How it works · engine-run, human-committed

The weekly work, run to your guardrails

Onboarding is fast, not trivial. Then every week our engine drafts the changes worth making, a human reviews each one against your commercial guardrails, and it ships - all logged.

Onboarding

The Commercial Guardrail Pack

Onboarding is fast, not trivial. We connect to your ad account and run a 45-minute commercial guardrail session - then the first weekly cycle begins within days. This is the onboarding object we build with you, and manage to every week.

Commercial Guardrail Pack Illustrative · fictional brand
SKU rolesHero ×4 · Defend ×7 · Launch ×2 · Harvest ×11 · Deprioritize ×3
Margin bandsHero 32-38% · Defend 24-30% · Harvest floor 18%
Inventory exceptionsThrottle spend on SKU-4471 - ~3 weeks cover
Total budget range$12K-$15K / month
Branded / nonbrandedTarget 35% / 65%
TACoS range14-18%, launch exception to 24%
Promotion calendarPrime Day · Labor Day · BFCM
Approval thresholdsBudget moves beyond ±20%; any new promo
Set with you at onboarding · reviewed each quarter · every material exception documented

Each SKU gets a role, we capture your margin bands, note your inventory exceptions, agree your advertising objectives, map your promotion calendar, and set the approval matrix. That's what makes managing to your commercial context real - ad data alone doesn't know your margins, your inventory, or which products to defend.

The first 90 days

Establish context, stabilize, optimize, prove

Days 1–10

Establish the operating context

Connect accounts, collect guardrails, classify SKU roles, review margin bands and inventory exceptions, map promotions, set approval thresholds, and complete the baseline diagnostic.

Days 11–30

Stabilize and clean up

Address obvious structural waste, correct budget pacing, fix coverage gaps where strategically appropriate, organize branded and nonbranded roles, and begin the change ledger.

Month 2

Optimize within the guardrails

Refine targets, test allocation changes, coordinate the next promotion window, and compare against the baseline.

Month 3

Prove the operating system

Show the cumulative change record, summarize which guardrails were held or intentionally flexed, review contribution and coverage changes, and make the renewal decision.

The weekly cycle

Nothing runs unread

Six steps, every week. The engine does five of them; a human owns the one that carries the accountability - the review against your guardrails.

1

Pull

The engine pulls your account

2

Draft

Changes worth making, drafted

3

Review

A human checks each against your guardrails

4

Commit

Routine changes ship; big calls escalate

5

Ledger

Every change logged with the reason

6

Brief

A short async brief in your inbox

The judgment layer is the point.

Routine moves stay on-strategy automatically; the human brings the commercial context Amazon's system doesn't have and isn't accountable to. Amazon optimizes within the data and objectives available to its system - we manage against your broader commercial guardrails, and we take responsibility for the call.

The change ledger

A log of what we did, not a promise about ROAS

You get a running record of every change and why. Routine work is committed inside your mandate; anything past it stops here and waits for your call.

Held for approval Reviewed · Account Lead · Jul 16, 9:12 AM PT
ProposedIncrease launch budget 35%
GuardrailOutside the approved +20% range set in your guardrail pack
Why it mattersA launch step-up this size draws from budget your hero SKUs are pacing against this week
StatusWaiting on you - one reply commits or holds it
The governance scorecard

Managed toward guardrails, not a single number

We manage your account toward agreed commercial guardrails and document every material exception - not a single TACoS cap, and never a ROAS guarantee.

  • A total-account TACoS range
  • Branded vs nonbranded allocation
  • Launch exceptions
  • SKU margin and contribution bands
  • Inventory constraints
  • An account budget range
  • Promotion and event flex rules
  • Explicit strategic exceptions

A falling sales denominator can push TACoS over a single cap even when ads are well managed; a growth phase may want higher TACoS; a launch needs lower ROAS tolerance. A range plus documented exceptions is more honest - and more defensible - than one number.

The approval matrix

A bounded mandate, not a blank check

Speed on the routine work, your sign-off on the moves that carry real consequence.

We execute automatically, within your guardrails

  • Routine bid changes
  • Budget-pacing changes within the agreed range
  • Negative-keyword additions
  • Search-term harvesting
  • Pausing clear waste
  • Standard campaign maintenance
  • Inventory-related throttling
  • Small allocation shifts

We ask first

  • Large budget increases
  • New campaign strategies outside the agreed plan
  • Major branded / nonbranded reallocations
  • Launch-investment exceptions
  • New promotion participation
  • Material price changes
  • Creative changes
  • Any decision with inventory or margin consequences beyond the agreed thresholds
Promotions

One steering problem, one team

Deal weeks demand ad surges; a starved budget goes invisible by mid-morning. We run the promo calendar on the same rhythm as the ads, across the whole event window.

Before
Set
Live
After

Pre-event readiness

Inventory check, reference-price and fee review, calendar locked.

Budget & bid plan

Ad surge staged so the budget doesn't exhaust by mid-morning.

Window monitoring

Deal window watched and steered in real time on the higher tiers.

Post-event readout

Incrementality read honestly - pre and post lift, not a vanity number.

Coupon fees were rewritten repeatedly, and a mistimed run of deals can reset your reference price. Coordination is included at every tier; depth is tier-gated, and the boundary is published on the pricing page.

Book a fit check

First, tell us the shape of the account

Three quick questions confirm the likely tier - or whether the account belongs with TESMO. If it's a fit, you'll add your details and pick a time. The fit check itself is a 20-minute call.

Step 1 · The account

No name or email yet - just the shape of the account.

Better fit: TESMO

This looks like a TESMO full-service fit

This account is better suited to TESMO's full-service team - enterprise, Vendor Central, and shared-account structures are handled there. It's a better fit, not a rejection.

Go to tesmollc.com
Not yet

You probably don't need us yet

You don't need us yet. At that level your own time or a good tool will do - come back when your spend is big enough that managing it pays for itself. We'd rather send you away honestly than sell you a service you can't yet use.

Almost there

Pick a time for your fit check

Your details are in. Choose a 20-minute slot and we'll confirm your tier and walk through the month-1 audit we'd build.

Questions

Before you ask

How does onboarding work?

You grant us access, then we run a 45-minute commercial guardrail session - SKU roles, margin bands, inventory exceptions, objectives, your promo calendar, and the approval matrix. No data-export project. Your first weekly cycle runs within days, and the full 90-day journey (establish context, stabilize, optimize, prove) is above.

What can you change without asking me?

Routine work stays inside your guardrails - bid changes, budget pacing within the agreed range, negative keywords, search-term harvesting, pausing clear waste, standard maintenance. We ask first for large budget increases, new campaign strategies, major reallocations, launch-investment exceptions, new promotion participation, material price or creative changes, and anything with inventory or margin consequences beyond the agreed thresholds. It is published as our approval matrix.

What are the commercial guardrails?

A short scorecard we set with you at onboarding: a total-account TACoS range, branded vs nonbranded balance, launch exceptions, SKU margin bands, inventory constraints, a budget range, promotion flex rules, and any strategic exceptions. We manage to those and document anything material that falls outside them - that is the accountability, not a single number.

What tools do you use - do I have to switch?

No. We bring our own engines and run on your existing access - your ad console and whatever analytics you already have. You do not migrate tools or rebuild campaigns to start.

Can I cancel?

After the 90-day initial engagement, any time - cancel before the next billing period. No post-cancellation charges.

What size brand is this for?

Brands under $5M in Amazon revenue, spending roughly $8K-$60K a month on ads, selling 3P on Seller Central. If you are spending well under that, you likely do not need us yet - we will tell you honestly.