A: Consultants often diagnose problems and deliver recommendations but aren’t accountable for execution or results. Agencies are strong at execution but often lack the expertise of a seasoned CMO when it comes to strategic prioritization and alignment with sales and product teams. Fractional CMOs are a part-time (read: less expensive) ramp to your first in-house CMO. In our Fractional CMO model we own outcomes, from strategy through execution and align sales, product and marketing in one go-to-market effort.

A: Our clients often have one strong in-house executor. That seems to be the ideal formula from both a budget and outcomes perspective until it’s time to grow and transition to an in-house team. A fractional CMO and small fractional team (2-3) will cost roughly as much as a Sr. PMM FTE and one entry-level marketing associate.

The ideal fractional option pairs a fractional CMO and senior team with an in-house marketing associate for the right blend of strategy and execution.

A: Fractional CMOs fill an unmet market need for a specific type of company. For the first time, CEOs can protect their burn rate and tap the strategic strengths of a CMO much earlier in their growth, often when they need this guidance the most.

A: Fractional CMOs can be ideal for late-stage startups transitioning to scaleups - often series A/B companies with zero to few marketing resources. Search fund acquisitions are also a great fit as they transition from moderate growth to accelerated growth.

A: Filter for those who have served in full-time CMO roles at your growth stage and the one you’re scaling into. Ask for evidence that they know how to strategically execute a step change from flat to accelerated growth and probe on details. Decide if domain expertise is a requirement or if you want a fresh perspective in your industry.

A: Our fractional CMO comes with a small, full-stack team designed to integrate with the team you have. You’ll get a fractional CMO, team and budget for less than an FTE CMO. We start by elevating your story (fuel) to improve the results at every step of your GTM (machine). And we have a unique process to integrate tightly with sales and product to execute a step change in growth.

A: You should expect to get a fractional CMO, small team and scrappy marketing budget at or below the cost of one full-time CMO. You can typically afford a fractional CMO if your all-in marketing budget is in the range of $15K - $50K+ per month, depending on revenue targets. That range should include a small team (in-house or fractional) and a budget for things like content production, paid media and events.

A: 18 - 32 months is ideal. When you find a great-fit fractional CMO, you unlock bigger initiatives like standing up a conference, building a community or adding new markets within that timeframe. We come in, execute a step change in your marketing, build up your team and transition it in a way that ensures you’ll continue on your new growth path.

A: No, the fractional CMO is a coach who supports existing talent and works with them to build out the rest of an ideal team for the next phase of growth. It normally doesn’t make sense for a late-stage startup or ETA to have a full-stack marketing team because the skill range is increasingly broad and the expense would be prohibitive. So the fractional CMO will also draw on specialists to supplement the core in-house team (sometimes all you need is one strong executor in house for the ideal outcomes).

A: Yes, if they are practiced at steep learning curves and adept at extracting knowledge from subject matter experts. Often it’s best to have an industry outsider at the table with fresh ideas if you want to stand out and build your own category.

A: Yes, if you accept the trade-offs. Since a fractional CMO is part-time, they need to focus. You want them focused more on the work of growth and less on, well… going to a lot of internal meetings. Let them set up an efficient marketing meeting cadence that prioritizes the work you need them to do. Expect them to build strong relationships with sales and product leaders, but be ok that they aren’t in every internal meeting.

A: We specialize in B2B SaaS, often including series A/B companies and search fund CEOs prepping to scale up. Our customers typically have $5M - $50M in ARR (but some will be above $100M).

A: Yes, if their needs line up with our expertise (our story development process works for companies at every stage).