About

The two people who answer the email.

Mockingbiird isn't an agency with layers. It's two co-founders, Tian Treb and Matt Blackert, who scope the work, do the work, and answer for the work. No account managers, no handoffs, no junior team you never met on the kickoff call.

Two Ohio kids who wanted to help companies grow.

Mockingbiird started in May 2019 the way most honest studios do: two friends from Northeast Ohio doing real marketing and web work for people who couldn't afford to get burned by a big agency.

Since then, the two of us have gone on to run marketing at startups, lead security operations at a global logistics tech company, direct communications for political campaigns, and operate inside a NYC venture studio. We bring all of that back here. Mockingbiird is where we work on purpose: small by design, senior by default.

And yes, two i's. We know. The second one is on purpose too.

2019
Founded in May 2019. Same two people ever since.
2 / 0
Two co-founders. Zero account managers between you and the work.
6
Practices, from brand and fundraising to web and cyber risk.
1 day
Business-day reply, from a founder, every time.

Marketing brain. Security brain. One studio.

Tian runs everything that makes the site found and the phone ring. Matt runs the IT and everything that keeps the customer sites and projects fast and safe. Between us, the whole stack is covered by our names.

Tian Treb
Co-founder · Head of Marketing

Tian leads the marketing side of the house: brand strategy, content and social, outbound, fundraising, and public relations. He's spent his career as the marketing operator inside organizations that couldn't afford fluff: startups, campaigns, and nonprofits where every dollar had to come back with friends.

By day he's Chief of Staff at Mudita Studios, a New York venture studio, bridging strategy and execution across the portfolio: go-to-market, investor materials, and operational infrastructure. Before that he ran multi-channel marketing as Head of Marketing at a blockchain startup, directed communications for a statewide political party, ran donor fundraising for a national democracy nonprofit, and worked SEO and paid search at Lufthansa.

Track record

  • Chief of Staff, Mudita Studios: GTM, investor materials, and ops across a NYC venture studio portfolio
  • Head of Marketing, Titl: owned multi-channel marketing and market research at a blockchain startup
  • Director of Communications, Maryland Forward Party: built the marketing funnel and social operations
  • Digital Communications Manager, American Promise: donor fundraising and digital campaigns
  • Director of Digital Marketing, Soaring Hospitality Group: multi-property hospitality marketing
  • Digital Marketing Lead, Lufthansa: film production, SEO, and paid search
Brand strategy Go-to-market Fundraising funnels Communications Content & social Digital campaigns
Medina, Ohio. Does his best thinking after 11 p.m. (not a bit). Reports to a cat named Beanz. tiantreb.com
Matt Blackert
Co-founder · Web Development & Cyber Risk

Matt leads the technical side: web development, SEO and site performance, and the cyber risk practice. He's been building websites since 2014, long before it was his job title, and brings an engineer's habit of automating the boring parts so the budget goes to the parts that move.

By day he's a Security Operations Manager at project44, where he leads the security operations center: maturing detection and response, running organizational risk programs, and contributing to AI governance frameworks. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Miami University and has been part of the SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audits every year he's been at project44. When he says your site is secure, it's not a marketing line.

Track record

  • Security Operations Manager, project44: leads SOC maturation, risk programs, and AI governance at a global supply-chain tech company
  • SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audit experience: part of the audits every year he's been at project44
  • Published security researcher: co-authored an analysis of the 2021 Kaseya ransomware attack in IET Information Security (2025)
  • Web developer since 2014: responsive design, WordPress, CRM integrations, and SEO for small businesses
  • B.S. Computer Science, Miami University: coursework in web apps, programming, cloud, ethical hacking, and AI
  • CompTIA Security+ certified: plus a few other credentials across security
Web development SEO & performance Security operations Risk & compliance SOC 2 · ISO 27001 Automation AI Security & Governance
Has read your security policies. Found two critical problems. mattblackert.com

Four rules we don't bend.

No. 1

You get us. Not a handoff.

The person on the kickoff call is the person doing the work, and the person answering the email six months in. Staying two people instead of twenty is the feature, not the limitation.

No. 2

Honest beats impressive.

If we can't help, we say so and point you to someone who can. No inflated scopes, no "strategy phases" that exist to pad invoices, no reports designed to hide flat numbers.

No. 3

Security isn't an upsell.

One of your founders runs a security operations center for a living. Everything we ship (sites, forms, integrations) is built like someone will try to break it, because someone will.

No. 4

Work on purpose.

We keep Mockingbiird deliberately small so we only take work we believe in: the nonprofits, campaigns, and founders who actually need senior hands. That's the whole business model.

Now you know who you're talking to.

Tell us what you're building. One of the two people on this page reads it and replies within a business day, usually sooner.