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Haney Strategy

For Private Equity-Backed Companies

A fractional CMO for private equity-backed companies.

I currently work inside several companies in one sponsor's portfolio, leading marketing, technology, and AI on the ground.

I call the role Fractional CMTO, because the marketing, the technology behind it, and the AI come from one leader. The value creation plan assumes organic growth. I lead the work inside the company that has to produce it, alongside the CEO, the sales leader, and the team already there.

Book an Introductory CallSee how the retainer works →

The value creation plan, as written

Organic growth

needs marketing leadership inside the company

Add-on M&A

the deal team

Margin expansion

the operating plan

Debt paydown

free cash flow over the hold

Multiple at exit

the market at the sale

Four levers are spoken for on day one. Organic growth is the one I lead.

On the record

One brand and one story, held through every acquisition.

Today

Fractional CMTO inside a private-equity-backed, multi-brand physical security platform, and additional companies in the same sponsor's portfolio.

“As we acquired companies across the country, he brought each of them into a single brand and story that customers understood.”

Dave MoormanMSP Founder and Owner, Former President of Novatech

Where I am most useful

Five situations I have worked inside.

None of these is a problem with the company. Each one is a job that needs a senior marketing leader on the inside to finish.

  • The CRM is an address book and the forecast lives in someone's head.

    I make the system of record real: one set of pipeline stages, dashboards leadership can trust, and a weekly cadence that reads from them. In HubSpot most often, and in whatever the company already runs.

  • Marketing arrived with each acquisition.

    Different agency, stack, and story in every company. I set one direction across the brands and keep each company's own voice where it earns its keep.

  • The plan assumes growth the pipeline does not show yet.

    I point marketing at the number the plan needs, with the sales leader, and make the two read from the same set of numbers every week.

  • A capable team without a senior marketing leader.

    I bring direction, priorities, and a weekly cadence to the people already there, so good work stops waiting on a decision nobody owns.

  • AI is a board question without an answer inside the company.

    I put a first workflow in the team's hands with a named owner, documented so it holds, and then we do the next one.

How the engagement works

The retainer, and the first ninety days.

The Fractional CMTO retainer is ten dedicated hours a week inside one company: $8,500 a month on a six-month commitment, $7,500 a month on a twelve-month commitment. Anything shorter is project work, scoped and priced as a fixed-price engagement. If the work calls for more than ten hours, we review the need against the scope and add the hours it calls for, re-scoped and signed once rather than billed by the hour. A larger build, like a website rebuild or a CRM build, is one of those projects.

The first ninety days

  1. First 30 days

    Learn how the company makes money.

    I get inside the business with the CEO and the sales leader: how revenue actually arrives, what marketing, technology, and AI are already in place, and the CRM made into the system of record with one set of pipeline stages. That is the baseline everything after this is measured against.

  2. Days 31 to 60

    Lock the priorities, start moving.

    The boards and the weekly cadence go live, reading from the system of record. We agree what matters this year and make the first no-regret moves in marketing and technology, including clearing what has been slowing the team down.

  3. Days 61 to 90

    First campaign live, first workflow in hand.

    The first campaign is running, the first AI workflow is in the team's hands with a named owner on it, documented so it holds without me in the room, and the revenue system is handed to the person who will run it.

What shows, and when

Work completedInside ninety days

The campaign, the workflow, the reporting: things that exist and can be pointed at.

Adoption and operating measuresInside ninety days

Whether the team is actually using what we built, and whether the weekly cadence holds when I am not in the room.

Pipeline indicatorsAfter that

Conversations, qualified opportunities, and where they come from, read the same way every week.

Realized revenueOn the company's sales cycle

Revenue follows the cycle the company already has. No ninety-day plan shortens it on its own.

Beyond the first company

Additional companies come in under an agreed scope, when capacity and the evidence from the first one support it.

Working arrangement

How I work with the company.

Nobody has to be moved aside for this to work. Here is who owns what from the first week.

I own directly

Marketing direction and the plan behind it, the revenue system of record and the reporting that comes off it, and the AI workflows we ship with a named owner on the team for each one.

Shared with the CEO

Priorities, budget, hiring, and agency decisions. The CEO sets direction with me, and keeps it.

Sales leadership owns the pipeline

Marketing answers to it. The two read from the same numbers, in the same meeting, every week.

Internal marketing

Keeps its work, and gets senior direction and a cadence to work inside. Good people stop waiting on decisions.

