According to Fractional founding partner Oliver Lo, in a press statement, from his time working in the venture capital sector, he learned that the biggest challenge most founders face is marketing.

“From value proposition and brand positioning to finding repeatable growth motions without the need for unsustainable paid ad budgets – these aren’t simple challenges for most startups. Many struggle without the right marketing leadership,” he stresses.

Apart from that, the CMO is often the last C-suite to be hired in a growing startup, with less experienced marketing teams often reporting directly to a founder. Hiring a full-time CMO can also be expensive in a region where funding rounds are not as large as in the US.

This is why Fractional was launched in March as a collective of CMOs to solve the marketing leadership gap in hypergrowth companies. The organisation curates the region’s top marketing leaders to work for companies on a fractional or part-time basis.

According to them, the fractional model breaks the confines of a full-time job construct, enabling growing startups to access elite marketing talent on a fractional basis at a fraction of the cost.

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The fractional model also gives veteran marketers an alternative path to shape the “peak periods” of their career journey. “We have met many marketers who have had to make a difficult choice between fulfilling work at growing companies or stable jobs that pay the bills,” said Fractional founding partner Rana Saha.

“The fractional model provides a different path – the opportunity to engage with the most interesting work of their careers without making financial sacrifices.”

In an email interview with e27, Lo explains that Fractional CMOs complement growing young marketers or leveraging agencies.

“Often, you will find a marketing lead at a startup who has been there since the beginning and who should grow into the role of CMO over time. We are big believers in nurturing these talents across Asia,” he says.

“However, in the current setup, these young marketing leads or heads can be set up unfairly for failure without the right mentorship. They are expected to deliver outsized growth with leaner budgets but perhaps have not had the experience to know how to get there. A fractional CMO’s role will often be to mentor this young marketing head and lead the function. However, because the engagement will be for a defined period of time rather than permanently, it allows this young marketing head to grow into a VP Marketing/CMO role with the right strategic guidance. We have seen fractional CMOs often kept on as a longer-term advisor specifically for this mentorship role.”

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Lo points out that while working with marketing agencies does have its advantages, especially on the execution side, it would not be possible without a clear strategy.

“We’ve seen many startups struggle to work with agencies for this reason. Insert a true marketing leader into the equation, and the budget spent on agencies can become better directed, more productive, and have better value for both parties overall. The addition of a fractional CMO is usually hugely welcomed by most agency heads, and we would encourage you to get their thoughts.”

Natural growth motion in marketing

Fractional was founded by three Southeast Asia (SEA)-based marketing leaders–Sophie Jokelson, Lo and Saha–with more than five decades of combined experience. The co-founders have led Grab, Uber, Sequoia, Mars, Dell, Zynga, PayPal, Antler and Cove marketing teams.

Fractional describes its clients as startup founders who have found product-market fit and are looking to market to help scale their growth sustainably. “They tend to be in the range of seed or Series A up to Series C,” says Lo.

The organisation has selected its first batch of CMOs, each with over a decade of operator experience in sectors including fintech, D2C, SaaS, e-commerce and logistics. The firm is already taking on projects with founders directly and through venture capital and private equity firms.

When asked about some of the challenges Fractional is often asked to tackle with the startups, Lo gives “finding a natural growth motion” as one.

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“In the early stages, founders will often hack their way to growth through any possible channels as they search for PMF. However, post-PMF and usually after raising their Series A, they’re expected to drive repeatable and scalable growth. In a more rational environment like today, that can’t primarily depend on paid channels unless their investor is happy to sustain negative unit economics,” he explains.

“The role of a CMO, along with leaders in growth and product, is to help the startup find those scalable growth flywheels – and depending on the business, it will take a different shape. Calendly grew through viral growth loops built into its product. Hubspot leverages content, learning, and upskilling combined with SEO and events to become the de facto place for marketers to grow (as well as use Hubspot). Many D2C brands have grown through influence across social channels and virality through a particular target segment inspired by what it represents.”

Lo believes that finding this natural growth motion that startups can repeat and scale is critical to success. This is where Fractional can play a role in a startup’s success.

CMOs for Southeast Asia

SEA is widely known as a fragmented market that provides a unique set of challenges for startups. According to Lo, knowing where to localise and where to centralise is “super important” to compete and grow sustainably.

This is why SEA will continue to be Fractional’s focus in addition to India. “However, we are taking projects across Asia Pacific, and most of our CMOs have deep experience across the region,” he says.

“We plan to grow our community of CMOs and get them each involved in some of the region’s most transformative startups. Contrary to the principles of the ecosystem we work in, we don’t actually want to grow too quickly. We believe in keeping the quality bar high and always working with the best on both sides–CMOs and founders.”

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Image Credit: Fractional

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