and operations integration: ownership, reporting, SOPs, escalation paths, and the systems that keep delivery running.
What it gives youA plan checked against what the team can actually run
Product and launches
Product launches, branch openings, franchise expansion, and recovery plans for locations that underperform after opening.
What it gives youPricing, timing, and route to market tested before you commit
Team leadership
Hiring documentation, operating cadence, clear ownership, and the difficult conversations that keep a team moving.
What it gives youNamed owners and a rhythm the team keeps after I step back
Growth I’ve supported, and the work behind it
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Banh Mi Kitchen
30 → 100+
franchise branches
The situation
A franchise network growing fast, where every new branch tests the systems, standards, and marketing that worked at 30.
My part
Supported the network’s growth from about 30 to more than 100 franchise branches.
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BlastView
2× in ~60 days
active locations
The situation
A growing business where delivery still ran through the founder, just as client locations started to scale.
My part
Ran operations and built the backend: clear ownership, reporting, SOPs, escalation paths, hiring documentation, and operating systems that moved delivery off the founder. Active locations doubled in about 60 days while that backend carried the load.
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Flaky Co.
Multi-location F&B
launches, openings, recovery
The situation
A multi-branch food and beverage brand launching products and opening branches, with some locations needing a turnaround.
My part
Product launches, branch openings, local-store marketing, promotions, creator campaigns, and recovery plans for underperforming locations.
Marketing and operations are how I got here. The launch decision, and making sure the team can carry it out, is what I work on now.
Most launches don’t fail in the campaign. They fail in the decisions made before it.
Here’s what I see in almost every launch team a few months out. A capable team, a real budget, and a plan nobody has tested as a whole. Each piece makes sense on its own. Put together, they often don’t.
By the time stock is ordered, people are hired, and the date is announced, every fix gets expensive. So I work in the window before that, while changing course still costs a conversation instead of a write-off.
- Demand looks proven because the core business is proven
- Pricing is carried over from the last launch
- The route to market assumes the team has spare capacity
- Everyone owns the launch, so nobody does
Exciting is not the same as ready. A launch decision should be tested before it’s funded, not after.
Ericka Valenciano
Clarity over comfort, from the decision through execution.
I’ll tell your leadership team what the evidence says, even when it’s not what the room hoped to hear. Then I make sure the decision turns into work your team can run.
-
01
Evidence before commitment
I test the plan against what’s actually known: demand, pricing, route to market, economics, ownership, and execution, side by side.
-
02
One straight call
Every review ends in a decision on the record, with the evidence behind it and what would change it. I’ll say pause when pause is right.
- Proceed
- Revise
- Pause
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03
Fix what matters first
Not every gap is equal. I separate the blockers from the fixable gaps, so the team spends its time on the three things that decide the launch.
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04
Every step has an owner
Each risk, task, and gate gets a name and a date. A launch plan without owners is a wish list.
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05
Rules agreed before launch
Go / no-go gates at Days 30, 60, and 90, set up front, so the team knows when to push, adjust, or stop without reopening the debate.
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06
Your team runs it
I build plans your internal team can own. If you want support during the 90 days, I advise your launch owner, or lead the launch across teams with agreed authority.
The method behind this is the Launch Viability System: validate demand, establish launch economics, design the route to market, mobilize execution, then learn and improve.
Established consumer brands and multi-location businesses with a launch on the calendar.
You have expansion risk, not first-idea risk. I usually work with the owner, CEO or managing director, or the marketing, commercial, operations, or product lead who owns the launch.
We’ll work well together if
- ✓You have proven demand and an established customer base
- ✓You’re preparing a material launch in the next 3–6 months
- ✓There’s a real launch budget and a team that can own implementation
- ✓Your decision-maker wants evidence, even when it challenges the idea, price, scope, or timeline
I’m probably not the right fit if
- ✕You’re pre-revenue, without a proven offer to launch from
- ✕The decision is final and you want sign-off, not scrutiny
- ✕You need campaign execution, content, or ads rather than a launch decision
Launches I work on
Categories
Bring the launch conversation to your audience.
I speak and collaborate on launches, business growth, and team leadership: events, panels, podcasts, and brand projects.
Topics I speak on
- Launch & expansion How to decide whether an opportunity is worth pursuing, and what has to be true before execution starts. Talks: Exciting Is Not the Same as Ready · Is This Launch Opportunity Ready?
- Team management Operating cadence, ownership, culture, and the difficult conversations that keep a team carrying the work.
- Agency operations The systems behind service businesses: delivery, reporting, and handoffs that don’t run through the founder.
Send me a short introduction, what you have in mind, who it’s for, and your proposed timeline.
Email me at hello@misserickamae.comFollow the process, not just the outcomes.
@misserickamae
Have a launch on the calendar? Let’s test it first.
Book a 30–45 minute Discovery Call. Tell me where the launch stands, who is involved, and what has already been committed. I’ll confirm whether the Launch Plan Assessment is the right first step for the decision your team needs to make.
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