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The Scrappy Marketing Fractional CMO service gives your startup hands-on marketing leadership, a clear, actionable go-to-market plan, and the first building blocks of your marketing team and tools. You get clear priorities, a scalable growth engine, and a foundation for the future without committing to a six-figure executive hire.
Travis brings over two decades of experience leading marketing and advertising for Fortune 500 brands including Pepsi, Microsoft, Frito-Lay, Dr Pepper, US Air Force, and many more. After leaving the agency world, he spent 10+ years building zero-to-one marketing strategies that drove exponential growth for multiple early-stage technology companies as VP Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer.
As a former award-winning Creative Director and CMO for growth-stage companies, Travis brings a rare blend of big-agency creative strategy and scrappy startup execution. Travis has lived on both sides of the table: leading massive budgets and making small budgets punch above their weight class. His passion, however, lies in building the systems, processes and big ideas that drive aggressive and scalable growth for small businesses and early-stage startups.
Early-stage startups usually have a few people “doing marketing,” but no one truly owning the go-to-market strategy, priorities, and results. When that happens, teams burn time and budget on scattered experiments, slow launches, and mixed messages that never add up to real traction.
A Fractional CMO fills that leadership gap as part of your founding team without adding a full-time executive to your payroll. In many cases, this means being your first marketing hire on a part-time basis, then, when you’re ready, defining and hiring the initial marketing FTEs so you’re not guessing on roles or sequencing.
With a consistent, zero-to-one marketing vision and clear leadership from the top down, every campaign, hire, and dollar starts moving in the same direction, which speeds up learning, sharpens positioning, and creates a repeatable path to revenue instead of repeating well-intentioned, but ultimately expensive, mistakes.
Learn how our Scrappy Marketing strategy helped Thymia launch its brand and secure 150+ B2B leads with no ad spend.
Most early-stage teams are not missing hustle. They are missing a simple marketing engine that connects the right people to clearly-defined processes, using a handful of tools that actually make an impact. A Fractional CMO comes in as your zero-to-one marketing leader to design that foundation so you’re not tearing it down and rebuilding it every six months to a year.
Feel free to contact us with your own questions!
A fractional CMO (Fractional Chief Marketing Officer) is a part-time executive who owns your overall marketing strategy and leadership without being hired full-time. You get senior C‑suite marketing expertise on a flexible retainer, so you can drive growth with less overhead and more focus.
A fractional CMO is responsible for long-term marketing leadership: setting strategy, aligning with the executive team, and overseeing execution across channels. A consultant typically tackles a specific project, and a coach focuses on upskilling your team, while a fractional CMO provides ongoing ownership of the marketing function. We've published an in-depth comparison here.
Our fractional CMO service is designed for startups and small to mid-sized businesses with ambitious growth goals but limited resources or no in-house marketing leadership. It's a strong fit if you need strategic direction, better positioning, and a focused roadmap, but are not ready to hire a full-time CMO.
A fractional CMO defines your marketing strategy, clarifies positioning, builds a roadmap, and leads channel selection, campaign planning, and performance measurement. Most importantly, they bring leadership to the executive conversation. By giving marketing a seat at the table, startups can ensure they're making the most of their opportunities and finding scrappy ways to build their business.
Scrappy Marketing combines 25+ years of marketing leadership with an “ideas-first,” scrappy mindset focused on big ideas, quick wins, and long-term strategy in one engagement. The service emphasizes low-cost, high-impact tactics, creative testing, and clear focus so you're not “going in 100 different directions” without a unifying strategy.
Full-time CMOs typically cost six figures plus benefits, while fractional CMOs charge a monthly retainer aligned to a set number of hours and scope. Our fractional CMO model lets you access executive-level leadership at a fraction of the cost and risk of a full-time CMO hire.
Fractional CMO work is most effective as a long-term partnership, not a quick project, because it involves shaping strategy and guiding execution over time. Many companies work with a fractional CMO through key growth stages, such as pre- and post-funding rounds, until they're ready for a full-time hire.
Yes, we're happy to lead and coordinate your current marketing team, freelancers, or agencies, bringing structure, priorities, and accountability. We'll also be happy to weigh in on how your current partners and employees fit your long-term vision.
