At some point every founder decides marketing needs a leader. They hire a senior person with an impressive background, and twelve months later both sides are frustrated.
The pattern is common because the hire is asked to do two jobs at once: work out the strategy and build the team to run it. Those need different skills, and the person hired is usually great at one of them.
Set the direction first
Before the hire, get clear on your ideal customer, your position, your pricing logic and the one or two channels that show promise. Written down, agreed by the founders.
Then hire for what the plan needs
- If the plan rests on content and AI search, hire someone who has built that.
- If it rests on sales-led growth, hire someone who has run demand generation for a sales team.
- If it rests on retention, hire for lifecycle and product marketing.
A fractional leader can bridge this gap: set the direction, start the engine, then help you hire the right full-time person into a role that is already defined. That person starts with a plan instead of a blank page, and is far more likely to succeed.