{"id":96949,"date":"2025-08-20T13:59:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T13:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/96949\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T13:59:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T13:59:09","slug":"fractional-cmos-the-part-time-pros-helping-startups-build-big-brands-without-full-time-hires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/96949\/","title":{"rendered":"Fractional CMOs: The part-time pros helping startups build big brands without full-time hires"},"content":{"rendered":"

A startup founder, backed by decent funding, stares at a flattened sales graph. The brand\u2019s social feeds are abuzz with activity; the marketing team is fluent in the language of clicks and conversions. But enduring, scalable brand-building? That\u2019s a different ball game altogether.<\/p>\n

What could help the business is senior marketing leadership \u2014 someone with both the brand vision and the battle scars. But most founders aren\u2019t quite ready to commit to a full-time CMO.<\/p>\n

Enter the fractional CMO: A global, fast-rising, part-time leadership model now starting to influence India\u2019s marketing hierarchy.
Marketing has become unrecognisably complex \u2014 multiple new consumer channels, shifting behaviour and expanding martech stacks have made strategic guidance a necessity. But that doesn\u2019t necessarily have to come from a fulltime hire.<\/p>\n

The rise of fractional CMOs<\/a> is being driven by startups in India. Legacy companies, though still cautious, may not be far behind, looking to tap a marketplace that rewards nimbleness over permanence.<\/p>\n

\"ETLive Events
Steering from the outside
The trend is also rooted in the past decade\u2019s surge in venture capital and private equity funding, which has encouraged startups to bring in seasoned practitioners for guidance.
S Srinivas, an independent brand consultant and fractional CMO, has been a \u2018quasi-insider from the outside\u2019 guiding over 60 brands over the past decade, including Indian Terrain, Mahindra Retail, BabyOye, ShadowFax<\/a>, Traya, Revolt, etc. He notes that many Indian businesses are beginning to follow the lead of global giants like Unilever<\/a>, which distinguishes between brand building (long-term vision) and growth marketing (short-term objectives) .
More Indian companies are understanding the value of this approach, where you need to align this long-term asset creation with your urgent business goals, he adds.
\u201cHowever, startups that tend to focus more on growth marketing often lack the organisational structure and training infrastructure to support this dual approach, and fractional CMOs<\/a> are stepping in to bridge the gap,\u201d Srinivas explains.<\/p>\n

\u2018OTP for ATM\u2019<\/p>\n

Meghana Bhat, co-founder of Early Partners, shares that fractional roles gained prominence after the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly post the wave of layoffs in big tech and senior roles across industries. \u201cBy 2023, there were around 80,000 people on LinkedIn with \u2018fractional\u2019 in their job title in India,\u201d she points out.<\/p>\n

Travel company Pickyourtrail<\/a>, for instance, worked with Bhat on a full repositioning exercise. Acting as fractional CMO, she and her team built their annual marketing plan and now work closely with the company to operationalise that strategy .<\/p>\n

Having someone who\u2019s been there, done that, and can guide you is crucial, says Hari Ganapathy, cofounder at PickYourTrail. \u201cA fractional CMO speaks the language of a CEO or founder: They understand ROI, balance long-term and short-term goals and give perspective on how things will play out in year one, two and three,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeta and Google are great to test the waters but when you want to scale and distribute more widely, you need broader reach. The platforms are built for self-serve flows: Load up a wallet, spend some money and see inputs. Branding doesn\u2019t work like that,\u201d Ganapathy explains, adding that any meaningful investment needs more time for results to show.<\/p>\n

Manu Prasad, former CMO at fintech brand ScripBox and now a fractional CMO, recalls how this landscape has evolved from a handful of LinkedIn profiles to a flood in just a couple of years. \u201cKeyword search volumes have also spiked, signalling strong momentum,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

A common refrain he hears from founders and CEOs: They need someone who takes accountability. \u201cAt the risk of sounding facetious, I call it OTP for ATM \u2014 Own The Problem for All Things Marketing,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

This desire for accountability, Prasad adds, often stems from resource constraints, uncertainty about the required skill sets, or the fear of culture mismatches when hiring a full-time CMO.<\/p>\n

The advantage is that you get the leadership without the overheads. \u201cYou\u2019re only paying for what is needed \u2014 strategy, optimisation, scaling and not the time a professiona l spends upskilling at work, unnecessary meetings and a lot of the operations,\u201d says<\/p>\n

Saurabh Parmar, an FMCO and consultant who\u2019s worked with clients across Asia and the US.<\/p>\n

Consultant value
In India, Parmar says, such roles are common in early-stage startups \u2014 mainly seed to series A. But they often get morphed into a \u201cquasiagency\u201d setup, with \u201cone person bringing in freelancers to fill the gaps, rather than functioning as a true part-time CMO\u201d.<\/p>\n

