Fractional CMO engagements fail more often than they succeed. The reason is rarely the operator. It is almost always one of five specific mistakes founders make in scoping the role. If you avoid these five, your odds of a successful engagement triple.
1. Expecting them to bring leads from their network. Sometimes happens, never the primary value driver. If you are hiring a fractional CMO mainly because you expect their rolodex to fill your pipeline, you are buying the wrong thing.
2. Hiring before there is a team to lead. A fractional CMO directs work. They do not produce it themselves. If you do not have at least one or two marketing people, the role does not function. Hire ICs first, or engage an implementation partner.
3. Buying the wrong "type" of fractional. There are three: the strategist (10-15 hrs/mo, advisory), the embedded operator (25-40 hrs/mo, real CMO function), and the dressed-up consultant. Match the type to what you actually need. See the fractional CMO myth.
4. No measurable success definition. "Improve marketing" is not a goal. "Pipeline coverage of 4x within 6 months" is. Without measurable success criteria, you cannot tell whether the engagement worked, and neither can the operator.
5. Underestimating the founder time commitment. A fractional CMO needs 2-4 hours per week of founder time in the first 90 days. If you cannot give that, the engagement starts behind. Most founders dramatically underestimate this.