Who this is for
- Founders and CEOs at Seed to Series C security companies who need marketing leadership before they're ready to hire a full-time CMO, or while they search for one.
- Companies between marketing leaders that need the pipeline, board reporting and team kept on track.
- Teams with a specific gap: positioning that isn't landing, a funnel nobody trusts, a launch, a flagship event, or a marketing team that needs structure.
- Investors who want a GTM read on a portfolio company.
What I take on
- Positioning and messaging for security buyers who assume vendors exaggerate: practitioners, security leaders, CISOs, IT and procurement.
- Pipeline strategy and planning: working back from the revenue target to the pipeline, coverage and programs it takes.
- Demand generation and ABM built around the buying committee and real trigger events.
- Field marketing and events, from executive summits to conference programs with meetings booked before the show.
- Marketing operations and measurement: funnel definitions, attribution sales accepts, and reporting the board can read.
- Analyst relations and third-party proof.
- Team design and hiring: what to hire, in what order, and how to scope the role.
Every engagement starts the same way, with my Observe, Analyze, Execute method: find out what's actually happening, decide what matters most, then do it.
How engagements work
| Engagement | What it is | Typical length | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| GTM Alignment Diagnostic, self-serve | 83-question diagnostic across 13 dimensions with a written read-out | One session | $395 |
| Founder GTM Workshop | Working session with the founder on ICP, positioning and the first GTM plan | One session | $495 |
| GTM Alignment Diagnostic, guided workshop | 90-minute facilitated workshop with your leadership team, delivered as a 30-60-90 plan | One session | $695 |
| Advisory retainer | A standing seat at the leadership table: weekly call, async access and decisions when they come up, about 8 hours a month | Month to month or longer | About $1,700 a month |
| Fractional CMO, 1 day a week | Owns the plan and the priorities while your team or an agency builds, about 32 hours a month | 3 to 12 months | About $6,100 a month |
| Fractional CMO, 2 days a week | Owns the plan and runs the operating cadence, manages vendors and coaches a small team, about 64 hours a month | 3 to 12 months | About $11,600 a month |
| Fractional CMO, 3 days a week | Acts as your marketing leader most of the week, hands-on across programs and systems, including board reporting, about 96 hours a month | 3 to 12 months | About $16,500 a month |
| Full-time contract | Interim or contract-to-hire, with full ownership of the function on a fixed term | Fixed term | About $26,000 a month |
| Scoped project | Positioning, budget and funnel model, marketing infrastructure, a flagship event or a category launch | Defined by the project | Priced to scope after a call |
Monthly figures use my published rate card ($225 an hour for strategy, $150 for execution and $110 for technical work) and the default mix for each shape, before term discounts of 5% at 3 months, 10% at 6 and 15% at 12. Rates as of October 2026. The Engagement Planner lets you build a scope and see the price before we talk.
Fractional or full-time?
Both are good options. They fit different situations.
- Fractional fits when you need senior judgment before you can justify a full-time seat, when the gaps are specific, during a search, or when you want to see what the role really requires before you hire it.
- Full-time fits when marketing needs a permanent owner with a team to build, a long horizon, and a seat alongside the other executives.
On base pay alone, a full-time cybersecurity CMO costs $262,000 to $387,000 a year and a VP of Marketing $225,000 to $310,000, according to my Cybersecurity GTM Hiring Index (US remote, Series B baseline). Full-time roles add equity, benefits and bonus. Fractional doesn't. I walk through the decision in Fractional CMO or Full-Time Hire? and how to scope it in How to Scope a Fractional CMO Engagement.
Why cybersecurity companies work with me
- Two decades in B2B marketing, most of it leading marketing at cybersecurity companies from seed through growth stage, across identity, endpoint, data security, threat intelligence and security operations.
- Marketing-influenced pipeline grown from 21% to 73% at a data access security startup.
- 3x ARR year over year, marketing sourced.
- Endpoints protected grown from 750,000 to more than 4 million in 18 months at an endpoint security company.
- A team scaled from 2 to 20 at a Series B identity company, with a $4.2 million budget.
- An inaugural user conference that returned 1,112% ROI, and a national CISO summit series run two years in a row.
- Named to the N.Rich Top 50 GTM Women Voices of the US, 2026.
- I build what I recommend in public: GTM Radar, the GTM Alignment Diagnostic, How to Hire for GTM and the planning tools on this site.
When I'm not the right fit
- You need hands-on execution only, with no strategy, at volume. An agency is usually a better fit.
- The product isn't in security or a security-adjacent market.
- You want marketing to report into sales. I believe marketing works best as a peer function with its own seat at the table.
Questions
What is a fractional CMO?
A senior marketing leader who works with a company for a defined share of time or a defined scope, instead of as a full-time employee. The work can be strategy only, leadership of the team, a specific project, or interim coverage between full-time leaders.
How much does a fractional CMO cost for a cybersecurity startup?
My workshops are $395 to $695. Ongoing engagements run from about $1,700 a month for an advisory retainer to about $16,500 a month for three days a week, before term discounts. The mix of strategy, execution and technical work sets the final price.
Is fractional the same as part time?
No. Fractional describes how the engagement is scoped, not how many hours it has. It can be two days a week, a single project, strategy planning, or repairing RevOps.
What happens in the first 90 days?
The first month is Observe: funnel, pipeline sources, buyers, messaging, team and tools. The second is Analyze: the constraint that limits results and the plan to fix it. The third is Execute: the first changes in market, with reporting the leadership team agrees on.
Can a fractional engagement turn into a full-time role?
It can, if both sides want it. It's one option, not the expected path. Plenty of companies are better served by fractional leadership for a set period and a full-time hire later, or the other way around.
Do you work with companies outside the US?
Yes. I've run programs across the US, Europe, Israel, the Middle East and Latin America.
How do we start?
Build a scope in the Engagement Planner, take the GTM Alignment Diagnostic, or get in touch.
Updated October 12, 2026. Written by Christine Castro.