After the raise: a founder's marketing guide
The round buys you time, and your first marketing call decides how you spend it. Get the work running now, learn what the job really is, and hire the right person once you can describe them.
- Chapter 1 You raised your seed round or Series A. Do you hire a head of marketing or an agency first? If you can't write down what your first marketing leader will own, bring in a senior team that sets the strategy and does the work.
- Chapter 2 How much does a fractional CMO cost? 2026 prices, with ours What moves the price most is whether the CMO only leads, or leads and also does the work.
- Chapter 3 How to build a go-to-market plan after a seed round or Series A A go-to-market plan says who you sell to, what you tell them, where you’ll reach them, what you’ll spend, how you’ll measure it, and what your board will see.
- Chapter 4 Who should set up HubSpot after your seed round or Series A? Whoever will run your marketing on it should build it, or work right next to whoever does.
- Chapter 5 What marketing support should a VC give its portfolio companies? Most funds don’t have one, so the real job is to recommend one senior team you’d put your name behind, and to make sure every company keeps its own accounts.
- The team Who's running marketing while you run the company? Digital Star is a senior fractional marketing team for venture-backed startups, most often right after a seed round or Series A.
Grow now. Hire later.
