Maren Holt
Fractional CMO
ESSAY
Your first marketing hire should not be a Head of Marketing
Your first marketing hire should not be a Head of Marketing
Your first marketing hire should not be a Head of Marketing
14 min
Most seed and Series A companies hire a Head of Marketing first and regret it within a year. The role is too senior to do the work and too junior to set the strategy.
Most seed and Series A companies hire a Head of Marketing first and regret it within a year. The role is too senior to do the work and too junior to set the strategy.
“Hire the doer first. Borrow the strategist.”
The hire everyone makes
The pattern is so common I can predict it from the first call. A company raises a round, the board says “you need marketing”, and the founders hire a Head of Marketing. Twelve months later that person has a strategy deck, a small agency budget and no pipeline to show for it.
It isn’t their fault. The job was impossible. They were asked to set direction without the authority of a CMO and to do the work without the support of a team.
What to do instead
Hire someone who will do the work: write the pages, run the webinar, send the emails, sit with sales. Then borrow the strategy from someone who has done it before, for a day a week, until the work has proven which direction is right.
The job description I give clients
Two years of B2B experience, writes clearly, comfortable with a CRM, and happy to be measured on pipeline rather than impressions. That’s it. Seniority comes later, once there’s something to lead.
Next essay
The board slide I make every company build in week one
→
The Thursday Memo
One email a week, written on Thursdays between client calls. 4,200 founders and marketers read it.
Maren Holt
Fractional CMO
ESSAY
Your first marketing hire should not be a Head of Marketing
Your first marketing hire should not be a Head of Marketing
Your first marketing hire should not be a Head of Marketing
14 min
Most seed and Series A companies hire a Head of Marketing first and regret it within a year. The role is too senior to do the work and too junior to set the strategy.
Most seed and Series A companies hire a Head of Marketing first and regret it within a year. The role is too senior to do the work and too junior to set the strategy.
“Hire the doer first. Borrow the strategist.”
The hire everyone makes
The pattern is so common I can predict it from the first call. A company raises a round, the board says “you need marketing”, and the founders hire a Head of Marketing. Twelve months later that person has a strategy deck, a small agency budget and no pipeline to show for it.
It isn’t their fault. The job was impossible. They were asked to set direction without the authority of a CMO and to do the work without the support of a team.
What to do instead
Hire someone who will do the work: write the pages, run the webinar, send the emails, sit with sales. Then borrow the strategy from someone who has done it before, for a day a week, until the work has proven which direction is right.
The job description I give clients
Two years of B2B experience, writes clearly, comfortable with a CRM, and happy to be measured on pipeline rather than impressions. That’s it. Seniority comes later, once there’s something to lead.
Next essay
The board slide I make every company build in week one
→
The Thursday Memo
One email a week, written on Thursdays between client calls. 4,200 founders and marketers read it.
Maren Holt
Fractional CMO
ESSAY
Your first marketing hire should not be a Head of Marketing
Your first marketing hire should not be a Head of Marketing
Your first marketing hire should not be a Head of Marketing
14 min
Most seed and Series A companies hire a Head of Marketing first and regret it within a year. The role is too senior to do the work and too junior to set the strategy.
Most seed and Series A companies hire a Head of Marketing first and regret it within a year. The role is too senior to do the work and too junior to set the strategy.
“Hire the doer first. Borrow the strategist.”
The hire everyone makes
The pattern is so common I can predict it from the first call. A company raises a round, the board says “you need marketing”, and the founders hire a Head of Marketing. Twelve months later that person has a strategy deck, a small agency budget and no pipeline to show for it.
It isn’t their fault. The job was impossible. They were asked to set direction without the authority of a CMO and to do the work without the support of a team.
What to do instead
Hire someone who will do the work: write the pages, run the webinar, send the emails, sit with sales. Then borrow the strategy from someone who has done it before, for a day a week, until the work has proven which direction is right.
The job description I give clients
Two years of B2B experience, writes clearly, comfortable with a CRM, and happy to be measured on pipeline rather than impressions. That’s it. Seniority comes later, once there’s something to lead.
Next essay
The board slide I make every company build in week one
→
The Thursday Memo
One email a week, written on Thursdays between client calls. 4,200 founders and marketers read it.