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Fractional CMO Cost Calculator

What is being your own CMO really costing you?

Most startup CEOs run marketing between fundraising, product and hiring. This calculator shows what that time is worth, and what changes when a Fractional CMO takes the function off your plate.

Hours you spend on marketing each month

Managing vendors, reviewing copy and campaigns, interviewing marketing hires

25 h
What one hour of your time is worth

As CEO: salary plus equity value, use a conservative number

$250
Monthly spend on freelancers and outside vendors

Design, content, PPC, PR, landing pages, whoever sends you an invoice

$5,000
In-house marketing employees

Full time marketing people on your payroll

1
Company stage

Sets a typical value for your hour, you can still adjust it above

Your real marketing cost today

$19,250

per month, including $6,250 of your own time as acting CMO

Your marketing today

Your time as acting CMO$6,250
Scattered vendors and freelancers$5,000
In-house marketing team$8,000
Total$19,250

With Crown as your marketing partner

Crown Fractional CMO, full team behind itfrom $4,500
Your time: about 4 hours of oversight$1,000
In-house team stays, Crown leads it$8,000
Total$13,500
21 h
of your month, back on fundraising and product
$5,750
estimated monthly saving, $69,000 a year
At your current numbers you are under-invested in marketing rather than overpaying. The real question is the growth you are leaving on the table. That is worth a 30 minute conversation.

For reference: a full time CMO plus an in-house team runs $390K to $890K a year. Crown gives you a full marketing team for the price of one employee.

How we calculated this
  • A fully loaded in-house marketing employee is counted at $8,000 a month: salary, taxes, tools and overhead. A conservative figure for startup markets.
  • With Crown, your in-house team stays and Crown leads it. We do not count their salaries as a saving.
  • Your involvement with Crown is about 4 hours a month: a weekly sync and the numbers that matter.
  • Crown Fractional CMO starts at 15,000 ILS plus VAT, about $4,500 a month, for one company. Exact scope is set on the call.
  • We compare against hiring, not against doing nothing: a full time CMO at $100K to $200K a year plus an in-house team.
  • Opportunity cost is not included. The value of putting your hours into fundraising and product is real, but we leave it out of the math.

One email with your numbers and the assumptions, so you can share it with your co-founder or board. No sequence, no spam.

Done. Your breakdown is on its way to your inbox.

Prefer to talk it through? Book 30 minutes with Erez, founder of Crown.

Book a strategy call

Crown is a Global Marketing Partner to dozens of global companies. The company comes before the marketing, always.