Fractional CMO for tech companies
Narrative Stack provides fractional CMO services for tech companies from seed to Series B. One senior operator works alongside the founder and team to build the whole marketing engine: positioning, go-to-market, demand, content, systems, and team. Engagements start with a free Tailored Perspective and run as a monthly retainer at two levels, Lead and Build.
What a fractional CMO does
If your company sounds like three others within your industry, you'll need help. LLM citation overtook word of mouth and if they can't see why you're special, you already lost.
I build the marketing function and the infrastructure that lasts. Five workstreams make up your engine:
- 01Strategy firstFind what actually moves the business, and where marketing is leaking. Everything else follows from this.
- 02Positioning and narrativeMake complex technology clear to buyers, press, and procurement, without dumbing it down.
- 03Go-to-market and demandThe channels, content, and funnel that bring qualified pipeline.
- 04Systems and teamThe tools, process, and people, so the engine keeps running.
- 05Founder visibilityExecutive and founder profile as one workstream inside the engine, not the whole offer.
The free Tailored Perspective
Every engagement opens with a Tailored Perspective. It is a clear, specific read of one marketing gap you can see in your company, and how I would fix it. It is free, it is genuinely useful whether or not we ever work together, and its only job is to earn a conversation.
It is not a generic audit or a templated scorecard. It is one real problem, named precisely, with the fix I would run. If it lands, we talk. If it does not, you move on.
The first 30 days
In the first 30 days I find where marketing is leaking (positioning, message, proof, or channel) and fix the highest-leverage one, then build outwards.
Usually the fastest win is the same one: your traction exists and no one can see it. So the first fix is often making existing proof visible, which costs little and moves fast.
Two ways to work together
Prices are indicative ranges, set on the call to your stage and scope.
Want the numbers in context against the market? See what a fractional CMO costs.
| Feature | Fractional CMO Lead | Fractional CMO Build |
|---|---|---|
| Indicative price | £3,500 to £5,000 / month, 3-month minimum | from £6,000 / month |
| What it is | Senior leadership that sets and steers the marketing engine: strategy, positioning, GTM, demand, content, systems, and team. Direction and the highest-leverage builds. | Everything in Lead, plus hands-on execution alongside the strategy: more days per week, for founders who want momentum fast. |
Is this a fit?
Honest disqualification saves us both a call.
If you are a technical founder doing marketing by default and unsure where to start,
this piece is for you.
A fit
- Deep tech: AI software and products, developer tools, robotics and physical AI, autonomous systems and V2X, distributed systems, technical open source software.
- Seed to Series B, 5 to 50 people.
- Technical-founder-led, with real traction.
Not a fit
- Companies that sell nothing yet, or are pre-product-market fit.
Why founders pick this over an agency or a hire
- Technically fluentI sit with your engineers and translate. I make the technology legible to buyers, press, procurement, and the models that now screen you first.
- Operator, not adviserI have built marketing functions from zero and led them through to enterprise pipeline.
- The engine, not just campaignsStrategy through execution, designed to last after the engagement.
- Senior and scarceFractional CMO level, working directly with a few companies at a time.
The full three-way comparison is in fractional CMO vs agency vs full-time hire.
Case study
The buyers who mattered could not see what the developers already valued. Read more.
Developer community growth, organic. No paid acquisition.
US, Japan, Germany, France and China, opened through organic reach not paid spend.
Enterprise customers, reached through the channels and content built from scratch.
A marketing function built from nothing. De facto CMO owning strategy, execution and budget.
FAQ
What does the Fractional CMO Lead engagement include?
Strategy, positioning, go-to-market, demand, content direction, systems, and team leadership: the senior direction that sets and steers the marketing engine, plus the highest-leverage builds. It runs at £3,500 to £5,000 a month with a three-month minimum.
What is the difference between Lead and Build?
Build includes everything in Lead and adds hands-on execution and more days per week, for founders who want momentum fast. It starts at £6,000 a month.
Is there a paid audit or sprint?
No. The diagnostic work lives inside the free Tailored Perspective, which earns the call, and the first weeks of the retainer, which prove value fast. There is no separate paid audit product.
Do you work with companies outside deep tech?
The practice is built for deep tech and technical products. If your buyers are not technical and your product is not, this is probably not the best fit, and I will tell you so rather than take the engagement.
How senior is the work, and who does it?
Daniela Nastase does the work personally, with a small number of companies at a time. Narrative Stack is senior and scarce by design. More on the operator behind it on the About page.
When should a startup bring in a fractional CMO rather than hiring?
When there is real traction that buyers cannot see, and marketing needs senior direction before it needs daily hands. A full-time hire makes sense once the engine is built and needs a daily owner, usually later. The full comparison is in fractional CMO vs agency vs full-time hire.
Start with a free Tailored Perspective
Tell me what you are building. I will send you a Tailored Perspective: a specific read of one marketing gap I can see in your company, and how I would fix it. It is free, useful whether or not we ever work together, and its only job is to start a real conversation.
Get my take on your marketing