Category: cmo

To become a CMO, you need:

1️⃣ Some years of experience as a VP of Marketing

2️⃣ Your results at multiple companies are consistently solid

3️⃣ The items in the 2x VP of Marketing are a must-have now. In case you missed these in the last post, those are:

1. Already been a VP of Marketing at a company with ARR greater than the ARR of the company you’re joining (they want to know you can get to their level; it’s risky to a company if you’ve never worked at their level already)

2. Proven pipeline and revenue results from the last company you worked at

3. Able to speak to specific campaigns end to end

4. Able to give examples of how to solve people management issues

5. Able to put together a solid 90 day and/or 1 year Marketing plan

The one caveat here: I haven’t been a CMO, so the steps to becoming a CMO are based on what I’ve seen and been told.
But let’s be real, being the VP of Marketing at a startup reporting to the CEO or CRO has essentially the same job duties as a CMO at a startup.

Check out previous posts in this series to see other steps needed to advance in other parts of Marketing.

How to go from Marketing Associate to CMO 🤓📈🧑‍💻

I’ll walk you through the common criteria for moving up each phase of the ladder 🪜

1️⃣
To become a Manager of a specific discipline in Marketing (e.g. Product Marketing Manager)
• Demonstrated completion of successful projects
• Curiosity to learn more

2️⃣
To become a Senior Manager:
• Able to estimate timelines & due dates accurately & consistently
• Able to plan out & execute projects with high performance from framework to collaboration & review to completion
• Proficient with the relevant tech stack
• Able to track the quantitative performance of activities

3️⃣
To become a Director:
• People management experience (ideally 2+ people)
• Deep expertise in the specific discipline of Marketing, perks if you have experience in another discipline too
• Has shown quantitative impact on ROI, pipeline, ARR, or other relevant metrics to the discipline
• Has shown the ability to create strategic plans but still able to get your hands dirty
• Able to do budgeting, forecasting, & financial management, most likely with the help of someone more senior
• Proficient with analysis & reporting
• Proficient with your own discipline’s tech stack & some abilities in other disciplines’ tech stacks
• Strong collaborator with other teams inside & outside of Marketing

4️⃣
To become a Senior Director:
• Do things that Directors do but be consistently achieving or outperforming people management, marketing planning, & quantitative goals

5️⃣
To become VP of Marketing:
• Luck or providence
• People management experience (ideally at least 4-6+ people, some may require 10+)
• Product/brand marketing experience & demand generation experience
• Expert at budgeting, forecasting, financial management, headcount planning, & agency management
• Able to speak to past quantitative pipeline & revenue results
• Experience in a similar industry
• Able to speak to how you build culture & employee engagement for the whole Marketing team
• Able to solve cross-functional issues, not just Marketing issues

5️⃣
To become 2x VP of Marketing:
• Was already the VP of Marketing at a company with ARR greater than the ARR of the company you’re joining (they want to know you can get to their level; it’s risky to a company if you’ve never worked at their level already)
• Proven pipeline & revenue results from the last company you worked at
• Able to speak to specific campaigns end to end
• Able to give examples of how to solve people management issues
• Able to put together a solid 90 day and/or 1 year Marketing plan

6️⃣
To become CMO:
• Some years of experience as a VP of marketing
• Results at multiple companies are consistently solid
• The items in the 2x VP of Marketing are a must have now

This is the final post in my series on this geared towards marketing in startups. If you got this far and liked it, let me know!
Also, I hit LinkedIn’s character limit so check the comments for additional context.