# Fractional CMO Hiring Checklist

We Scale Startups · Free template

## Week-0 questions
1. What is the single bottleneck you want named in the first two weeks?
2. Who owns growth decisions when the fractional CMO is offline?
3. What numbers will we look at every week (one dashboard)?
4. What is out of scope (ads-only, brand redesign, pre-PMF discovery)?

## Artefacts to expect by end of week 1
- [ ] Constraint map in plain English
- [ ] Channel / offer hypotheses ranked
- [ ] Reporting baseline (even if ugly)
- [ ] 30-day test list with owners

## Red flags
- Strategy decks with no decision cadence
- No access to numbers
- "Just run ads" without naming the constraint
- Operator who cannot transfer ownership

https://wescalestartups.com/services/fractional-cmo