A few people at a time, working directly with me.
Everything else here is built to scale — a free diagnostic, a written plan, ninety days of structured async support. The Inner Circle is the opposite of that. It’s me, one-on-one, with a small number of people whose businesses are already big enough that the next move is worth getting right. Real-time, bespoke, shaped entirely around your situation.
Apply for a conversation→A four-figure engagement · a limited number of spots · by application only
25 years inside the systems behind the world’s biggest fandoms — Blizzard, Amazon, and the franchises they run on.
Who it’s for
Built for the established, not the just-starting.
This is the right room if you already have the things most people are still chasing — a real audience, revenue that’s held steady for a good while — and you’ve hit a ceiling you can’t push past on your own. Big, stable, and quietly stuck. That’s the profile it’s designed for.
If you’re still building the foundation — finding your audience, getting the first dollars consistent — this isn’t where you start. The Deep Dive will move you faster for a fraction of the commitment. Come back when you’ve plateaued at a height worth breaking through.
Why it’s by application
The application isn’t a hoop. It’s the point.
Two reasons, and neither is theater.
First, my time. I can only do this with a few people at once and actually be useful — so the spots are genuinely limited, and the application is how I make sure the few are the right fit.
Second, what you get access to. Inner Circle clients work with proprietary tools and processes I’ve built over the years and don’t hand out anywhere else — not in the diagnostic, not in any product on this site. That access only makes sense for a small, vetted group, which is exactly what the application protects.
So it’s not me being precious. It’s me keeping the room worth being in.
Proof
What the people who worked beside me say.
I’ve been privileged to be able to work directly with Otavio over the years to set a standard in social media content, both at Blizzard and in the games industry at large. Otavio’s willingness to test new platforms and take calculated risks, and his ability to understand his team and leverage their strengths, is a unique skill I’ve not seen much anywhere else. Otavio is also an amazing storyteller, with the ability to obtain buy-in from all manner of stakeholders.
Otavio has been special in my own career, as our successes were intertwined by the campaigns and platforms we built together, and those he built for me — oftentimes the silent mastermind who goes unaccredited. He is the person who will find the team and partner you need, and if they don’t exist, will actually work with the options he has available to build you one. He is also the person who, after creating those teams, keeps them together behind the scenes, with vast experience in both good and trying times.
Otavio was always a highly trusted colleague — his ability to turn even the vaguest of brand marketing’s crazy ideas into functional, real, and trackable executions is second to none. He is organized, practical, and driven — but add in years of content marketing experience, a massive mental database of pop culture and the entertainment industry, a willingness to push the envelope, and a can-do attitude. You have in Otavio one of the best resources a cutting-edge marketing team could wish for. He is Scotty to the Enterprise, and he ALWAYS has a solution.
Otavio M. Lessa · Founder · The Emotion Engine
Over a decade inside Blizzard and Amazon building the systems behind World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and the Prime Gaming rebrand. The Emotion Engine is that pattern, distilled so you can run it without a billion-dollar franchise behind you.
More about Otavio →If that sounds like you
Start with a conversation.
Tell me where your business is and where it’s stuck. If the Inner Circle is the right fit, we’ll work out what it looks like for you. If it’s not, I’ll point you to the move that is.
Apply for a conversation→Four figures · limited spots · by application