A defined process.
Measurable outcomes.
A team that can run.
The 12-Week Fractional CMO Engagement is built for one purpose: get your B2B SaaS company from post-raise chaos to an operating marketing foundation — with the ICP defined, the pipeline process built, the technology configured — including where AI now does the work — and the team in place to execute.
Discovery — leave no stone unturned
Every failed marketing engagement starts the same way: someone skips the discovery and jumps straight to execution. The first three weeks are non-negotiable. You can't build the right foundation without understanding the real goals, the real constraints, and the real people who have to execute the plan.
Stakeholder Discovery
4–5 in-depth conversations with the CEO or revenue lead, plus 1–3 conversations with every stakeholder who will touch the execution: marketing, sales, customer success, finance. Together they surface the real business goals, growth targets, team dynamics, investor expectations, and the strengths and gaps you'll be working with — not just what's in the deck. The interviews also baseline each team member's AI competencies and capabilities — who can prompt well, who can judge output quality, who's ready to own tooling — and what progress is realistic for each person, because where AI can accelerate your motion depends on who you have, not just what you buy.
Systems & Data Audit
A full review of the current CRM, analytics setup, website, content, and attribution. Not to judge — to understand what's usable, what's broken, and what's missing entirely. The audit now includes an AI-readiness read: what you're recording, what your data can actually fuel, and which parts of your motion are ready to shift from human-run to AI-assisted — and which aren't yet. It also maps AI across your go-to-market motion, activity by activity — from ICP development all the way to advocacy: who owns each task, who executes it, where it sits today on the spectrum from human-run to fully automated, the degree of adoption (in real use, versus subscribed to and idle), and the degree of efficiency and efficacy actually being realized. That map is the plan: which activities move to the right on the spectrum, and which moves provide the most value.
Discovery Summary & Alignment
A written Discovery Summary presented to the full team: Business Goals, Marketing Goals, and the specific Engagement Goals for Weeks 4–11. Everyone aligns before execution begins. This document becomes the contract for the rest of the engagement.
"The Discovery Process was valuable, because Michael uncovered exactly where we were as a business. He left no stone unturned."
— Dan Erikson, CEO, OpsReadyExecution — the work that moves the number
Eight weeks of focused execution against the Engagement Goals agreed in Week 3. Typically 4 – 6 goals, drawn from the four areas that consistently drive pipeline: ICP clarity, lead qualification, technology, and team. Every goal traces directly back to your ARR targets — no marketing theater.
Execution now routinely includes the AI moves discovery surfaced: shifting the right go-to-market activities from human-run to AI-assisted — sequenced by anticipated ARR impact and ROI — standing up the tooling, and upleveling your people on using AI in their go-to-market work: taking each team member from where discovery found them to where they can credibly run the new motion. The gains hold because your team can run them.
Who your best clients are, how they buy, and what moves them through the funnel. The foundation everything else is built on.
MQL/SQL definitions, SLAs between Marketing and Sales, and stage-by-stage entry/exit criteria tied to the buyer journey.
HubSpot or Salesforce configured for your process — dashboards, automations, and reporting that your team will actually use.
The KPIs that matter for your stage, visible to every stakeholder, so decisions are made on data not instinct.
Identifying gaps, defining the right roles, and sourcing CMO or VP Marketing candidates where needed — including vetting and interviewing.
A bottom-up, data-grounded revenue plan your board will trust and your team can execute against.
"Michael worked with each of the leads to think in a more ARR-centric way and leverage best practices from leading B2B SaaS organizations — he inspired them to feel empowered as true drivers of revenue."
— Greg Chudiak, President & CEO, Pandell (Acquired by ESG Global)Transition — the foundation holds after you leave
The engagement ends with two things: a 12-month forward plan, and a complete handoff to the team now in place. The goal is a foundation your team can execute on independently — not ongoing dependency. Roughly one-third of engagements transition to a light Advisory arrangement, but that is always the founder's choice.
12-Month ARR Roadmap
A concrete plan — not a strategy deck — that maps activities to revenue targets, assigns owners, and identifies where investment is needed — including the AI roadmap: which go-to-market activities shift next on the automation spectrum, in what order, and who owns each move. Built for the team to run, not for a shelf.
Full Responsibility Handoff
All strategy and execution is transitioned to the purpose-built team — which has been upskilled, augmented, or rebuilt during the engagement as needed. No knowledge is siloed. That includes the AI-assisted parts of the motion — your team leaves able to run, QA, and improve it without me.
Optional: Advisory Continuation
If it makes sense, the engagement transitions into a recurring advisory cadence — monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly sessions. Light-touch, not a retainer — designed to ensure the plan holds and the team has a sounding board.
"He's left us in a great place, with a framework for the future growth of the company."
— Brian McClennon, President & CEO, LINKFour areas. All of them connected to your pipeline.
