Full Marketing-Function Rebuild

The marketing function rebuilt from the floor up, in nine to fifteen months.

Wednesday afternoon, 2:34 PM. The Series C is two quarters out. The current marketing function was bolted together during Series B growth and nothing connects: three vendors, two attribution models, four campaign tools, no coherent strategy. The board wants a plan. The team wants a rebuild.

Built for Series B-C operator ($20M-$100M ARR) where the marketing function is structurally broken and a partial fix is not enough. Applies to Founders, CMOs entering broken functions, board portfolio leads, PE platform CMOs post-acquisition, and similar buyers needing a complete reset.

Full Marketing-Function Rebuild is a Bay Area specialist engagement priced at $1,000,000-$3,000,000 project. Format: 9-15 months milestone-billed. Deliverable: Marketing Review phase + strategy phase + execution-system build + team-and-vendor stack rebuild + handoff. Built for Series B-C operator ($20M-$100M ARR) where the marketing function is structurally broken and a partial fix is not enough. Reached through ICP pages, problem pages, and referrals when the buyer has matched their situation to the offer. Each engagement is fixed-scope at the start and cannot drift mid-engagement.

Price
$1,000,000-$3,000,000 project
Duration
9-15 months milestone-billed
Output
Marketing Review phase + strategy phase + execution-system build + team-and-vendor stack rebuild + handoff
What The Work Covers

Inside the engagement. Specific deliverables, specific cadence.

What the work covers

  • Phase 1 (months 1-3): marketing review across all four axes plus team and vendor audit
  • Phase 2 (months 3-5): strategy lock and rebuild architecture (positioning, pricing, GTM motion, demand generation)
  • Phase 3 (months 5-11): execution-system build (campaign architecture, attribution stack, reporting cadence, content infrastructure)
  • Phase 4 (months 11-13): team architecture and vendor stack rebuild (hire briefs, vendor selection or termination, transition planning)
  • Phase 5 (months 13-15): handoff to in-house CMO or principal succession plan
  • Bay Area-context calibration throughout: VC reporting fit, ex-FAANG team patterns, attribution model fit

Format and cadence

  • Months 1-3: weekly executive call, monthly marketing review milestone, quarterly board read
  • Months 3-11: weekly tactical, monthly strategic review, milestone-billed every 60 days
  • Months 11-15: handoff cadence (weekly to bi-weekly to monthly), final delivery presentation, succession brief
  • Onsite anchor: monthly full-day onsite for the duration of the engagement
Anonymized Outcome

What the work actually produced.

A Series B B2B SaaS in Mountain View entered Marketing Function Rebuild at Q4 of 2024. Marketing was 22% of total spend, contributing 14% of pipeline. Twelve months later: 14% of total spend, 41% of pipeline. The Series C closed in Q1 2026 at the planned valuation. Marketing function is now operated by an in-house CMO hired through Marketing Function Rebuild succession planning.

Fit

This engagement fits when

  • Series B-C operator ($20M-$100M ARR)
  • Marketing function bolted together over 2+ years and structurally broken
  • Board or executive committee committed to a 12-15 month rebuild horizon
  • Founder ready to commit $1M-$3M to the rebuild and to delegate strategic ownership
Not fit

This engagement does not fit when

  • Operators below $20M ARR (the rebuild scope is too large)
  • Operators wanting a partial fix or single-axis intervention (Strategic Intervention or Full Marketing Review instead)
  • Buyers seeking a fractional CMO embedded leadership format (Fractional CMO instead)
  • Companies in active fundraise without 12-15 month execution capacity
Buyer Questions

Before you scope the engagement.

How is Marketing Function Rebuild different from hiring an in-house CMO and a marketing team?

Marketing Function Rebuild builds the function the in-house CMO inherits. The rebuild produces the strategy, the execution system, the attribution architecture, the campaign infrastructure, and the team-and-vendor briefs. The in-house CMO arrives in month 13-15 with a working function to operate, not a broken one to fix. The cost is comparable to 12-18 months of CMO comp plus the agency or vendor stack the rebuild replaces.

Why 9-15 months minimum?

Marketing function rebuild compounds across all four axes. Quarter 1 is marketing review. Quarter 2 is strategy lock. Quarters 3-4 are execution-system build. Final 90 days are team and vendor transition. Compressing below 9 months produces partial rebuilds; expanding past 15 months loses commitment momentum. The window is calibrated to the Series B-C operating cycle.

Who runs the rebuild day-to-day?

Senior strategist plus a small embedded build team (typically 2-3 strategists) for the duration. Same senior leadership end-to-end. No delegation to junior staff. The team that reviews the function is the team that rebuilds it.

How does milestone billing work?

Five phases. Each phase has defined deliverables and a milestone bill. Pause between phases is permitted with 30 days notice if the engagement requires alignment with a board cycle or fundraise milestone. Cancellation post-Phase-1 is rare; the marketing review typically produces commitment to the full rebuild.

Can Marketing Function Rebuild transition to Fractional CMO at the end?

Yes. The succession plan in Phase 5 sometimes includes 6-month Fractional CMO bridge for boards that prefer to hire in-house CMO with a fractional bridge. This is contracted separately at Fractional CMO pricing.

How does this work with an existing CMO?

Two paths. Path A: existing CMO is the strategic owner of the rebuild and Marketing Function Rebuild is the senior marketing agency partner. Path B: existing CMO is transitioning out and Marketing Function Rebuild manages the transition while building the function the next CMO inherits. Both paths happen; the path is locked in Phase 1.

What is the procurement and contracting process?

Master Services Agreement plus phase-by-phase Statement of Work. Standard mutual-NDA, IP-ownership-by-client, indemnification, termination, and confidentiality terms. Procurement typically takes 4-6 weeks at Series B-C operators. We accommodate standard procurement processes; we do not accommodate procurement requests for hourly rate cards (the engagement is fixed-scope, not hourly).

Adjacent Tiers

If Marketing Function Rebuild is not the right scope. The matching tier on either side.

Multi-Client Portfolio Engagement

Multi-Client Portfolio Engagement Multi-Client Portfolio

$500K-$1M/year · For PE platforms with 3+ operating units, not single-company rebuild.

Open the tier →
Full Marketing Review

Full Marketing Review

$15,000-$25,000 · Phase 1 of the Marketing Function Rebuild rebuild can be scoped as a standalone Full Marketing Review first.

Open the tier →
Where This Starts

The function rebuilt is the function the next CMO inherits.

Full Marketing-Function Rebuild · $1,000,000-$3,000,000 project · 9-15 months milestone-billed. Bay Area engagement, fixed-scope at intake.

Scope a Marketing Function Rebuild Rebuild → See all eight SF tiers

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