Fractional CMO Services

Short-term engagements to turbo-charge your go-to-market.

Early-stage developer-focused startups often can't hire a strong, experienced CMO to build a marketing function. Typically, this combines founder-led execution with some help from junior content marketers or early developer relations.

A Fractional CMO can help you focus on the most impactful tasks first, bringing expertise in content, revenue, performance, and events marketing to help you execute quickly and cost-effectively.

I am a CMO with the rigorous marketing experience BigTech demands and the proven creativity and hustle necessary at early-stage startups. I get you, and I get where you're trying to go.

My background

I've spent my entire career in developer marketing and developer relations:

  • Sun Microsystems, Java Evangelist
  • Microsoft, Director of Marketing + Product Management for Visual Studio
  • AWS, first Director of Marketing + Evangelism
  • Facebook, Developer Advocate
  • Twitter, Senior Director of Platform Marketing
  • Microsoft, Principal Manager of Developer Relations
  • Timescale, VP of Marketing + Developer Relations
  • Tinybird, VP of Marketing + Developer Relations

What I can do for you

Here are some of the things I can help you with. We will work together to scope the engagement appropriately for your needs:

  • Building an execution-focused Go to Market strategy. You don't need high-minded slide decks and fancy promises. You need flat out results. I can help you whittle away the things that don't matter and focus on the things that do.
  • Top of funnel growth. Identify and lead the digital and real-world actions necessary to drive awareness and signups of your product.
  • Product-led growth (PLG for developers). I can help optimize your onboarding and growth funnels, linking them to your go-to-market strategy for the best results.
  • Early sales. At this stage, you're probably focused on founder-led sales. I can help you build the target account list, refine your first meeting deck, and build necessary leave-behind collateral that will help you improve your conversion.
  • Content marketing. Content marketing is the key to developer marketing.
    • High-impact demos of your product
    • Blog posts and video content to explain your product.
    • Case studies and case study videos
    • Webinar and live coding program
    • Documentation strategy
  • Performance marketing. Tactics that help you drive top-of-funnel growth.
    • Lead nurture and conversion optimization
    • Influencer marketing
    • Content syndication and sponsorships
    • Paid advertising experiments
  • Product marketing. Help you identify and narrow your Ideal Customer Profile, positioning, messaging, and competitive analysis/benchmarks.
    • Positioning and messaging framework (Or, at the very least, help you build a framework for experimenting with message-market fit while proving product-market fit.)
    • Spearhead definition of your ICP
    • Competitive landscape and analysis
  • Customer lifecycle marketing. Build your nurture and reactivation program.
    • Email marketing
    • Retargeting (if your audience size qualifies)
  • MarTech. Don't spend a dime without talking to me first. You can do a ton for free, and don't fall for anyone telling you you need a fancy MarTech stack. If you want to be scrappy, you can do most things, including email marketing, for free. If you want to spend a little early, I can help you set up HubSpot to do everything you need.
  • Managing your team. If you already have a small marketing team built out, I can help manage and grow their skillset. I've managed some of our industry's most prolific Developer Advocates, Product Marketers, and Product Managers.
  • Recruiting. I believe in leaving things in better condition than when I found it. If you want my help recruiting, interviewing, and hiring your first few marketing hires, I can also do that.

How much it costs

I work on a base fee for six months minimum and up to nine months total. I don't ask for or take equity. I am the solution when you are getting started, and I don't sit on your cap table for years after you're well underway.

Get started by emailing me at hello@strategicnerds.com.