Agencies already in place

Keep doing what they do well, with one person directing the whole of it and holding the brief.

Reporting

Weekly with the CEO, and a written update to the sponsor contact who introduced the work.

Beyond the retainer

Focused engagements for a named need.

  • Power-Ups

    Two working sessions for a company's sales team, built before we meet: the LinkedIn profile a buyer sees before the first call, then the outbound each rep sends.

    $199 and $499 per sales professional

    See the Power-Ups→

  • Claude Team Training

    Four weeks that end with one team demoing its own weekly work, running with Claude, to its leadership.

    $6,500 per team

    See Claude Team Training→

  • AI Search Power-Up

    One company brought up to a defined standard for how Google and AI answer questions about it.

    $12,000 all-in

    See the AI Search Power-Up→

  • Website Rebuild

    A ground-up rebuild for the buyer journey and AI search. The company owns everything from day one.

    $5,000 Blueprint, builds from $25,000

    See the Website Rebuild→

What I believe

In my experience, the companies that grow through the hold treat marketing and AI leadership as part of the operating model, not a cost to revisit later.They put a senior leader inside the company early and give the work a number to answer to.

Jim Haney, AI Advisor and Fractional CMTO

FAQ

Common questions

Can you embed inside a portfolio company without a long-term retainer?
The retainer is six months at the shortest, with a lower monthly rate at twelve. Anything shorter is project work: the Power-Ups are fixed-price and finish in weeks, and a scoped build, like a website rebuild or a CRM build, is priced as a project. A company can start there and move to the retainer when the work calls for it.
Do you have experience across multiple PE-backed companies?
Yes. I currently work inside several companies in one sponsor's portfolio, leading marketing, technology, and AI on the ground. One is a multi-brand physical security platform. The sponsor and the companies are not named here until they have approved it.
Is this a fractional CMO, a fractional head of growth, or a fractional growth team?
The nearest common label is fractional CMO. I call the role Fractional CMTO because the marketing, the technology behind it, and the AI come from one leader instead of three. It is one senior person embedded in the company, not a team of contractors, and it is built for established companies rather than venture-stage growth roles.
Can you stand up revenue operations in a company that just closed?
Yes, and it is usually where the first ninety days go: the read on how revenue actually arrives, the CRM made into the system of record with pipeline stages everyone defines the same way, the boards and the weekly cadence, then the handover to the person who runs it. I am doing this now inside companies in the same sponsor's portfolio.
Who engages you, and who do you work for?
The company. A sponsor's portfolio team usually makes the introduction, and I report progress back to them, but the engagement is with the company and the work happens inside it, with the CEO and the team. I am not a diligence provider or an operating partner to the fund.
Can you support more than one company?
Yes, under an agreed scope, and I do it today. Each company has its own engagement, its own priorities, and its own systems. Where a method proves out in one company, we decide together whether it belongs in the next.
How do you work with the existing team and agencies?
Alongside them. The CEO sets the priorities with me. Sales leadership owns the pipeline, and I make marketing answer to it. An internal marketing team keeps its work and gets senior direction. Agencies already in place keep doing what they do well, with one person directing the whole of it.
What happens in the first ninety days?
The first thirty days I learn how the company makes money, audit the marketing, technology, and AI it has, make the CRM the system of record, and set the baseline. Days thirty-one to sixty the boards and the weekly cadence go live, and we lock priorities and make the first no-regret moves. Days sixty-one to ninety the first campaign is live, the first AI workflow is in the team's hands with a named owner, and the revenue system is handed to the person who will run it. Work completed and adoption show inside ninety days. Pipeline movement follows. Revenue follows the company's sales cycle, which no ninety-day plan shortens on its own.
How is additional capacity scoped?
The retainer is ten dedicated hours a week. If the work calls for more, we review the need against the scope and add the hours it needs, re-scoped and signed once rather than billed by the hour. A larger build, like a website rebuild or a CRM build, is scoped separately as fixed-price project work.
How do you handle confidential client information?
Each company's data lives in that company's own accounts and tools, which the company owns. Nothing moves between companies. I do not put client data into third-party AI tools. Companies and sponsors are not named on this site until they have approved it in writing.
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Related thinking

How I think about this work.

Next step

Start with one company.

A sixty-minute conversation: what the company needs, whether I am the right fit, and which engagement makes sense.

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