Fractional CMO / Head of Growth
Senior-level growth leadership. Without the full-time hire.
I'm Zach. I work with founder-led DTC brands as a fractional CMO and growth consultant. I own the growth strategy across acquisition, site experience, and retention, plus the numbers behind it: budget, forecasting, profitability, and the teams and agencies who execute.
15 years in DTC. Built a brand from $0 to 8 figures. Agency, in-house, and now fractional.
Brands I've worked with
What I hear from founders
Almost every first call sounds like some version of this:
"Every agency says they drove the revenue. Add it all up and it's way more than we actually did."
"I think we're spending too much on Meta. I just can't prove it."
"I have a team. I need someone between me and them."
"We grew fast, now it's flat, and I don't know which lever to pull."
What I own
The numbers
CAC, LTV, contribution margin, and growth. Not just what the ad platforms report.
The roadmap
Built around where your business actually is.
The team
Who owns what, what each channel focuses on, and how it all works together.
I start by figuring out what's actually broken.
I look at the numbers, acquisition, retention, site, team, and agencies, then tell you where I'd put the next dollar.
1. Get under the hood
Ads, email, site, economics, reporting, team, and agencies. What's really happening, not what the platforms claim.
2. Prioritize
What's working, what's not, and what I'd fix first.
3. Then we decide
If it makes sense to keep going, I come on part-time as your CMO or Head of Growth. Month to month.
What this role gets called
Depending on who you ask, the same work goes by a few names: DTC growth consultant, ecommerce growth consultant, direct-to-consumer marketing consultant, DTC growth strategist, ecommerce marketing consultant, fractional ecommerce CMO, or DTC growth advisor. Some founders come looking for an alternative to a traditional DTC marketing agency. The label changes; the job doesn't: know what's driving growth, decide where the next dollar goes, and lead the team that makes it happen.
Some of the work
Frozen Meat and Seafood Brand
Scaling from zero to eight figures
The challenge: Orders climbed faster than ops, inventory, and cold-chain fulfillment could keep up.
What I led: Came in as the first marketing hire and helped build the DTC business from zero to 8 figures. My role grew into pricing, inventory, merchandising, and fulfillment.
FanBox
Expanding to new schools
The challenge: A proven membership model that needed to launch at a lot of new schools at once.
What I led: The expansion playbook, channel mix, budget, and the agencies executing it.
Outcome: A repeatable playbook for expanding into new schools.
UCAN
Turning trial into repeat customers
The challenge: Plenty tried the product. Not enough came back to buy.
What I led: A new retention and influencer strategy. The team rebuilt the flows, and conversion nearly doubled.
The Crab Place
Modernizing a legacy brand
The challenge: A well-established brand whose site and reporting hadn't kept up.
What I led: Site priorities, reporting, and channel strategy.
Outcome: A cleaner growth foundation: new site, better reporting, modern channel mix.
Three ways to work with me
Embedded as your fractional CMO, as an advisor, or through a one-time DTC Growth Audit.
A bit about me
15 years in DTC and ecommerce. I started out running paid search and social at Tinuiti, then went in-house as the first growth hire at a DTC frozen meat and seafood brand.
That grew into more than marketing. I helped build the business from zero to 8 figures and ended up owning pricing, inventory, merchandising, and fulfillment.
Later I ran growth for DTC brands at VaynerCommerce, then went out on my own. Most founders bring me in for the same reason: senior growth leadership without another agency or a full-time CMO. I'm based outside Philly and work with brands across the US and Canada.
Common questions
What does a fractional CMO do for a DTC brand?
A fractional CMO owns the numbers (CAC, LTV, contribution margin, and growth), the roadmap built around where the business actually is, and the team who executes it.
When should I hire a fractional CMO?
Signs it's time: growth stalled after scaling fast, your channels take credit for revenue that doesn't add up, you can't tell if Meta or Google spend is working, or you need senior leadership without a full-time hire.
How much does a fractional CMO cost?
Every brand is different, so there's no set pricing. I work month to month with a handful of founders at a time, and we scope the work together.
How long does a fractional CMO engagement last?
Month to month, with no long-term contract. The first month is a deep dive into your ads, email, site, and numbers.
What's included in a growth audit?
Paid media (Meta, Google, TikTok), email and SMS, site experience and conversion, unit economics including CAC, LTV, and contribution margin, reporting and attribution, and team structure. You get a prioritized list of what to fix first.
What's the difference between a fractional CMO and a marketing advisor?
A fractional CMO is embedded part-time, owns the growth strategy across every channel, and manages your team, agencies, and partners. An advisor is a sounding board for founders with execution covered. I offer both.
Is a fractional CMO an alternative to hiring another agency?
For a lot of founders, yes. An agency sells you a channel and reports on that channel. A fractional CMO owns the whole picture: acquisition, site, retention, and the numbers behind them.
Should I hire a growth consultant, a fractional CMO, or an advisor?
Three levels of involvement. A growth consultant is the diagnosis and the plan. A fractional CMO adds ownership: embedded part-time, leading your team and agencies, accountable for the numbers month to month. An advisor pressure-tests decisions.