Fractional CMO · Pricing
Published rates. No sales call needed.
Advisory
Senior operator on call. Strategic sounding board, light embedded review, IG bench access for project bolt-ons priced separately. Built for venture-backed pre-revenue, PE portfolio review, and second-opinion seats.
- Weekly 60-minute working session
- Async review of plans, decks, hires
- Quarterly board-ready written read
- IG bench available a la carte
- Beat or Next Best Action available as add-on
Embedded
Embedded fractional CMO seat. The operator runs the function. IG specialty teams move with the engagement, not as agency partners billed separately. The most common engagement shape.
- 15 to 20 hours per week embedded
- Weekly working sessions, monthly board cadence
- Brand, demand, lifecycle, and AI execution included
- IG specialty teams active inside scope
- Beat dashboard included for client visibility
Operating Partner
Full operating partner across the growth function. Multi-team allocation, AI products in production, sister VC arm engaged where it applies. Equivalent to the upper tier of the market, priced at the floor.
- 25 to 35 hours per week, multi-operator possible
- Full IG specialty-team allocation
- Beat + Next Best Action + Autonomix production-ready
- Blitzscaling Ventures bridge available
- Quarterly outcome ownership
Milestone-comp option
Pre-raise venture-backed companies can defer part of the retainer against a funding milestone. The All Voice AI engagement runs this shape. Talk on the call.
Outcomes variant
Embedded and Operating Partner tiers offer a fixed-scope outcomes contract. Reduced base + milestone payment when the named outcome ships.
Project bolt-ons
GTM rebuild, brand reposition, marketing audit. $5,000 to $25,000 per project depending on scope. Available stand-alone or on top of any tier.
The proof · All Voice AI
What $2,500 actually buys
The All Voice AI relaunch shipped on the Advisory tier accrual rate. Three artifacts in one engagement window.
All Voice AI is a venture-backed conversational AI company. The fractional CMO seat is structured as milestone-comp accruing at $2,500 a month until the funding milestone. The published Advisory tier is the same rate. What landed in one engagement window:
That work shipped because the bench moves with the operator. Other firms charge $2,500 a month for advisory only and the work gets re-quoted to an agency partner. IG bundles the bench. The Advisory tier is the entry point to the same operating model.
Market context
Where IG sits against the published category.
Four firms in the category publish ranges. The rest gate rates behind a sales call. Numbers below are taken from each firm's own pricing materials, current as of June 2026.
| Firm | Published rate | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Innovative Group | $2,500 / $7,500 / $15,000+ | Three published tiers. Operator + six specialty teams + AI products in production. |
| Chief Outsiders | $1,500 to $30,000+ / mo | Retainer range. 150+ CMOs on bench. Productized "GrowthGears OS" methodology. |
| MarketerHire | $3,000 to $15,000 / mo | Marketplace. 2-week trial, month-to-month. Sweet spot $5K to $10K for Series A-B. |
| CMOx | $3,000 to $15,000 / mo | Mid-market focus. Operator-published range. |
| GrowTal | $2,000 to $5,000 / mo entry; scales | Marketplace. Performance hybrid = reduced retainer + 1-5% of revenue growth. |
| Right Side Up, Growth Collective, others | Not published | Sales-gated. ~80% of the long tail hides rates. |
Sources: Chief Outsiders blog, MarketerHire 2026 pricing breakdown, GrowTal 2026 rate guide, CMOx site.
Why we publish
Most firms in this category hide rack rates behind a sales call. The reason is honest: the price varies by buyer. The cost is that the buyer has to spend a half hour qualifying themselves before knowing if the conversation is even worth having.
We publish the number because the bench can deliver at the number. The All Voice AI engagement is the proof. When the operator and the bench move together, $2,500 a month buys real work, not advisory hours.
If your budget is set at a specific number going into the call and the published tier does not fit, say so on the call. We will tell you in the same conversation whether the engagement fits. Either yes, here is what we can scope, or no, here is what you should look for instead.
How to pick the tier
Pick Advisory if you are pre-revenue venture-backed, a PE portfolio company under review, or a leadership team that wants a second senior voice on the marketing function without changing reporting lines.
Pick Embedded if you are between $5M and $50M in revenue, your marketing function needs a senior operator running it, and you want execution shipped not just direction set. This is where most engagements land.
Pick Operating Partner if you are $50M+ in revenue, going through a platform shift, M&A integration, PE value-creation cycle, or fundraise. You want the full IG specialty-team bench plus a sister VC arm engaged on the engagement.
Frequently asked
Why $2,500 at the Advisory tier? That's below the lowest competitor floor.
The Advisory tier matches the milestone-comp accrual rate on the All Voice AI engagement. The work that has shipped at that rate is on the page above. The number is real because the bench delivers at the number, not because we are racing to the bottom on price.
Are these rack rates negotiable?
The published tier is the published tier. The scope inside the tier is the scope conversation. If you need something the published tier does not cover, the Embedded and Operating Partner tiers allow pivots inside the engagement. If your budget is below Advisory, we will tell you on the call who to talk to instead.
What's the minimum engagement?
Advisory: 3 months. Embedded: 6 months. Operating Partner: 12 months. The minimums match the time it takes for the work to compound. Below these, the engagement does not have enough runway to ship outcomes.
Can we run an outcomes-based contract instead?
Yes, on Embedded and Operating Partner. Reduced base retainer plus milestone payment when the named outcome ships. The conversation about which outcome happens during scoping.
Do you take equity?
On venture-backed pre-raise engagements, milestone-comp is the structure. Part of the retainer accrues against a funding milestone. Equity-only is not the model. The base retainer is real cash because the bench is real cash.
How does this compare to hiring a full-time CMO?
Full-time CMO total compensation runs $275,000 to $500,000 a year loaded. The Embedded tier covers the same strategic surface at $90,000 a year. The bench plus AI products in production are what make the math work at the lower number.
What if we want to start with Advisory and move up?
That is the most common ladder. Start at Advisory while the engagement scope clarifies. Move to Embedded once the bottleneck is clear. The contract resets to the new tier on the first of the following month.
Pick the tier. Bring the bottleneck.
30 minutes. We will tell you in the same call whether the tier you picked fits the work in front of you.
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