Most San Diego founders do not need more marketing hands — they need a marketing brain that owns the outcome. Without one, strategy, execution, and reporting all fall to people who were never meant to set direction. Hiring a full-time CMO solves it in theory, but the salary and the search make it a high-stakes gamble.
A fractional CMO is built for exactly this situation. You get executive-level marketing ownership — strategy, budget, hiring, and results — without the full-time salary or the six-month search. For a growing San Diego, California business, it means senior leadership in weeks, not quarters, at a cost that fits your stage.
As your fractional CMO, Brennen owns strategy, execution, and everything between. He sets positioning for the San Diego market, builds the channels that drive pipeline, installs the reporting that keeps everyone honest, and hires and manages the team and systems — so the marketing function runs whether or not he is on the call.
A clear go-to-market for the San Diego market and beyond — messaging your whole team can repeat.
Channels and campaigns that produce pipeline, measured to revenue instead of clicks.
The right hires, tools, and SOPs — a marketing department that runs itself.
Honest reporting that ties every dollar of spend back to pipeline and closed revenue.
A marketing budget allocated by someone accountable for the return on it.
Marketing that sales trusts and the board understands — one shared number.
The timing is usually obvious once you see the signals. You have product-market fit and revenue, but growth has plateaued and no one owns the plan to restart it. You are spending on marketing and cannot say what drives pipeline. You are preparing to raise and need a credible growth engine. Any one of these is a good reason for a San Diego company to start fractionally.
Weeks 1–2: understand your funnel, goals, data, and the gaps holding San Diego growth back — talk to sales, customers, and the numbers.
Weeks 2–4: lock positioning, choose the channels that fit your motion, and build a 90-day roadmap tied to revenue targets.
Weeks 4–8: install the systems, make or manage the hires, launch the channels, and start producing measurable pipeline.
Weeks 8–12 and on: attribution to revenue, cut what is not working, and double down on what is — then keep compounding.
Weigh the three options and the fractional model stands out. A full-time CMO means dedicated leadership at $250k-plus and a months-long hire. An agency means hands, not ownership — it executes your brief and bills you for it. A fractional CMO gives you the strategic accountability of an executive, delivered part-time and priced for your San Diego stage.
The fractional CMO cost is a predictable monthly retainer, nothing more. No equity handed over, no multi-year lock-in, no line items you did not expect. The number tracks the work and typically runs 30–50% of full-time CMO compensation — meaning most San Diego companies get senior marketing leadership for well under the cost of hiring one.
Brennen works like a founder who happens to run marketing. For your San Diego company that means real ownership of strategy and results, hands-on execution instead of hand-offs, and a team and system built to keep compounding long after the engagement ends.
Within a quarter Brennen had our positioning, pipeline, and team pointed in one direction — and it showed.
Client, B2B SaaS — CEO
A fractional CMO is an experienced chief marketing officer who leads your marketing on a part-time, ongoing basis instead of as a full-time employee. You get executive-level strategy, team leadership, and accountability for growth — at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire, and without the long recruiting cycle or equity package.
Yes. Brennen Lesser works with San Diego, California companies as a fractional CMO — both remotely and on-site as the engagement requires. That includes founder-led startups, funded scale-ups, SaaS businesses, professional-services firms, and established B2B companies across the San Diego metro.
Most fractional CMO engagements run at roughly 30–50% of a full-time CMO salary, billed as a flat monthly retainer with no equity and no long-term contract. The exact number depends on scope and how many days a month you need. For most San Diego companies that is a meaningful saving versus a full-time executive who would command $250,000 or more in total compensation.
An agency executes tactics — ads, content, email — usually against a brief you provide. A fractional CMO sits a level above that: they set the strategy, decide which channels to invest in, hire and manage the people (or agencies) who execute, and own the results. Think of it as renting a marketing leader, not renting a marketing vendor.
If you have the budget, the workload, and the revenue to support a $250k+ executive full-time, hire one. If you need senior marketing leadership now but can’t yet justify that cost — or you want to de-risk the decision before committing — a fractional CMO gives you the same caliber of leadership scaled to your stage, and can help you hire your eventual full-time CMO when the time comes.
Most San Diego engagements ramp in about two weeks. You skip the four-to-six-month executive search entirely — after a short discovery period, Brennen is embedded in your business, auditing the funnel and shipping a strategy while a full-time search would still be scheduling first-round interviews.
Typically seed-to-Series-B startups, SaaS companies, and growing B2B firms in San Diego, California doing roughly $1M–$50M in revenue — companies large enough to need real marketing leadership but not yet large enough to justify a full-time CMO on payroll.
Clear positioning your whole team can articulate, a demand-generation engine measured to pipeline and revenue, honest attribution so you stop wasting spend, and a marketing team and set of systems that keep producing after the engagement scales down. The goal is a self-sustaining function, not dependence on a consultant.
Both. Brennen works with San Diego, California teams remotely day-to-day and comes on-site for kickoffs, planning sessions, and key moments where being in the room matters. Modern marketing leadership doesn’t require a desk in your office five days a week.