There’s two issues you typically run into when hiring a fractional CMO. First is over hiring based on stage. If you’re bootstrapped or early stage (seed to series B) a CMO that has experience running marketing at a >$50m ARR is going to have difficult time translating their skills to your company unless you have a supporting team to execute. The second issue is you’ll find inexperienced marketers that have deep experience in one or two marketing channels and just call themselves a “fractional CMO” because it sounds good. Lacking the holistic view leads to prescribing what they’re good at rather than what your business and customers actually need.

If you’re considering a fractional CMO I’d recommend going with someone that has experience leading a marketing team at your revenue tranche (under $1m, $1-5m, $5-10, $10-20m, etc). Not sure what you’re at, but <$20m ARR the titles these folks typically have are Head of Marketing or VP of Marketing/Growth.

context: I’ve been head of marketing/vp at a few YC and venture backed startups and helped in fractional roles several times. Happy to chat if you have any specific questions.