Build the playbook. Then execute it.
Most seed and Series A B2B startups get consultants who advise or agencies that delegate. I embed as your founding lead marketer and build the full marketing system from zero, strategy and execution, together.
• Why most seed-stage B2B startups can't crack marketing
You hired an agency. They delivered a brand deck and a channel strategy. Six months later, you’re still running experiments yourself, still unclear on your ICP, still waiting for results. It didn’t fail because the strategy was wrong. It failed because no one owned making it run. Or you hired a generalist. They ran the ads, kept things moving.
But no prioritisation framework, no full-funnel view, nothing built to last. Activity without direction.
The problem isn’t who you hired. It’s the role that doesn’t exist yet.
Between “marketing consultant” and “full-time CMO” there’s a gap most seed and Series A B2B startups fall into. That gap has a name: the founding marketer.
• What a fractional founding marketer builds
Most fractional hires give you strategy without execution, or execution without strategy. I work at both levels at once.
At the strategic level: market positioning, category narrative, GTM architecture, revenue forecasting, go-to-market motion.
At the execution level: demand generation, channel experiments, pipeline infrastructure, martech stack, attribution.
One person. Both layers. Built to compound after I leave.
• Results from the work
€1B private consulting group • 10K employees
Mantu
I built the social media function from scratch: 0 to 5-person team, 73 dead channels audited and rationalized, LinkedIn grown from 10K to 118K. Survived 3 CDOs in 2 years without missing a beat.
U.S Nonprofit • 10+ employees
Women as One
Built Women as One’s full marketing function from zero: hired the first in-house marketer, managed 8 vendors across 6 specialties. The system ran when I wasn’t in the room.
• Frequently asked questions
What is a founding marketer for a startup?
A founding marketer is the first strategic and executional marketing hire at an early-stage startup. This person builds the GTM foundation from zero: ICP definition, positioning, messaging architecture, channel selection, marTech stack, and first experiments. They are not a fractional CMO (too senior for this stage) and not a marketing manager (too junior to build the system). The role appears on job boards under several titles: founding marketer, founding growth marketer, first marketing hire. The function is the same: build the GTM system before it exists. I offer this role on a fractional basis for seed and Series A B2B companies.
How is a founding marketer different from a fractional CMO?
A fractional CMO provides strategic leadership and is most useful once a marketing function already exists. A founding marketer builds that function before it exists. At seed stage, the work is not managing or directing, it is building ICP definitions, setting up the marTech stack, running first experiments, and creating the SOPs that a future team will operate. These are different roles at different stages.
When should a B2B startup hire a founding marketer?
When the founder is doing marketing themselves, or has a junior hire with no framework to work from. When there are product-market fit signals but no functioning GTM system. When the company has tried agency work or project-based consultants and still does not have a working pipeline. Typically at seed or early Series A stage.
What does a founding marketer deliver in 90 days?
A working GTM foundation: a documented ICP with firmographic and behavioural criteria, one to two prioritised channels, a minimal martech stack (CRM, attribution, capture, analytics), a messaging architecture built from customer interviews, and the first ten experiments with a decision framework for what to keep or cut.
How much does fractional founding marketer work cost?
My fractional engagements are structured as two to three days per week, minimum three months. Project-based engagements are available for defined scope: GTM audit, ICP definition sprint, or messaging architecture. Pricing is shared on a discovery call.
Available for fractional engagements.
Let's talk about what you need built.