Why you shouldn't hire a head of marketing yet
You are tired of doing marketing yourself. You are burning the candle at both ends, writing LinkedIn posts at 11 PM and trying to figure out Google Ads on the weekends.
You want to "hand it off" to a pro.
So you post a job for a "Head of Marketing." Salary: $120k - $150k.
You think this person will come in, wave a magic wand, and solve your growth problem.
This is the most expensive mistake you will make this year.
Here is the hard truth: You cannot outsource a system that does not exist.
If you hire a Head of Marketing before you have a working engine, you are not hiring a leader. You are hiring a gambler. They will spend your money guessing what works, because you couldn't tell them.
The "founder-led" gap
Great marketers are multipliers. They take something that is working (a 1) and turn it into a 10.
But if you give them a 0, they will multiply it by 0.
I see this pattern constantly:
1. Founder hires expensive VP of Marketing.
2. VP spends 3 months "building strategy" (making decks).
3. VP hires an agency to run ads (because they don't do execution).
4. 6 months later, you have burned $100k and have zero new leads.
Before you hire, you must build the "Minimum Viable Engine" yourself.
The 3 things you must own
Do not hire anyone until you have these three things documented and working:
1. The offer (The "Who" and "Why")
You must know exactly who buys and why. You need the specific words that make them say "yes."
* Bad: "We help companies grow."
* Good: "We help B2B SaaS founders reduce churn by 20% in 90 days."
If you can't articulate this, a marketer can't either.
2. The channel (The "Where")
You need one channel that reliably brings in leads. It doesn't have to be huge, but it has to be proven.
* Maybe it's cold email.
* Maybe it's LinkedIn content.
* Maybe it's a specific partnership.
You need to be able to say: "If we do X, we get Y leads."
3. The math (The "How Much")
You need to know your unit economics.
* What is a lead worth?
* How much are you willing to pay for one?
* What is your LTV?
If you don't know these numbers, your new hire will burn your cash on "brand awareness" campaigns that never convert.
When to actually hire
Once you have the engine built, you don't need a "Head of Strategy." You need a "Head of Execution" to run the playbook you built.
Hire a Head of Marketing only when:
* You are overwhelmed by volume: You have too many leads to handle, or the manual work of the channel is taking 20+ hours a week.
* You have a documented playbook: A smart junior could read your SOPs and run the system 80% as well as you.
* You are ready to scale: You want to pour gas on the fire, not find the matches.
Until then, you are the Head of Marketing.
Stop looking for a savior. Build the engine.
