Services / Early-stage
Services · Early-stage startups
Fractional CMO for early-stage startups
Senior marketing leadership for pre-seed to Series A founders, without the full-time cost. I set the strategy, prove your first acquisition channels, then help you hire your first marketer and hand over a working growth engine. That last part is the point: the engagement is designed to end.
The problem
When founder-led growth stops working
Most early-stage startups don’t have a marketing problem; they have a focus problem. The founder is the best salesperson the company will ever have, but founder-led growth has a ceiling: the network gets exhausted, referrals arrive unpredictably, and every experiment competes with product and fundraising for the founder’s week.
The usual fixes both miss. A full-time CMO costs £150k or more plus equity, and there isn’t enough strategic work yet to fill their week. A junior marketer hired without direction produces activity rather than pipeline, then gets blamed for a strategy that never existed.
The work that actually moves an early-stage company is sequenced: get positioning and ICP sharp, prove two or three acquisition channels with real economics, build just enough measurement to know what’s working, then hire the right person to run it.
You leave this engagement with a working growth engine and your first marketing hire running it, not a dependency on me.
The work
From no marketing function to your first hire
Four stages, typically over three to six months, all at a simple day rate.
Strategy and positioning
ICP, positioning, message and channel plan grounded in your unit economics rather than a template. This is where most early-stage marketing fails, so we fix it first.
Prove the first channels
Two or three channels tested with real budgets and honest measurement, killed fast if the economics don’t work, scaled if they do. The aim is repeatable pipeline, not vanity metrics.
Foundations that compound
Website and conversion path, analytics you can trust, CRM hygiene, and content that answers what buyers actually ask. Built lean, documented, and owned by you.
Your first marketing hire
I write the spec from what the engine actually needs, help you source and interview, then onboard and mentor them into the role. At Penfold I mentored a team member into the Head of Marketing seat rather than leaving a dependency.
How it works
Senior operator, startup economics
Engagements run at £800 per day on a 30-day rolling contract, whether that starts as a focused project with defined deliverables or as ongoing fractional leadership. No equity, no retainer traps, no long-term lock-in.
You get a senior operator, not a deck. I do the work alongside you: positioning, campaigns, measurement, and the awkward calls about what to kill. AI-native delivery keeps the cost a fraction of a traditional consultancy or agency.
When the engine works and your first hire is in the seat, I step back. Some clients keep a day or two a month for direction; most just call when something new comes up.
Julian is an exceptional leader who completely built out and led the entire marketing team from the ground up. What stood out most was his seamless integration with the product teams, something I had rarely seen before in a CMO. His deep knowledge of B2B marketing was pivotal to our success.
FAQ
Questions early-stage founders ask
When should a startup use a fractional CMO instead of hiring full time?
When you need senior marketing judgement but can’t yet fill a full-time CMO’s week, which is most companies between pre-seed and Series A. A fractional CMO sets strategy and proves channels in a few days a month; you hire full time once there’s a working engine for that person to run.
What does it cost?
£800 per day on a 30-day rolling contract, whether the work is a focused project with defined deliverables or ongoing fractional leadership. No equity, no long-term contract. A typical early-stage engagement runs two to four days a month.
How long until I can make my first marketing hire?
Usually three to six months: long enough to prove which channels deserve a full-time owner and to define the role around evidence rather than a generic job description. Hiring before that usually means hiring the wrong profile.
Do you execute, or just advise?
Both, deliberately. Strategy without execution is a deck. I build campaigns, write copy, set up measurement and run experiments alongside you, then hand each piece over as your team arrives. The case studies show what that looks like in practice.
What happens when you leave?
You keep everything: documented strategy, working channels, dashboards, and a hire who has been mentored into the role. The engagement is designed to end, and the Penfold case study shows the handover working.
Do you only work with fintech and SaaS?
Mostly, yes. Twenty years across fintech and B2B SaaS is where my pattern recognition is strongest; the fintech and B2B SaaS pages cover the specifics. If you’re outside those markets, book a call and I’ll tell you honestly whether I’m the right fit.
Ready to build the engine before the hire?
Book a 30-minute intro call. No pitch: we’ll talk through where growth is stuck and whether a fractional engagement fits.