Your product execution is solid. Revenue is real. But marketing metrics sit below investor targets. Buyer committee friction stalls deals. Cross-portco standardization never happened. Your sponsor wants investor-ready metrics. You need operational leverage and CMO-level strategy that scales.
Built for CMO or Head of Marketing at PE-backed portfolio company, $50M-$500M+ revenue. For portfolio companies executing operationally well but hitting investor questions on marketing ROI, deal velocity, and buyer committee alignment.
Three to four weeks from intake to delivery
Tier: SF-4 / Escalates to SF-5 Fractional CMO
Start DiagnosticPE portfolio companies sit in a leverage trap. The product works. Revenue grows. Execution is clean. But marketing is a patchwork from prior ownership, your CAC payback doesn't match investor targets, your buyer committee objections persist across similar deals, and you can't translate your metrics into the portfolio playbook. The diagnostic maps your operational leverage points, translates your metrics into investor language, and builds a roadmap for cross-portco standardization that works within your PE ownership model.
Running marketing in a PE-owned company means delivering investor-ready metrics and positioning the business for the next lever or exit. You own go-to-market, buyer committee dynamics, and CAC payback. Investor pressure is real.
Owns the investor reporting and EBITDA model. Cares about CAC payback, LTV multiples, and whether marketing spend is justified. Needs to show investor sponsors that marketing is a leverage point, not a cost drain.
Manages deal velocity and buyer committee friction. Sales has clear lead SLAs but buyer committee objections are slowing closes. Wants marketing to address the objections that lose deals, not just feed sales leads.
Sees this portco against the portfolio. Wants operational leverage across sister companies, investor-ready metrics, and CMO capability that scales as revenue scales. Cares about standardization and succession planning.
Your marketing story sells to the practitioner. But the compliance officer, budget owner, and risk officer on the buyer committee have different friction points. Sales team doesn't have language to move the committee. Deals stall in legal or procurement.
You report CAC payback to your sponsor. But your metrics don't align to the investor's playbook or sister companies' metrics. Sponsor can't see your performance against the portfolio. Can't justify marketing spend to LPs. Can't model the lever into the exit.
Your sponsor owns 4-7 sister companies. Each one runs its own marketing stack, its own lead definitions, its own buyer committee approach. Zero sharing of playbooks, zero standardization of metrics, zero talent mobility. You're rebuilding the wheel for every portco.
The parent company acquired three smaller B2B software companies in 12 months. Each one had a $20-60M revenue run. Each one ran its own marketing, three agencies, three attribution models, three definitions of a qualified lead. Investor sponsor wanted consolidated metrics, marketing leverage across the platform, and CMO-level strategy for exits.
You get three intake calls: one with marketing, one with the CFO or investor sponsor to frame metrics and model, one with the CRO to stress-test buyer committee positioning. Then a week of audit and mapping. Then two weeks of strategy and roadmap. Then a delivery presentation to your executive team and sponsor.
Every recommendation has a clear investor angle and an execution path. Nothing stays theoretical. Everything gets operationalized into next steps.
The founder, whose broader work is at stantscherenkow.com, leads every engagement. The strategy does not leave the room.
Tell us about your portfolio company. We'll schedule a 20-minute call to confirm fit, discuss your investor model, and scope the diagnostic.