Is your MarTech stack costing more than it delivers? That can change.

I'm Stephan Götze, Senior MarTech Architect at DB Systel. 20 years of marketing and MarTech experience at ebay, mobile.de, Scout24, ImmoScout24, AutoScout24 and Deutsche Bahn, plus advisory projects for EQT, Idealista and Payback. MarTechHero is my advisory practice, specializing in MarTech stack analysis and SaaS evaluation for the mid-market.

Through a combination of AI automation and senior expertise. The routine work (vendor research, data structuring, initial scoring) is handled by a specialized AI pipeline I built myself. What requires experience (contextualization, compliance interpretation, negotiation hints) I do manually. Without the AI it would take 4–6 weeks. Without the manual review, quality would suffer.

Every evaluation has a traceable source. The score "4 out of 5" for "SCIM support" is linked to the exact vendor documentation. You can review every score and correct it during the debrief call — that's part of the process. That's the difference from "ChatGPT says Tool X is good": evidence, not opinion.

You bring your longlist (typically up to 30 tools) or a tool category, and I determine which solutions belong on the shortlist. Any publicly documented SaaS solution can be evaluated.

Yes. In the debrief call we discuss what needs to be adjusted. Minor changes (framing, emphasis, co-branding) are included. Larger changes are billed as an add-on.

We only crawl public vendor websites. No personal data, no confidential documents. Your audit data is stored on German servers (Hetzner, Frankfurt), not in the US. GDPR-compliant, BDSG-compliant.

Yes. The compliance modules (GDPR Art. 28, NIS2 Art. 21, DORA Art. 30) are standard components, not add-ons. The audit trail is traceable and audit-ready. For particularly deep NIS2/DORA requirements there is an add-on package.

You receive two reports: an Executive Report (PPTX, for the board and stakeholders) and a Detail Report (PDF, for IT and compliance). Both are co-branding ready — your logo can go on the title page. I am the author, not an anonymous tool.

Then we talk. The debrief call is there to ensure the report works for you. If I've clearly missed the mark, you get it corrected.

Invoice by email after completion, payable within 14 days. No upfront payment, no credit card, no complex contracts. Standard B2B process.

Typical warning signs: more than 8–10 active marketing tools, more than 30% of licenses used by less than a third of the team, data not flowing automatically between systems, nobody knows exactly what is licensed. Gartner 2025: 49% of all MarTech tools are never actively used. These aren't abstract statistics — for most mid-market companies this is exactly the reality. A Stack Assessment brings clarity in 1–2 weeks.

CRM manages customer relationships and is primarily for sales: contacts, deals, pipeline. CDP (Customer Data Platform) collects and unifies customer data from all channels into a single profile, typically for marketing. MAP (Marketing Automation Platform) automates marketing processes: email campaigns, lead nurturing, scoring. Many mid-market companies buy all three and only realize afterwards that they overlap. Tool Scout evaluation clarifies which combination makes sense for your situation.

The three most common: First, demo decisions: the tool is selected after a 45-minute vendor demo without structured criteria. Second, missing compliance check: GDPR, data processing agreements and data storage location are only checked after purchase. Third, underestimated integration costs: the tool costs €15,000 per year, but integration into the existing system costs another €40,000 one-time. Tool Scout prevents exactly these situations through structured evaluation before the decision.

Traditional IT consulting charges by the hour, has vendor partnerships (which influences recommendations) and sends junior consultants. Agencies have an interest in you buying expensive tools because they earn on licenses. MarTechHero: fixed prices, no vendor partnerships, no license commissions. Direct collaboration, no subcontracting. The conflict of interest structurally does not exist.

Four requirements: (1) data processing agreement (DPA) can be signed with the provider, (2) data storage in the EU or in a country with adequate protection level, (3) sub-processors transparent and GDPR-compliant, (4) data subject rights such as access and deletion technically implementable. For US SaaS the Schrems II issue adds complexity: US law allows access to data even without GDPR compliance. Tool Scout checks all these points as standard.

Both, depending on the use case. Already in production: content generation, segmentation and audience building, predictive lead scoring, campaign personalization. Still overrated: fully autonomous campaign management without human oversight, generative AI for legally sensitive content. Future Blueprint evaluates your concrete AI readiness across 6 dimensions and shows where deployment makes immediate sense and where foundations are still missing.

Forrester 2025: companies with a maximum of 5 core tools have 23% higher marketing pipeline per head than companies with 10+ tools. There is no universally correct number, but rules of thumb: one tool per core function (automation, analytics, CRM, content), no three tools doing the same thing, every tool has a clear owner and measurable benefit. Stack Assessment shows where you stand and what can be cut.