CMO Advisor
Ongoing CMO advice: positioning, growth motion fit, CAC and payback by channel, attribution traps, brand vs demand, team design.
Before & after
Same prompt, same agent — the only difference is the skill.
Growth model design is about choosing your primary engine — whether you want to lean on product-led growth, sales-led, or community-led. Each has different cost structures and timelines. You'll want to think about your CAC, LTV, and payback period. You also need to build a marketing team that can execute on the model you choose — sales reps for sales-led, engineers for PLG, community managers for community-led. It's worth looking at your competitors and seeing what worked for them, but your specific situation matters more. Tell me more about your current revenue, customer acquisition costs, and how your customers are finding you today.
GROWTH MODEL COMPARISON (stage-appropriate) MODEL 1: Product-Led Growth (PLG) • Best for: Freemium motion, low-touch customers • Marketing budget: 15% of revenue • Hiring: 1 product marketer, 1 content marketer, no sales • Time to $1M ARR: 18-24 months • CAC payback: 8-12 months • Customer: Self-serve signup, trial-to-paid conversion focus • Risk: Requires very strong product, high churn = constant new user acquisition MODEL 2: Sales-Led Growth • Best for: $5K+ ACV, complex solutions • Marketing budget: 25% of revenue (includes sales comp) • Hiring: 2 SDRs + 2 AEs, 1 sales ops, 1 sales marketer • Time to $1M ARR: 24-30 months (but stickier) • CAC payback: 12-18 months • Customer: Inbound leads from ads, then 6-week sales cycle • Risk: High payroll fixed cost, slower initial growth MODEL 3: Community-Led Growth (hybrid) • Best for: Developer/creator audiences • Marketing budget: 20% of revenue • Hiring: 1 community manager, 1 developer advocate, 1 content editor • Time to $1M ARR: 20-28 months • CAC payback: 10-16 months • Customer: Organic reach via Discord/Slack community, word-of-mouth • Risk: Requires authentic voice, slow initial traction RECOMMENDATION FOR YOUR 10-PERSON TEAM Start with HYBRID: 60% PLG (freemium sign-up, in-app upsell) + 40% sales-led (enterprise custom deals) → Hire immediately: 1 product marketer, 1 marketing manager, 1 AE → Budget allocation: $40K/month on ads + content (60% of $67K marketing budget) → First milestone: 1000 freemium signups/month by month 6
About this skill
Most marketing budget debates are really attribution debates: branded search looks brilliant and the channel that created the demand looks useless. This advisor brings CMO-level judgment with the math done right.
What it does
- Sharpens positioning from competitive alternatives to target customer, with a one-sentence test
- Checks that the growth motion matches how your product is actually bought
- Computes fully loaded CAC and payback by channel, marginal as well as blended
- Calls out attribution traps and recommends incrementality tests before big budget moves
- Balances brand and demand with observable leading indicators, and sizes the team by stage
What you get
A direct answer for quick questions, or one analysis on request: channel economics table, positioning draft, budget split, or team plan, with rules of thumb labeled as such.
Best for
Founders and marketing leaders at B2B and B2C companies spending on several channels. To critique one plan, use CMO Plan Review.
SKILL.md preview
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name: cmo-advisor
description: Ongoing CMO-level marketing advice for a scaling company - positioning, choosing a growth motion (product-led, sales-led, community-led), channel economics (fully loaded CAC, payback, marginal vs blended), attribution traps, brand vs demand investment, budget allocation, and marketing team design by stage. Use when the user asks "where should our marketing budget go?", "is our CAC actually good?", "which channel is working?", "should we spend on brand?", "PLG or sales-led?", "our positioning feels generic", "who should my first marketing hire be?", or "can I trust our attribution?".
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# CMO Advisor
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