Fractional CMO · Pillar
Fractional CMO Services
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Other firms send you an operator. We send you an operator, six specialty teams, an AI engineering bench, and a sister VC arm.
Chris Salazar has served as fractional CMO at a leading global hyperscaler, a leading dental 3D printing platform, AllVoiceAI, Unbound, Tru Performance, Meraaki, echo, and OneBenefits. Eight mandates. Eight categories. Same playbook each time. The category is the variable. The role is the constant.
The five edges no other firm in the SERP can claim together
Pattern density. Most fractional CMOs have run the role once or twice. Chris has run it eight times across eight categories. Cross-pattern judgment is what mid-market boards actually pay for.
Integrated specialty teams. Six teams move with every fractional CMO mandate: Business Growth, Digital Marketing & Technology, AI Solutions, Products, Education & Enablement, Funding & Incubation. Chief Outsiders ships a consultant. IG ships a company.
AI execution depth. IG ships AI products in production. Next Best Action, Beat, agentic personalization at OneBenefits. Most firms use AI. We operate AI. Full receipts at /fractional-cmo/ai-execution/.
VC operator alignment. IG's sixth specialty team is Funding & Incubation, powered by Blitzscaling Ventures. IG can write checks into AI companies it advises. Full framing at /fractional-cmo/funding-bridge/.
Research moat. State of the Buyer H2 2026 is original survey data IG owns and publishes. No other fractional CMO firm in the SERP has equivalent original research.
How the engagement runs
Five steps. Same shape across engagement sizes. The depth and pace scale with the model.
01. Diagnose. Week one is the operator meeting the team and the data. No deck-back-and-forth. We surface what we see, agree what success looks like.
02. Scope. Engagement model and size matched to the bottleneck. See engagement models and pricing.
03. Ship. The operator is embedded. The IG specialty teams move with them. Beat or Next Best Action deployed for client visibility.
04. Measure. Weekly working sessions. Quarterly outcome reviews against agreed metrics.
05. Hand off. Operating manual at handoff. The team runs the work after we step out.
Who this fits
By company size: $10M to $250M revenue. Series A through pre-IPO in venture-backed terms. For mid-market goes deeper.
By vertical: B2B SaaS, AI infrastructure, dental devices, benefits/HR tech, voice AI, hospitality, restaurants. Eight categories, eight mandates. For B2B SaaS and for AI startups go deeper.
By problem: Positioning to pipeline, sales-marketing alignment under scale, GTM rebuilds during platform shifts, AI adoption inside the growth function.
What we are not
Not a marketplace placing operators by the match. vs traditional fractional firms.
Not an agency executing a brief. vs marketing agency.
Not a consultancy writing decks. vs consultant.
Not an AI tool replacing the operator. vs AI-only tools.
Not the full-time hire you may not be ready for. vs full-time CMO.
Not the interim placeholder running yesterday's playbook. vs interim CMO.
Published rates. No sales call needed.
Three tiers. Real numbers on the page. Pick the tier that fits the bottleneck.
Strategic sounding board, IG bench available a la carte. Built for venture-backed pre-revenue and PE portfolio review seats.
See what's included →15-20 hrs/week embedded. IG specialty teams move with the engagement. Beat dashboard included.
See what's included →Multi-team allocation. AI products in production. Sister VC arm engaged where it applies.
See what's included →Talk to a fractional CMO who has run the role eight times.
30 minutes. Bring the bottleneck. We will tell you whether the engagement fits.
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