When a San Diego, California company outgrows do-it-yourself marketing, the cracks show fast: unclear positioning, spend no one can defend, and a team with no senior direction. A full-time CMO is the textbook fix, but at $250k-plus and a four-to-six-month hire, it is the kind of bet that can set a growing company back if it misses.
A fractional CMO turns "we need a marketing leader someday" into "we have one now." You embed a senior operator part-time to own the strategy, build the systems, and lead the people — with accountability for revenue and none of the full-time risk. Most San Diego companies see it as the smartest first executive marketing hire they can make.
As a fractional CMO, the mandate is total marketing ownership. That means nailing positioning for the San Diego market, building channels and campaigns that generate real pipeline, wiring up attribution so nothing is guessed at, and hiring and directing the marketers, tools, and processes that make the function self-sustaining.
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 right time is usually when effort stops translating into growth. Your San Diego team is working, the invoices are getting paid, and the numbers still are not moving — because no senior operator owns the plan. Add an approaching raise or an undefendable budget, and the case for a fractional CMO makes itself.
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.
Each option trades off differently. A full-time CMO delivers dedication but demands $250k-plus and months of hiring risk. An agency delivers capacity but owns none of your strategy or results. A fractional CMO delivers what most San Diego companies actually need — senior ownership and accountability — part-time and at a fraction of the full-time cost.
Fractional CMO billing could not be simpler: a set monthly retainer scoped to the work, no equity, no long-term contract, no hidden fees. It generally lands at roughly a third to a half of what a full-time CMO would cost all-in — which is why most San Diego companies view it as leadership that pays for itself rather than an added expense.
With Brennen, San Diego, California companies get a marketing leader who has actually done the job — built the team, owned the budget, carried the number. He operates inside your business, not adjacent to it, and measures success by the engine he leaves running when he scales down.
Brennen left us with a marketing function that runs itself. That is the whole point, and he delivered it.
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.