Clarity on Who to Target & How They Buy
Your ICP and Buyer Journey isn't a marketing exercise — it's the operating map for your entire revenue team. Without it, every dollar spent on people, process, and technology is less efficient. With it, everything downstream gets easier.
Processes That Better Qualify Leads
The right team members taking the right actions on the right leads at the right time. This requires SLAs between Marketing and Sales, buyer-led stage definitions, and clear ownership at every point in the funnel.
Technology That Drives Performance
The CRM, marketing automation, and analytics stack your team will actually use — set up to generate the dashboards and insights that drive real decisions. HubSpot and Salesforce expertise across 20 engagements.
In 2026, that stack includes AI, configured deliberately. Call recording becomes the data spine: every conversation feeds the CRM, drafts the follow-up, and updates the pipeline without manual entry. Outreach, enrichment, and reporting run AI-assisted with a human approving every send. And we map your entire go-to-market motion across the automation spectrum — human only → tech-enabled → human-in-the-loop → fully automated — so every move is a deliberate decision. One rule is non-negotiable: nothing gets automated that your team hasn't first done well by hand.
Teams That Are Fit-for-Purpose
The right people in the right roles, with the data and direction to scale revenue. This includes upskilling current team members, identifying gaps, and sourcing and hiring CMO or VP Marketing candidates where needed.
Hiring math has changed, too. Where you once needed five specialists, one strong operator working with AI tooling — someone who can prompt well and recognize what great looks like — often delivers most of each function at a fraction of the burn. Sometimes you still need the specialist. Part of the work is telling you honestly which is which.
This works when you are
- A B2B SaaS company that has raised $3–10M in the last 12 months
- Or one that's profitable at $2M+ ARR (or funded through venture debt, RBF, or strategic capital) with real budget behind a growth push
- A founder who is the executive sponsor and can make decisions in real time
- Ready to move fast — this is 12 weeks, not 12 months
- Looking to build the foundation, not just get a strategy deck
- Open to the team being involved, challenged, and upskilled
- Willing to invest in the right infrastructure before scaling execution
This doesn't work when you are
- Pre-product or pre-revenue — the engagement requires something to audit and build from
- Looking for an agency to execute tactics without strategy
- Unable to commit executive bandwidth to the discovery process
- Already have strong marketing leadership in place
- Looking for an open-ended retainer rather than a fixed outcome
- Bootstrapped at or near breakeven, with no real budget behind a growth push
What is a fractional CMO?
A senior marketing leader who builds your marketing function part-time, for a defined period — without the cost or long-term commitment of a full-time CMO hire. Eighty Twenty CMO works exclusively with post-PMF B2B SaaS companies, post-raise or profitably scaling, building the ICP, pipeline process, CRM, and team a company needs to scale revenue.
How long is the engagement?
Twelve weeks, fixed. Three weeks of discovery, eight weeks of execution against four to six agreed Engagement Goals, and a final week of transition with a 12-month forward plan. Fixed timeline, fixed scope, no retainer creep.
What does the engagement actually deliver?
An operating marketing foundation, not a strategy deck: a defined ICP and buyer journey, a lead-qualification process with Marketing–Sales SLAs, a configured CRM with revenue dashboards, and the right team in place — including sourcing a CMO or VP Marketing where one is needed.
Who is the engagement for — and not for?
It's built for post-PMF B2B SaaS companies with a founder who can sponsor the work and make decisions in real time: a $3–10M raise in the last 12 months, meaningful capital in another structure (venture debt, RBF, strategic), or profitable at $2M+ ARR with real budget behind a growth push. It's not for pre-product or pre-revenue companies, teams looking for an agency to run tactics without strategy, or companies that already have strong marketing leadership in place.
What happens after the 12 weeks?
Everything is handed off to the team now in place, with a 12-month ARR roadmap so nothing backslides. Roughly one-third of engagements continue into a light advisory cadence — monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly sessions — but that's always the founder's choice, not a default retainer.
Do you build AI into the marketing function?
Yes — it's now inseparable from the work. Discovery includes an AI-readiness audit; execution typically maps your go-to-market motion across the automation spectrum (human → tech-enabled → human-in-the-loop → fully automated), stands up call recording as the data spine, and configures AI-assisted outreach, enrichment, and reporting inside your CRM — with a human approving anything that reaches a customer. The principle behind it: AI hasn't changed what makes go-to-market work — ICP, pipeline process, measurement. It has changed how fast and how lean you can execute. The scope is deliberate: AI as it applies to your go-to-market — not a company-wide AI program. And nothing gets automated that your team hasn't first done well by hand.
How do we get started?
A no-pressure 30-minute conversation to determine mutual fit. Capacity is intentionally limited to two concurrent engagements, so timing and availability are discussed there.
Ready to talk about what 12 weeks could mean for your pipeline?
No pitch. A straightforward 30-minute conversation about where you are and whether this is the right fit.
See If You Qualify30 minutes · Mutual fit assessment · Limited availability