Every founder has heard the advice: start marketing earlier than you think. Yet in practice, marketing is often one of the last major functions in which most startups invest.
I’ve seen it happen across SaaS, B2B services, and even nonprofits launching new programs. The logic seems sound at the time: focus on product, close early sales, stretch the burn rate, and “we’ll add marketing when we’re bigger.” By the time Q4 rolls around, the cracks show.
The Hidden Cost of Waiting
McKinsey research shows that high-growth B2B companies spend over 20 percent more time on structured customer engagement compared to peers, often investing earlier and more consistently in marketing systems (McKinsey). That time compounds. A sales-led team can still win early logos, but the growth engine stalls when the founder is forced to be both chief marketer and closer.
By Q4, when boards, investors, and internal teams all want to see momentum, marketing that started too late cannot deliver fast enough. Pipelines are thin. Sales cycles stretch. Deals slip into the next year.
Why Founders Put Marketing Off
When I talk to founders, a few themes repeat:
- They see marketing as discretionary. In early stages, marketing looks like a cost center instead of a growth lever.
- They rely on their network. Or their sales leader’s network. Personal credibility and word of mouth can carry early traction, but not scale.
- They underestimate the lag. Even the best marketing takes months to build systems, refine messaging, and show results.
By the time they realize they need it, it is often already too late to impact the current quarter.
A Smarter Play: Start Lean, Start Early
Founders do not need a full-time CMO on day one. In fact, the salary cost alone can be prohibitive. U.S. chief marketing officer salaries now average more than $275,000 annually. For many startups, that is not sustainable.
Fractional leadership is a different story. Hiring part-time senior marketing expertise early allows founders to:
- Build scalable systems before the crunch. CRM, messaging, and demand gen pipelines that will not collapse under pressure.
- Keep the founder out of the weeds. So they can focus on product and fundraising while marketing runs in parallel.
- Show investors readiness. A startup that can demonstrate pipeline, process, and messaging clarity stands out when raising capital.
What This Looks Like in Practice
I worked with one startup where the founder had been the sole marketer and salesperson for almost two years. Early growth was solid, but as the product matured, leads slowed. By the time I stepped in, the pipeline was weeks away from drying up.
We put in place foundational demand-gen campaigns, clarified positioning, and integrated a simple CRM system. Within three months, pipeline coverage improved by nearly 40 percent. But the founder admitted they wished they had started six months earlier. That lag had already cost them missed deals, added stress, and, for a new-parent founder, missed time with family.
Closing Thought
Marketing is not a nice-to-have. It is the system that multiplies everything else you are building. The earlier you start, even in lean form, the more likely you will enter Q4 with momentum instead of scrambling.
The lesson is simple. Do not wait for scale to invest in marketing. Start before you think you need it. That is how scale happens.