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Company Profile

  • Type: Series A Canadian B2B Investment Startup

  • Industry: Investment Software (FinTech)

  • Markets: Canada and Ireland

  • Stage: Growth-stage startup exceeding $1M in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) — a common Series A benchmark signaling product-market fit and readiness for the next phase of scale in Canadian SaaS

Building a Scalable Marketing Growth Engine Through Fractional CMO Leadership

This case study follows a fast-growing Canadian startup that had already crossed a critical milestone: over $1M in ARR. Demand was strong, the offer was compelling, and sales were consistent; at times even pushing the team toward overcapacity.

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At this stage, hiring a full-time, in-house CMO would have been redundant and cost-inefficient. The company did not need additional layers of leadership. It needed senior marketing leadership that could execute immediately, prioritize effectively, and integrate directly into the business.

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Kasm’s Fractional CMO Leadership Model allowed the business to:

  • Get senior-level marketing and growth leadership without the cost of a full-time executive
     

  • Build a scalable marketing engine aligned with key revenue outcomes and goals
     

  • Get execution ownership without unnecessary headcount
     

  • Understand a systemized approach to growth without slowing momentum
     

  • Move quickly without over-hiring or over-experimenting
     

Kasm acted as a Fractional CMO, taking ownership of marketing strategy and execution across marketing initiatives, partnerships, PR, and ecosystem-driven growth.

When Founder-Led Sales Can’t Be the Main Growth Engine

The company had already surpassed $1M in ARR, with strong demand, a compelling offer, and consistent sales that were beginning to strain internal capacity.

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Founder-led sales were working (sometimes too well).

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But that success also revealed a structural risk. Nearly all sales and marketing momentum still flowed through one (albeit popular) person, the co-founder. While this approach had been effective in reaching meaningful revenue, it was not a sustainable path to building a much larger company.

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As the business matured, and growth accelerated, several questions became unavoidable:

  • How do you build a marketing growth engine that does not depend on one person’s availability or reputation?
     

  • How do you turn events, partnerships, and PR into planned, repeatable growth systems rather than reactive moments?
     

  • How do you protect founder time while demand continues to increase?
     

  • How do you scale without adding unnecessary overhead or duplicative leadership roles?
     

This is where Kasm was called in for Fractional CMO Leadership with execution ownership.

What Fractional CMO Leadership and Execution Looked Like in Practice

Kasm did not operate as an advisor on the sidelines. The role was hands-on, embedded, and execution-driven. A true Fractional Chief Marketing Officer.

Result One: Strategic Prioritization With Revenue in Mind

Kasm helped the team determine:

  • Which initiatives were worth pursuing
     

  • Which opportunities to ignore, even if they looked attractive
     

  • Where marketing effort and initiatives would compound over time versus distract the team
     

Marketing initiatives were tied to clear strategic and commercial goals, not visibility for visibility’s sake.

Result Two: Building Marketing as a Growth Engine

Rather than replacing founder-led sales, Kasm built marketing as a parallel growth engine.

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This included:

  • Messaging and positioning that did not rely on founder credibility
     

  • Funnel and pipeline design to support inbound, outbound, and ecosystem-driven demand
     

  • Growth initiatives that did not require constant founder involvement
     

Marketing began to support and amplify sales, rather than leaning on founder effort.

Result Three: Events, PR, and Partnerships as Deliberate Growth Levers

Before Kasm’s involvement, ecosystem opportunities were often approached reactively. While many were high quality, the lack of preplanning limited how much value could be captured.

 

Kasm introduced structure by:

  • Identifying high-leverage ecosystem opportunities early
     

  • Securing internal alignment and buy-in ahead of execution
     

  • Planning messaging, objectives, and follow-up in advance
     

  • Ensuring events, PR, and partnerships contributed to long-term growth
     

These initiatives became planned, repeatable growth systems, not one-off wins.

Result Four: Orchestrating Internal and External Execution

A key part of the role was coordination. Kasm aligned internal team members around clear strategic initiatives.

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This ensured:

  • Shared ownership and buy-in before execution
     

  • Faster decision-making
     

  • No unnecessary spend on external resources that would not take full ownership
     

Marketing began to function as infrastructure, not hustle.

Result 5: Reducing Founder Dependency, and Protecting Founder Time While Sustaining Growth

A key outcome of the engagement was reducing reliance on founder-led sales without slowing growth.

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As marketing systems and execution matured:

  • Founder time sinks were reduced
     

  • The founder could focus on high-leverage relationships
     

Founder-led sales remained a strength, but were no longer the sole driver of growth.

The Outcome: Sustainable, Scalable Growth Levers

After Kasm stepped in:

  • Marketing became a parallel growth engine alongside founder-led sales
     

  • Marketing initiatives were tied to clear strategic goals
     

  • Events, PR, and partnerships became deliberate, planned, and repeatable growth levers
     

  • Internal teams operated under a single strategic direction
     

  • Founder time was protected for high-impact work
     

  • The team gained earlier visibility and internal buy-in for ecosystem opportunities
     

  • Marketing shifted from reactive hustle to scalable infrastructure

 

Growth became more resilient, intentional, and scalable.

The Role Kasm Played

Kasm acted as a Fractional CMO and growth orchestrator, providing senior-level strategy, execution ownership, alignment and coordination across the internal team, and clear revenue growth channels.

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Kasm’s Fractional CMO Leadership support is designed to build the next growth layer without slowing momentum.

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Book a call to discuss Fractional CMO support for a scalable growth strategy without adding unnecessary overhead.

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