How the CMO Role Evolves at Different Growth Stages

As a startup evolves and grows, the role of CMO evolves, as well. Find out what it takes to succeed at each stage of growth.

As your company transitions from one growth stage to the next, understanding the appropriate responsibilities and expectations for your Chief Marketing Officer is essential. The challenges of scaling a marketing function are much different than the challenges of getting it up and running, and they can each require distinct skill sets.

As a thought leader with over a decade of experience building software businesses, Jeff Whatcott, former CMO of BrightCove and current founder and CEO of HatchLearn, shares his insights on how CMOs need to recognize their strengths and weaknesses and adapt accordingly.

The Evolving Role of CMO at Different Growth Stages

Key Takeaways

• In the early stages, you’re the chief chef and bottle washer at the same time. At an early-stage growth company, the CMO is doing as well as leading. You have to be willing to be versatile and actually get hands-on with a lot of the work.
• As you grow, you need to quickly build your team so you can work with leverage. Your role begins to transition from doing to delegating. If everything is going through you or you’re too involved, you won’t be able to lead at the strategic level.
• Start thinking about culture. You need to begin planning out what you want your culture to be. It’s essential to keep in mind as you hire and bring more people in, and as you coach your team members. In the later stages, you have to think carefully to ensure that your organization’s culture is not morphing in a strange or unproductive way.
• Iterate rapidly early on, but realize you eventually need to reduce turbulence. In the early stages, you are building a lot of basic systems, which can involve a considerable amount of trial and error. As you discover which work and begin scaling them, however, you need to start focusing on optimization rather than experimentation. You still want to maintain some level of agility and willingness to change, but your ultimate goal should be getting more efficiency out of your processes and teams.

Get More CMO Tips from Industry Veterans

If you’re new to a marketing leadership role, or looking to increase your effectiveness and relevancy, these tips from established CMOs will help put you on a path to succeed.

Photo by: Kevin Dooley