You’ve found product-market fit and some traction. Now your marketing needs to sell the story and scale the business.

 

Hello!
I am Manu Prasad

a Fractional CMO for startups

  • 21+ years of experience in companies such as Myntra, Urban Ladder & Scripbox 
  • Led diverse teams across brand, digital marketing, growth, social media, content and PR
  • Coach at Accel’s Founderstack program (2020-23)
  • Fractional CMO for startups since 2024, in diverse domains – foodtech, mobility etc
Schedule a free consultation
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Manu Prasad | Fractional CMO for startups
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Wonderful, but what does a Fractional CMO for startups actually do?

  • Define positioning, brand story, and go-to-market plans.
  • Bridge the gap between marketing activity and business outcomes.
  • Create integrated marketing strategies across channels.
  • Build repeatable acquisition and retention loops.
  • Align marketing with metrics that matter.
  • Mentor internal teams, manage external teams, and set scalable processes.

Brand

Align your brand strategy to the business model - define sharp positioning, clear value propositions, and consistent messaging that drives growth.

Communication

Translate brand strategy into creative effectiveness - build a communication system that delivers the right story, to the right audience, across digital and offline touchpoints.

Growth

Design efficient acquisition and retention loops - optimise paid and organic channels, improve CAC/LTV ratios, and make marketing spend predictable and profitable.

Analytics

Set up brand and performance dashboards and operating cadence - measure what matters, surface insights early, and build decisions around real data instead of intuition.

Stakeholder Management

Align leadership, product, marketing, and external partners - ensuring every campaign, agency, and spend ladders up to business outcomes.

Hiring & Mentoring

Build and coach the marketing team your startup actually needs - establish processes, clarify roles, and develop execution discipline that scales.

Get. Set. Grow?

LET'S TALK

How does it work in real life?

Discovery call

Understand your stage, traction, and growth challenges

Customised Proposal

Scope, pricing,  and deliverables aligned to your needs.

Engagement

Quick assessment of funnel, channels, and messaging

Execution Oversight

Aligning campaigns, partners, and budgets to your strategy.

Measurable Outcomes

Set up dashboards and review cadence – track progress, learn fast, and double down on what scales.

Handover

Build the foundation for sustained growth — hire or upskill your team, hand over systems, and transition smoothly.

tl; dr version

Why me?

Diverse domain experience

I’ve built and scaled brands across startups in multiple domains - from digital startups to established enterprises - giving me the ability to recognise patterns and adapt fast to your context.

Business-first approach

I focus on revenue, retention, and ROI — not jargon or vanity metrics.

Strategic and Practical

I create clear marketing roadmaps and help you find the right people, tools, and partners to execute them.

Transparent

If it’s not working, I’d be the first to tell you. If you don’t see value, we won’t bother about termination timelines. Questions asked will only for my understanding.

We've not come this far to only come this far

Let’s connect to understand your needs, and find a way to work together.

Say Hello

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a Fractional CMO for startups do?

A fractional CMO brings leadership-level marketing experience to your startup -without the full-time cost. I help you on strategy, brand, growth, and team alignment.

When should a startup hire a Fractional CMO?

When you’re past MVP and want to scale sustainably- but aren’t ready for a full-time CMO. When your marketing is scattered across agencies or junior hires. When you’re spending but not getting consistent results. When you spend too much of your time troubleshooting in marketing!

How is a Fractional CMO different from a consultant?

A Fractional CMO doesn’t just advise, they own the marketing function. They build systems, lead teams, and drive accountability across execution.

How does a Fractional CMO engagement work?

Typically, I work with startups on a 6 month engagement – part-time or project-based – focusing on clarity, process, and outcomes. 

What kind of business domains do you work in?

The domain is less relevant than the stage. I work with growth-stage ventures that need structure, story, and scale.

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