Why your startup doesn't need a fractional CMO

Founders keep hearing they should hire a fractional CMO. My view: for a startup, it's the wrong call.

A CMO is a C-suite role. They manage company structure, budgets, multiple agencies, and the expectations of boards and shareholders. That experience is real, but it isn't what an early product needs.

Taking something new to market runs on hustle and cheap, fast testing, not long strategy decks. You want someone still on the tools, closer to a growth marketer than a chief officer.

The fractional CMO earns their place later, once you run a team of five or more and can't justify a $230,000 salary. Until then, hire experience that still does the work.

This video makes the case in under three minutes.