Most startups don’t need a CMO as their first marketing hire. They need two hungry operators who actually do the work.
A startup founder on Intro recently asked me: “Should I hire a CMO? I’m running marketing myself. CAC is rising on the one channel that works and I don’t want to keep doing all the execution.”
Me: “Don’t hire anyone too senior.”
Here are the 5 things I suggested he do instead:
1. Exploit and Explore
He is in B2B. He has a 20K monthly budget to hire and a 100K monthly ad budget. Most of the leads come from Meta. His question was whether to go deeper on what works or to find the next scalable channel.
You do both.
Split the hiring budget and bring in 2 operators:
– One to exploit. Go deep on Meta. Test angles. Improve creatives. Own performance end to end.
– One to explore. Test LinkedIn. Partnerships. Lead magnets. Influencers. Webinars if relevant.
The exploiter maximizes what pays the bills today.
The explorer finds what scales tomorrow.
You need both running in parallel.
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2. Hire Growth Marketing Lead-Level Profiles
A CMO is the wrong hire right now. Too senior. Too expensive. Too far away from the hands-on execution required.
You want someone one step below the title you think you need. A growth marketing lead type. Experienced enough to know what matters, but still close enough to the work to make it happen.
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3. Look for T-Shapes
Look for people who went very deep on at least one channel. They’ve proven they can operate at the level of detail needed to make a channel profitable.
At the same time they should have a wide view. They should be able to translate that depth into new channels without starting from zero.
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4. Make Them Show Output
Never hire based on conversation. Run a practical case. Ask for a Loom. Ask them to walk you through a real campaign or analysis.
You’ll immediately see the difference between talkers and doers.
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5. Look for Traits
– Performance marketers are analytical. They love dashboards, numbers and iterations.
– Partnership and influencer people are social. They love outreach, pitching and conversations.
Do not mix the two.
Hire people whose natural strengths match the channel you want them to own.
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Disclaimer: New channels always look broken at first. Explore deeply enough to know if the channel has potential before you shut it down.
TL:DR
Situation: Hands-on Founder. One channel that works. No marketing team.
Do not hire one expensive senior person who will not do the work.
Split your hiring budget. Bring in two hungry operators. One exploits. One explores. Test systematically and hire based on output.