Startups: When to Hire a CMO

It can be difficult to pinpoint exactly when your business has outgrown its startup marketing team, but one former CMO says there are signposts for deciding when to hire a CMO.

There’s no denying that helping a business grow from $0 to $25 million in revenue is a monumental achievement for a SaaS company’s early marketing team. But that achievement also tends to usher in a new era. More specifically, former Brightcove CMO Jeff Whatcott says the run from $25 million to $100 million (or more) in revenue requires a significant ramp in marketing sophistication and leadership.

Watch the video below to learn why Whatcott, who’s now the founder and CEO of HatchLearn, believes that period of growth is the right time to hire a CMO — and what that means for a SaaS startup’s existing head of marketing.

Key Takeaways

• What changes from $25M to $100M: As a SaaS company scales, it typically means budgets get massive, campaigns get more complex, and team/program management becomes a critical core competency.

• The profile of an expansion-stage CMO: Whatcott says marketing leaders at scale must be equipped with the ability to juggle numerous responsibilities, anticipate the future, recognize patterns, and pull the right levers. Generally, these skills are found in experienced CMOs, and it’s often where many VPs of Marketing “run out of gas.”

• Growing into the right marketing leader: Of course, it is possible for VPs of Marketing to grow into CMOs, but for that to happen Whatcott says those marketing leaders must recognize and study their shortcomings. If you lack the skills or capabilities to scale a marketing organization, Whatcott says you need to accept that and prepare to learn as much as you can from a new CMO.

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Image by: János Balázs