10 Reasons Startups Need A Fractional CMO
Why am I starting a fractional CMO business? In short, I believe it’s one of the largest unmet needs in the startup ecosystem right now, particularly in Asia. And in the last four years I spent at Sequoia India & SEA, I spent a lot of my time advising and mentoring 50+ startups across the US, India, SE Asia and Australia on their brand, marketing and GTM strategy. However, most VC firms don’t have a team of operators on staff and therefore for most founders, this kind of hands-on guidance may be hard to come by.
Why am I starting a fractional CMO business? In short, I believe it’s one of the largest unmet needs in the startup ecosystem right now, particularly in Asia. And in the last four years I spent at Sequoia India & SEA, I spent a lot of my time advising and mentoring 50+ startups across the US, India, SE Asia and Australia on their brand, marketing and GTM strategy. However, most VC firms don’t have a team of operators on staff and therefore for most founders, this kind of hands-on guidance may be hard to come by.
10 Reasons
So in my first post on this new website, I thought I’d lay out ten reasons I’ve seen founders need marketing help on. Each of these tend not to be the day-to-day execution, but rather the difficult questions that they haven’t been able to figure out.
Struggling to develop a compelling value proposition that will stand out. The current website looks like a dog’s breakfast or is simply too technical for their target audience let alone investors to comprehend.
A founder with a clear purpose who wants to turn that into a meaningful brand.
A founder with a technical product solving a big problem, but unable to express the startup’s vision and purpose.
The company is pivoting or expanding and needs to do a complete rebrand.
Startup has just found PMF and wants to scale growth responsibly, but marketing team is yet to find its true growth levers beyond just paid ads.
Startup has spent a couple of years post-PMF scaling irresponsibly with a less than desirable CAC to LTV ratio. They need a strategic reset on how their marketing investment is deployed.
A growth-stage startup that is opening up new markets or a new vertical and needs a marketing leader with the right experience to start immediately whilst they search for a permanent hire.
The company is growing their marketing team and needs guidance on how to structure the team and where to allocate investment.
The startup’s head of marketing has massive potential but is relatively inexperienced. They would like a fractional CMO as a coach and mentor to enable him/her to grow with the company.
Founder has been recruiting for a marketing head for the longest time but can’t seem to find someone suitable. Fractional CMO allows them to get started on some of their most difficult questions without having to wait longer.
What I hear from founders is that they often need a VP Marketing or CMO long before they can really afford it, especially in this current economic climate. They’re making do with the team they have, but are concerned that their marketing activities are not hitting the mark.
If one or more of these reasons sounds like your life right now - please do reach out.