Why every CEO should prioritize having a strong CEO-CMO partnership

As a first marketing hire at startups, I’ve been asked to build an early access waitlist, plan a conference, manage PR, oversee all paid and organic acquisition, launch a newsletter, host fireside chats on Twitter Spaces, shoot and edit video, build multi-touch attribution models, and sit in on product calls to discuss ways to improve user activation. This wide-ranging role highlights a common misconception: when "marketing" is part of your title, you're expected to excel at everything.

Lead quality sucks? Marketing failed to produce SQLs. Missed the revenue target? Marketing must’ve dropped the ball.

It’s easy to villainize marketing because it’s often seen as a black box of jargon, acronyms, and metrics. However, for all the nuances that marketing has to offer, the real issue often lies in a disconnect between CEOs and CMOs.

The truth is, most CEOs come from backgrounds outside of marketing. A recent McKinsey study found that only 10% of Fortune 250 CEOs have experience in marketing, and for startups, it’s similar, where only 12% of founders are former marketers. This isn’t a shortcoming on the CEO’s part; it’s a reality of the typical CEO career path. Marketing has evolved rapidly, and without specific experience, it’s natural for marketing fundamentals to feel opaque – especially when the metrics don’t tie directly to immediate revenue outcomes.

For many CEOs, this unfamiliarity can unintentionally lead to an open-ended job description for the CMO that captures every possible aspect of marketing, without any specific focus. This isn’t about fault—it’s about partnership. For CMOs to succeed, they need direction and support, especially in defining priorities that align with the company’s growth strategy. Without that partnership, even the most experienced CMO may struggle to meet broad and ambiguous expectations.

So, before questioning marketing’s results, CEOs should ask themselves not whether they understand every marketing metric or detail but whether they have invested in building a clear and focused partnership with their CMO. If the CEO has failed to set their CMO up for success, replacing them will not solve the larger issue at hand. A strong CEO-CMO relationship isn’t just beneficial for marketing—it’s central to sustainable growth. It requires both parties to align on expectations, focus, and priorities, fostering a shared understanding that marketing success is, in many ways, a reflection of that partnership.

The CEO-CMO disconnect and why it matters

A strong CEO-CMO partnership is crucial, but data shows that alignment is often lacking. In the same survey of CEOs and CMOs, McKinsey found that 50% of CEOs admit to feeling uncomfortable with modern marketing methodologies, while only 34% of CMOs feel their CEOs are equipped to grasp modern marketing complexities.

The disparity in perspectives leads to misalignment in goals and expectations, which is not only difficult to navigate but can also lead to confusion among leadership around what marketing even does. Without a unified vision, the risk is that marketing will focus on operational metrics like brand awareness or click-through rates, while CEOs prioritize bottom-line business metrics. In fact, only 32% of CEOs trust their CMOs, according to a Boathouse study, signaling a need for CMOs to communicate marketing’s impact more clearly through KPIs that resonate with CEOs.

The power of collaboration

Effective collaboration between CEOs and CMOs involves regular one-on-one meetings, alignment on expectations, and trusting the CMO with execution. Establishing expectations is arguably the most important as it will empower the CMO to structure a strategy or action plan that will address the overarching strategic goals outlined by you, the CEO. Without clarity on what your company goals and revenue targets are, CMOs might instead form a strategy that is impactful from a marketing perspective (i.e. increases blog readership, increases organic SEO), but doesn’t directly impact your bottom-line business objectives. When CEOs and CMOs collaborate effectively, they create a unified approach to achieving business goals, ensuring that marketing strategies are not only well-executed but also deeply integrated into the broader organizational objectives.

Defining the role of the CMO

A common pitfall for companies is leaving the CMO’s responsibilities too broad and ambiguous, leading them to be spread thin across too many different tasks without a clear focus. Depending on the stage of your startup, it might make more sense for your CMO to prioritize a specific area – such as brand building, demand generation, customer acquisition or retention. By clearly defining the role, you avoid “scope creep” and allow the CMO to focus on the most critical elements that drive your company’s growth.

For example, if your company has not yet achieved product-market fit, it wouldn’t make sense to invest heavily in an affiliate marketing program. A versatile marketer who can focus on testing acquisition channels, gathering user feedback, and refining core messaging can be far more effective. These deliverables may not immediately drive revenue but are essential to a solid go-to-market strategy. Giving your marketing leader a focus area prevents them from being pulled in too many directions and helps to define what success looks like, which will ultimately benefit the company. 

Marketing’s role in growth strategy

The companies that view marketing as a core driver of growth see significant benefits. According to McKinsey, companies where CEOs place marketing at the heart of the growth strategy are twice as likely to achieve over 5% annual revenue growth. But for a CMO to have this level of impact, they need more than a vague directive. They need resources, autonomy, and alignment with what “growth” really means for the organization.

A few key elements to build this alignment include:

1. Clear KPIs tied to business outcomes: As CEOs, it’s crucial to work with CMOs and CFOs to develop a framework where marketing metrics—like customer acquisition cost or lifetime value—link directly to business objectives. While operational KPIs are necessary for campaign management, they should always connect back to broader business outcomes.
2. Consistent communication and alignment: Frequent, structured communication between CEOs and CMOs can close knowledge gaps and foster understanding. For instance, some of the most successful CMOs bring CEOs into consumer-focused activities—such as focus groups or even key industry conferences—to see firsthand how marketing strategies align with consumer needs.
3. Trust-building through transparency: CEOs often feel that CMOs don’t provide a clear picture of marketing’s impact on growth while CMOs often feel that they’re in the dark when major business objectives are determined. Including your CMO in high-level decision-making prevents misalignment between your head of marketing and the rest of your executive team. It will also pave the way for regular reporting with transparent, business-relevant KPIs that build trust and credibility.
   

When is it the right time to hire a marketing team?

Some CEOs hesitate to hire marketers before product-market fit, but waiting too long can lead to missed opportunities in go-to-market strategy. Hiring a small, adaptable team can be extremely effective if they’re focused on understanding the customer, gathering actionable feedback, and identifying early acquisition channels.

A full-scale marketing team isn’t necessary right away, but a fractional CMO or versatile marketing hire who can perform focused, high-impact activities can set the stage for successful scaling once product-market fit is achieved.

Putting marketing at the core of your strategy

Building a sustainable growth strategy means understanding that marketing isn’t just about campaigns and clicks—it’s about strategically positioning your product and aligning every part of the business around your customers’ needs. For CEOs, ensuring that marketing has the right resources, autonomy and alignment from day one can make all the difference.

This is where Your First Marketer can be your strategic partner. As specialists in helping startups and early-stage companies bridge the gap between product development and scalable marketing, we work closely with founders to create a tailored approach that focuses on achieving product-market fit, defining impactful metrics, and setting up the foundations for long-term growth.

Let’s work together to build a marketing strategy that doesn’t just deliver numbers but drives meaningful, measurable growth.