Hi, my name is Mariya and I'm the Founder of Orchid Agency. After 14+ years of building, growing and leading global marketing teams for high-tech companies, I decided to start a marketing agency focused on growing early stage, B2B tech startups.
All startups are maniacally focused on achieving their next stage of growth though most don't have the adequate marketing expertise or the resources required to achieve growth. For most pre-series B startups, with revenues of <$15M/year, it typically doesn’t make sense to hire a full-time CMO. Why not?
Couple of reasons:
1. Mismatch between the current stage & needs of the business: Pre-series B you need a coachable, adaptable and disciplined army of executioners. You need someone that can roll up their sleeves, pivot quickly and, if you're lucky, navigate smoothly between "30,000 foot view" and landing the plane. Most CMOs are used to managing 5-10+ individuals to execute against marketing goals thus the CMOs are not willing or able to roll up their sleeves at early stage companies.
2. Mismatch between the depth of experience & current needs of the business: Most CMOs may not have the depth of experience required for the current stage of your business. For example, if you are selling to small-and-medium businesses (SMB) you'll want someone that has deep expertise in the right marketing channels to compliment and accelerate sales. In the case of SMB, there is a large focus on driving and converting website traffic, paid media, etc.
On the flip side if you are selling to large enterprises you'll want someone with deep expertise in understanding marketing channels that accelerate enterprise deals: specifically partner and channel marketing, account-based marketing , etc.
And of course if you would like your CMO to stay throughout the entire, or majority, of the growth journey then you will need someone that has deep experience across many channels and sales motions, with the right and adaptable balance of tactical and strategic mix (and that's really hard to find in one person!).
3. Huge overhead costs: As founders at early stage companies, you are obsessively focused on 1) driving revenue and 2) reducing burn. Moreover, you have to hit the revenue and burn targets to raise the next round. And lets face it - it's tough and inefficient to pay huge overhead, [insert here a six-digit number of your choice], for a role of a marketing executive that is responsible for low-value tasks such as writing email copy, updating website pages, posting on LinkedIn and running tactical tasks day-to-day.
The CMO’s main role is to translate the direction from the CEO and Board into yearly, quarterly and monthly marketing goals and objectives. Those goals should then be translated into campaign plans that are measured both qualitatively and quantitatively, drive qualified leads and fuel the growth of the business. That's where we come in and bridge the gap between an over-qualified, over-compensated CMO and an under-experienced marketing implementer.
With a special sweet-spot for early stage, B2B tech companies we bring the right level of experience to compliment your business. Contact us today to learn more!
