The First Hire Plan · Six weeks
Before your first marketing hire.
The First Hire Plan is a six-week, fixed-fee engagement that designs a software startup's marketing function before its first marketing hire, so the person you hire inherits a role, a plan, a budget, a stack, and a scoreboard on day one.
You are a founder, marketing is still run by you, and the next hire is a marketer. Before you write the posting, I design the function they walk into: which role and what level, the twelve-month plan, the budget by quarter, the stack, a lead definition your sales lead signs, and the scoreboard the board will read.
The hire starts with a plan on day one instead of spending their first quarter writing one. Fixed fee, quoted on the first call.
By Neely Thomson·Published
Why before
The first marketing hire usually lands in an empty room.
No plan, no budget, no agreed definition of a lead, a CRM nobody trusts, and a founder who has been doing marketing between everything else. The new hire spends their first quarter finding all of that out, and their second quarter arguing with sales about it. By the time anything ships, half a year is gone.
I have been the person walking into that room, and the person hiring into it. The fix is cheap next to a mis-hire: decide the function first, then hire the person who runs it.
By the numbers
The costs around the hire are known. What is usually unknown is what the hire walks into.
- 7.8%
of company revenue is the average marketing budget, and half of CMOs run on 6% or less. The first hire inherits whatever share of that you decided before they arrived.
Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey, 401 marketing leaders, North America and Europe
- 5%
is the median marketing budget as a share of revenue across a broader mix of company sizes (the average is about 9%), and smaller companies consistently spend a higher share.
The CMO Survey, Spring 2026, Duke Fuqua, Deloitte and the American Marketing Association
- 39 days
is the median time to fill a non-executive role, from requisition to accepted offer. The plan is built in six weeks, so it is finished before the hire is.
- $5,475
is the average cost of a non-executive hire, and $35,879 for an executive, before a day of salary. A mis-hire spends it twice.
- 8%
of startups made a marketer their first hire after the founders; 48% hired an engineer first and 19% a salesperson. Marketing arrives late, into a company that has already formed habits without it.
HubSpot Go-To-Market Report for Startups, 2019 survey
RelatedYour first marketing hire: when, who, and what they should inherit·Hiring a Head of Marketing? Build the function first
What you receive
Seven documents, in your own tools, before the posting goes up.
01
The role to hire
Which kind of marketer, at what level, and what to look for. A head of marketing and a marketing manager run different functions; the plan says which one you need first and why.
02
The twelve-month plan
The segment to lead with, the channel bets, and what marketing is expected to produce by quarter. Written so the hire can execute it in their first month instead of writing it.
03
The budget by quarter
People, programs, and tools, quarter by quarter, sized to the pipeline you need rather than to a benchmark percentage.
04
The stack
Which tools, at which tier, bought when the hire starts and not before. Configuration notes for each, so the first week is setup and not research.
05
One lead definition and the sales-marketing SLA
What a qualified lead is, in writing, signed by whoever runs sales before the hire's first day. The single most common thing a new marketing leader spends their first quarter fighting about.
06
The five-metric scoreboard
Five numbers, with definitions, owners, and baselines from your CRM today. The board reads the same page the hire reports on.
07
The hire's first ninety days
Written before the first interview: what they ship in month one, two, and three, and what good looks like at each check-in.
The six weeks
Kickoff on a Monday. Readout six Fridays later.
Weeks 1 to 2
Discovery. Interviews with you, whoever runs sales, and whoever is doing marketing today. Pipeline and CRM data pulled. What marketing produces now, and what it costs, on one page.
Weeks 3 to 4
The plan and the budget. The segment to lead with, the channel bets, and the quarter-by-quarter budget, reviewed with you and revised once.
Weeks 5 to 6
The function. The role and its level, the stack, the lead definition and SLA signed by sales, the scoreboard with baselines, and the ninety-day plan. Readout with you, then the plan is yours.
What I need from you
- You, with the kickoff, the week-four review, and the readout on the calendar at signature.
- Whoever runs sales, for two interviews and one signature on the lead definition.
- Read-only access to your CRM and whatever marketing tools exist, within three business days of kickoff.
- A CRM export of opportunities and closed-won and closed-lost for the trailing twelve months, and whatever marketing spend exists, in whatever form it exists.
Terms
The whole agreement fits on this screen.
Fee
Fixed, quoted on the first call, written into the agreement before anything starts. Invoiced in two parts: signature and readout.
Timeline
Six weeks from kickoff. If access or interviews slip, the timeline moves with them and the fee does not change.
Ownership
The plan, the budget, the scoreboard and the ninety-day document are yours on payment, in your own tools. Hand them to whoever you hire.
The search
Yours. I decide the role with you and tell you what to look for. I do not write the posting, screen candidates, or sit in interviews.
Marketing meanwhile
Whoever is doing it now keeps doing it. The plan is built around what exists so nothing stops while you hire.
Ending it
Either of us can end it with five business days' notice. You keep everything completed to date.
After the readout
Hire the person. They inherit the function.
The plan, the budget, the stack and the scoreboard are waiting when your hire starts. If you want me close by while their first quarter runs, that is The Advisory Seat: weekly with your new hire for the first quarter, then monthly. Your call, made on the call, never a condition of the plan.
Already have a marketer? The other door is The Diagnostic, two weeks, then The Marketing Engine.
Questions
Questions people ask first.
What is the First Hire Plan?
A six-week engagement for founders who are about to make their first marketing hire. Before the posting goes up, the marketing function is designed: which role and what level, the twelve-month plan, the budget by quarter, the stack, one lead definition with a sales-marketing SLA, the five-metric scoreboard, and the hire's first ninety days. The hire walks into a function instead of building one.
Do you run the hiring search?
No. I decide the role with you: the kind of marketer, the level, what to look for, and what the role runs in year one. You run the search. Once the person starts, they inherit the plan, the budget, the stack and the scoreboard on day one.
What does the First Hire Plan cost?
A fixed fee, quoted on the first call and written into the agreement before anything starts. No prices are published. The quote is anchored to what the first hire costs if it lands wrong: a year of salary and a year of lost pipeline.