Service
Fractional CMO
Senior marketing leadership embedded in your team, without the full-time commitment.
Overview
Who this is for
Between seed and Series B, there's a gap. You need real marketing leadership - someone who can make positioning decisions, run hiring processes, own a board-level narrative, and actually understand your product - but you're not ready to lock in a $300K salary for a full-time CMO.
The fractional CMO engagement puts a senior marketing leader inside your business 1-3 days per week. Not a consultant who gives recommendations from the outside - someone embedded in your Slack, your team meetings, your hiring decisions, and your board prep. This is for founders who want a marketing operator, not a marketing advisor.
Most fractional CMO engagements run 3-12 months. Some transition into a full-time placement. Others end when the company makes a full-time hire - and I stay on to help recruit and onboard that person. Either way, the goal is to get your marketing motion working before we hand it off.
What's included
Scope of work
- Positioning and messaging - market category definition, ICP clarity, competitive differentiation, messaging hierarchy
- Go-to-market planning - launch strategy, channel prioritization, campaign calendaring, budget allocation
- Team building - hiring briefs, interview loops, offer calibration, and onboarding for marketing hires
- Demand generation - program design, funnel instrumentation, pipeline reporting, and channel optimization
- Board and investor communication - marketing narrative for fundraising, board decks, investor updates
- Vendor and agency management - martech procurement, agency RFPs, contract negotiation
Process
How it works
1. Fit call
30-45 minutes to understand your stage, team, and what's blocking growth. I'm selective about which companies I work with as fractional CMO - this needs to be a real fit on both sides.
2. First 30 days
Deep orientation: customer interviews, competitive analysis, channel audit, pipeline review, team assessment. I don't start prescribing until I understand the actual situation.
3. Strategy and alignment
Positioning document, 90-day marketing plan, team structure recommendation. Presented to leadership and aligned before execution begins.
4. Execution
Ongoing weekly cadence: team standups, channel reviews, hiring progress, board prep. Embedded in the work, not just advising on it.