Vivek Sharma, founder at Altyvyst Advisors and a former CMO at Pidilite and Philips India, has spent the past three years on consulting projects \u2014 ranging from nine months to almost three years. Yet, he prefers the consulting route, saying it\u2019s more strategic and long-term. \u201cA consultant is seen as a business partner \u2014 someone with a stake in the long game. There\u2019s continuity of revenue, a deeper commitment and more skin in the game,\u201d he shares.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it\u2019s about the value one brings. \u201cYou can\u2019t throw away decades of experience for a penny,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve walked away from a client over commercials, only to have them return later. What you want isn\u2019t arbitrary; it reflects your background, the brands you\u2019ve built and the industries you\u2019ve navigated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terminology aside, Parmar notes that the choice often comes down to numbers. \u201cAn FMCO is ideal for companies with a CMO budget of ?25\u201350 lakh annually,\u201d he says. \u201cIt avoids the cost of hiring a full-time CMO at over ?1 crore plus ESOPs and benefits or promoting senior managers who lack the skills \u2014 all of which takes more time and risks creating marketing debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legacy caution
Legacy companies, however, remain cautious, favouring traditional, permanent, in-person, day-to-day leadership. Yet even among these giants, the appetite for fresh thinking is growing.<\/p>\n

At FMCG major ITC, where Sharma has been mentoring a marketing training programme, a company spokesperson says, \u201cLegacy companies like ours, with decades of in-house marketing, have benefited from bringing in external consultants with strong industry experience. These offer fresh perspectives and help develop strategic thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regional, family-owned brands \u2014 especially those seeking to expand beyond their local markets \u2014 are also warming up to the idea. Well-established in their home markets but lacking marketing infrastructureto scale up, many are increasingly open to outside help.<\/p>\n

Sharma highlights instances of companies like Sheela Foam<\/a> and Pune-based Suhana Masale. With the former, he helped rejuvenate Sleepwell through a new positioning campaign and product launches, followed by the full relaunch of Kurlon, including augmenting their marketing with structure, processes, talent hires, training and agency onboarding .<\/p>\n

With Suhana Masale, Sharma crafted expansion strategies, including a Gujarat relaunch, featuring a new product range and a full multimedia campaign.<\/p>\n

Deep impact
In marketing, intellectual property \u2014 especially creative campaigns \u2014 is often contested. So, how much trust do external practitioners command inside company walls? A fair bit. Most sign NDAs and sometimes, even non-compete clauses.<\/p>\n

\u201cStrategic frameworks for planning, the critical thinking and mental models are my toolkit, but the actual practice of it, and the ideas therein belong to the client. That\u2019s the IP I co-create and I consider it their property,\u201d says Prasad.<\/p>\n

Fractional CMOs can be truly effective only if there\u2019s access to all the data and information that a fulltime CMO would have, says Bhat. \u201cThe relationship is different from that of an agency. To truly move the needle, a fractional CMO needs to integrate fully with the organisation. <\/p>\n

Similarly, a brand can trust them if there is transparency in terms of external vendor pricing and recommendations,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Helping hands
In cases where a company already has a CMO who is juggling multiple brands, an extra pair of hands can be a relief, especially in areas like digital or performance marketing or when D2C brands come on-board through acquisitions.<\/p>\n

At times, an outsider\u2019s perspective offering a neutral voice is welcome. \u201cFull-time CMOs are fine with this arrangement by virtue of the incremental value offered by the consultant,\u201d says Sharma.<\/p>\n

And with clear boundaries, the collaboration can be symbiotic.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s fragmented, fast-moving market where AI is rewriting the brand and marketing playbook, the CMO\u2019s role faces much scrutiny. Experts expect the demand for fractional roles to keep rising, as companies chase efficiency and re-evaluate payrolls, encouraging senior leaders to take up high paid gig work.<\/p>\n

Hiring a part-time CMO with the full span of skills, rather than a full-time one with gaps, isn\u2019t just practical, but a marker of operational maturity . \u201cThe ability to be on the same wavelength as the leadership while also helping shape brand strategy \u2014 that is the most important lever fractional CMOs bring,\u201d reminds Ganapathy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A startup founder, backed by decent funding, stares at a flattened sales graph. The brand\u2019s social feeds are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[28,65502,158,65507,65506,65505,65504,65503],"class_list":{"0":"post-96949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-cmos","10":"tag-entrepreneurship","11":"tag-fractional-cmos","12":"tag-pickyourtrail","13":"tag-shadowfax","14":"tag-sheela-foam","15":"tag-unilever"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}