Fractional CMO Advisor. Canadian. AI-native.
Strategic marketing advisory for Canadian B2B SaaS and services founders from $3M to $30M ARR. Toronto-based, AI-native, advisory-only. Your team and your agencies do the work. We frame the decisions.
Advisory retainer, scoped on a 15-min call. No annual contract. 30-day notice to end.
What a Canadian fractional CMO advisor should deliver
Senior marketing judgment, written diagnostics, and decision frameworks your team executes against. Not a 40-slide playbook. Not an agency overlord. The calls a CMO would make, applied to your business on a retainer.
Toronto-based, Canadian-first
Canadian context, real awareness of PIPEDA, CASL, and CRA. In-person options in Toronto. No US firm pretending to be local.
AI-native advisory
Claude for synthesis, competitive intel, and brief generation. The advisory work is faster and the calls are better-informed. Not AI-washed decks. Real bandwidth applied to your strategy.
Frameworks, not slide decks
Every retainer produces written diagnostics and decision frameworks your team executes against. Continuation is decided on whether the calls were the right ones.
Scoped, not packaged
Advisory retainers scoped to your stage on a 15-min call. No hidden fees, no minimum annual contract, no commission on agency spend. Built for sub-$30M ARR where Chief Outsiders and Kalungi drift upmarket.
What the advisory retainer covers
Strategic guidance on the calls that compound. Your team and your agencies handle execution. The retainer focuses on the decisions where senior judgment moves the number.
GTM strategy and positioning
ICP, messaging, narrative, buyer journey. A written framework your team executes against.
Channel allocation
Inbound, outbound, ABM, paid. Which to pick, in what order, with what budget split.
Competitive intel and positioning
AI-assisted competitive analysis. How to position against the alternatives in your market.
Hire-plan input
First marketer, first PMM, first RevOps lead. Role design, scorecards, interview loops.
Agency and vendor selection
Which agency or vendor to pick, how to brief them, how to measure them.
Founder-level decisions
Pricing, packaging, expansion markets, board narrative. The calls a senior CMO would make.
Strategic Advisory engagement
One advisory retainer, scoped to your stage. Cadence and meeting depth set on a 15-min call. CAD and USD billing available. No annual contract.
Strategic Advisory
For B2B SaaS and services founders, $3M to $30M ARR
- Monthly strategy review with the founder
- Async Slack or email between sessions
- Written diagnostic in the first 30 days
- Quarterly planning session
- ICP, positioning, and messaging review
- Channel allocation and hire-plan input
- Optional in-person session in Toronto
The first 90 days
Every advisory retainer runs on the same cadence. Read, frame, refine. Continuation is decided on whether the calls were the right ones.
Days 1 to 30
Read the business
Funnel review, team conversations, positioning audit, channel-allocation read. The diagnostic is written, not verbal.
Days 31 to 60
Frame the decisions
A written framework with the highest-leverage moves and the order to make them. Your team picks up execution; the advisor frames what to ship and what to skip.
Days 61 to 90
Review and refine
Review what your team has shipped against the framework. Refine the next quarter's strategy on paper. Continuation is decided on the quality of the calls, not on activity.
Advisor vs agency vs full-time vs one-off consultant
Four common ways founders bring senior marketing judgment into the business. Here is the difference in one table.
| Dimension | Strategic Advisor | Agency | Full-time VP | One-off Consultant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Role | Strategic guidance | Channel execution | Owns marketing function | One-off recommendations |
| Engagement | Ongoing retainer | Project or retainer | Full-time hire | Project-based |
| Time to value | 30 days | 60-90 days | 90-180 days | 30-60 days |
| Strategic frameworks | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| AI-native methodology | Yes | No | Depends on hire | No |
| Walk-away terms | 30-day notice | Contract minimums | Severance, hiring cost | Project end |
Common questions
Straight answers to the questions founders actually ask before hiring a fractional CMO advisor.
What does a fractional CMO advisor do?
A fractional CMO advisor provides senior marketing judgment on a retainer basis. Strategy, positioning, channel selection, team hiring input, and reviewing what your in-house team or agencies are shipping. The advisor brings perspective and frameworks. Your team owns the work and the calendar.
Why advisory-only and not full execution?
Execution-style fractional CMO does not scale for a single operator and produces inconsistent outcomes. Strategic advisory is where senior judgment compounds. You bring your team and your agencies. We bring the framework, the perspective, and the calls a senior CMO would make.
How much does a fractional CMO advisor cost in Canada?
Canadian fractional CMO advisory retainers vary by scope and meeting cadence. Attainment scopes the rate on a 15-minute discovery call. No annual contract. 30-day notice to end.
Fractional CMO advisor versus marketing agency, which is right for me?
Pick a fractional CMO advisor when you have an in-house team or agencies and need senior judgment to point them at the right work. Pick an agency when you have a defined channel problem (paid ads, SEO, email) and someone in-house to brief them. The advisor sets the strategy an agency executes against. Buying an agency without strategic guidance often produces activity without pipeline.
Fractional CMO advisor versus full-time VP Marketing, when do I make the switch?
Hire a full-time VP Marketing when revenue hits roughly CAD $15M to $25M and the role justifies a senior salary plus bonus and equity. Below that, advisory is more efficient: you get senior-level judgment without the comp package or the recruiting cycle. Many founders keep an advisor in place even after hiring a VP.
How is this different from Chief Outsiders, Kalungi, or MarketerHire?
Three differences. One: Toronto-based with Canadian-specific context, not a US firm with remote operators. Two: AI-native advisory. We use Claude and current tooling to make better calls, faster. Three: scoped for the tier below the upmarket firms. Kalungi starts at USD $45,000. We exist for the band below that and price accordingly.
Do you work with B2B SaaS specifically?
Yes. Primary focus is B2B SaaS from CAD $3M to CAD $30M ARR, and B2B services in the same revenue band. Secondary: AI-first product companies and professional services at similar scale. If you are consumer or sub-CAD $1M ARR, we are not the right fit. We will tell you before you book a call.
What does AI-native mean for an advisor?
AI-native means the advisory practice uses current AI tooling to make better calls, faster. Claude for synthesis, research, and brief generation. AI-assisted competitive intel. Faster diagnostic loops on your funnel and your messaging. The goal is more bandwidth per hour, applied to your strategy.
What does the first 90 days look like?
Days 1 to 30: read the funnel, talk to the team, audit positioning and channel allocation. Days 31 to 60: a written diagnostic with the highest-leverage moves and the order to make them. Days 61 to 90: review what your team has shipped, refine, and set the next quarter on paper. The deliverable is a strategic framework your team executes against.
Are you based in Canada?
Yes. Toronto. Advisory retainers run remote across Canada and the US, with optional in-person sessions in Toronto.
What outcomes should I expect from an advisor?
Outcomes vary by starting point. For a Seed to Series A B2B SaaS, the typical first-quarter outcome is a written ICP and messaging framework, a channel-allocation decision, and a hire plan. For a $10M-$30M ARR company, the focus shifts to attribution, ROI on existing spend, and which channel to unlock next. The advisor frames the decisions; your team owns the execution.
Ready to bring senior marketing judgment into the business?
Book a Discovery Call and we will review your funnel and team together. If the fit is there, we scope an advisory retainer. If not, you walk away with a written diagnosis.