Hiring the right marketing talent at every stage — startup to scale-up

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TL;DR
Most startups and scaleups hire the wrong marketing people, at the wrong time, in the wrong order. The result? Wasted time, wasted money, and teams that can’t deliver. In this episode, we break down what founders and marketing leaders should do instead, and how to avoid the biggest hiring landmines when building a team that can actually scale.

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You hired who for marketing?

One of the most common marketing mistakes we see in startups: hiring too late, hiring the wrong profile, or hiring a CMO who was great at an enterprise company... but has no clue how to build from zero.

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Here’s the deal:
👉 Startups need builders.
👉 Scaleups need architects and mentors.
👉 No stage needs a kingdom-builder or a CMO with a one-size-fits-all “playbook.”

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Startups often start with one frazzled marketer trying to do it all. Founders wait too long, then hire reactively. Or they overhire too soon. Or they bring in someone with big-brand experience but zero startup grit.

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If this is sounding familiar, deep breath. It’s fixable.

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The Marketing Hiring Order of Operations

Spoiler alert: it’s not content first.

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Our take on the ideal first marketing hires (as we like to call it, your Fantastic Four):

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1️⃣ Product Marketing (PMM): Defines the story, aligns the team, builds the foundation. Can also write and support sales enablement early on.
2️⃣ Demand Gen: Brings in leads. Bonus if they understand tech stack, measurement, and strategy.
3️⃣ Content: Comes in fast-follow after PMM + Demand Gen foundation is set. Look for someone with strategy chops, not just a writer.
4️⃣ Marketing Ops: Critical for tracking, tech stack management, and making sure the funnel actually works.

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Pro tip: Look for double-duty hires early. A Demand Gen lead who knows tech stack decisions. A PMM who can write. A content lead who can do social and SEO.

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What Scaleups Get Wrong About Building a Marketing Team

If startup hiring is chaotic, scaleup hiring can be political. CMOs and VPs face huge pressure: shrinking budgets, unclear ROI expectations, cross-functional tension.

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 ❌ Common traps:

• Letting team structure lag behind growth
• Burning out the existing team by asking them to do jobs they aren’t equipped for
• Getting stuck in a reactive loop vs. balancing strategy and execution
• Over-focusing on customer acquisition without addressing customer retention and LTV

✅ Successful scaleup marketing leaders:

• Audit their team and their tech for “debt” (process, tech, people)
• Prioritize ruthlessly
• Balance immediate wins with long-term vision
• Know when to hire in-house vs. when to use agencies or consultants
• Build teams with mentors and architects, not just executors

Early Career Marketers: Beware the Startup Trap

One note for those just entering marketing: Startups can be thrilling... and completely chaotic.

If you’re early in your career, consider joining a scaleup first, where you can learn from mentors and develop your craft. Joining a startup as the lone marketer too soon can stall your development.

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Notable Things We Said

"If you don’t have a strong product marketer in place, it’s not time for content."
—Erin, lovingly reminding founders (again) that content without strategy is chaos.

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"Marketing teams that win have architects and mentors. What they don’t need are kingdom-builders."
—Chris, dropping one of the most tweetable takeaways of the episode.

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"Early-career marketers: scale-ups are your friend. Startups? Maybe not so much."
—Sandi, on why new marketers should think twice before joining the chaos solo.

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So what?

Building a marketing team isn’t about filling seats or chasing the perfect org chart. It’s about hiring the right people at the right time to drive the business forward. Startups and scaleups face different hiring landmines, but the core principle holds: hire for the stage you’re in, not the one you wish you were in. If you ignore this, you’ll waste budget, burn out your team, and stall growth. Take a hard look at where you are today, what the business actually needs next, and how to build a team that scales with you, not one that breaks under the pressure.

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The Final Takeaway

Marketing teams evolve, and your hiring strategy has to evolve with them.

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For founders:
Don’t hire content first. Start with PMM and Demand Gen.
Find double-duty hires early.
Think about scaling, not just staffing.

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For scaleup CMOs:
Fix your tech/process/people debt early.
Balance short-term gains with long-term strategy.
Hire mentors and architects, not just executors.
Know when to outsource — and how to defend your budget with a clear ROI story.

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And remember: Most startups fail. Most scaleups stall. Hiring the right marketing team is one of the best bets you can make to avoid both.

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We want to hear from you:
👉 What’s the hardest part of building or scaling your marketing team right now? Drop us a note or find us on LinkedIn!

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