Growth infrastructure for PE portfolios
Fractional CMO for Private Equity
Built the growth engine that took cnvrg.io to its acquisition by Intel.
I personally investigate and implement agreed portfolio-company growth work, with comparable measurement definitions, a source-linked findings record and named operating owners. A value-creation plan follows the actual mandate, resources, horizon and evidence available.
Private equity growth value creation has a measurement problem. Portfolio companies report marketing metrics in incompatible formats. CAC is calculated differently at every company. ROAS is platform-reported at one company and incrementality-tested at another. The quarterly portfolio review compares numbers that do not measure the same thing.
A shared portfolio mandate can use comparable measurement definitions and relevant experience across businesses. I personally investigate and implement the agreed work and document where business models differ. My experience includes $100M+ in total ad spend managed across roles; prior patterns generate hypotheses to test rather than prove which channel will scale at another company.
For context on the fractional CMO role itself, see the fractional CMO overview. For engagement structures and costs, see engagement models and pricing.
Why portfolio company marketing is a distinct challenge
"In a PE-backed company the fractional CMO's job is not brand. It is proving the growth thesis fast enough to protect the multiple at exit."
Yaniv Goldenberg, fractional growth operator
Post-acquisition measurement gap
Review the acquired company’s measurement definitions before using channel reports in a value-creation plan. Compare eligible CRM and billing outcomes with platform-attributed conversions, using consistent windows and identifiers. Document acquisition costs beyond media, including agreed fees, tools and staffing.
Management team gap: no growth owner
A portfolio company may need continuity, a focused investigation, implementation or broader leadership while assessing a permanent role. Compare the actual mandate, capacity, access and costs. We agree the start plan and deliverables for my personal work instead of assuming a fixed hiring delay or immediate complete coverage.
Hold period pressure
Choose growth work from the actual value-creation task, buyer cycle, customer margin, cash needs, operating resources and exit assumptions. Paid acquisition, SEO, content, brand, conversion and lifecycle can each be useful within the agreed horizon. A generic holding period does not decide the channel or establish a valuation effect.
Portfolio-level pattern leverage
Cross-company experience can suggest useful comparisons, provided customer, cost and outcome definitions are compatible. I agree capacity for each client or project and retain differences and unknowns. At Elementor I led acquisition during company growth from $200K to $20M ARR; that history does not isolate a causal advantage from serving several companies.
The 100-day value-creation plan for PE portfolio companies
Illustrative first workstream: source and cost baseline. I personally inspect the agreed tracking, customer and billing sources, reconcile compatible definitions and document costs, matches, duplicates and unknowns. The findings identify what is supported and which repair or further evidence the decision needs. Access, deliverables and review dates are agreed.
Illustrative implementation workstream: selected changes and review. I personally build and test the agreed measurement, campaign or journey changes. A suitable comparison or holdout can be used where feasible for the question. The review separates delivered work, attributed credit, eligible cohort contribution and unresolved causal explanations. No fixed day-thirty-to-sixty performance result is implied.
Illustrative later workstream: portfolio review and handoff. Review mature channel and customer evidence, document implemented workflows and agree the next investment decision. Report eligible revenue, matches and unknowns. No fixed match-rate threshold proves diligence reliability or clears a channel for scale. Actual delivery and observation dates follow the agreed plan.
For KPI standards and how to verify the numbers independently, see fractional CMO KPIs.
Attribution-clean reporting for PE portfolio reviews
A portfolio review where each company reports marketing differently is not a review - it is a collection of incomparable numbers.
The standard I install across portfolio companies uses consistent definitions:
CAC: total marketing and sales cost (including agency fees, tools, headcount allocated to acquisition) divided by new customers acquired in the period, verified against payment processor data, not platform conversions.
ROAS: attributed revenue divided by defined advertising spend, with attribution rules and windows stated. Contribution after acquisition deducts the agreed product, service, fulfillment and acquisition costs. An incremental effect needs a suitable comparison or experiment, rather than subtraction of an assumed organic baseline.
LTV:CAC: compare the same eligible acquisition cohort, cost scope and observation window. Twelve-month observed contribution is finite-horizon value rather than all lifetime value. Illustrative 4:1 and 1.2:1 ratios prompt investigation; margin, maturity, cash timing, uncertainty and constraints determine the next decision.
Attribution coverage: share of eligible confirmed revenue matched to a source under a documented rule. Report the denominator, matches and unknowns; a fixed match-rate threshold alone does not establish board-level reliability.
When every portfolio company reports on these four metrics with consistent definitions, the quarterly review becomes an actual comparison, not a translation exercise. That consistency is also a diligence asset: at exit, the acquiring party gets a documented marketing data history with verified numbers, not platform dashboards.
For the full ROI argument on fractional CMO investment at the portfolio level, see whether a fractional CMO is worth it.
Marketing diligence for PE acquisitions
Before acquisition, the marketing data room tells you whether the company's growth is real or whether it is platform-reported fiction. The questions that a marketing diligence review should answer:
What is the verified CAC by channel? Reconcile the relevant platform conversion definition with eligible billing or CRM records, then explain matching gaps, duplication and timing. Measure the discrepancy for the company rather than assuming a typical range.
Is the growth channel-diversified or single-source dependent? A company with 80% of customer acquisition on one paid channel has a concentration risk that does not appear in the revenue line. If that channel's ROAS deteriorates, the growth story unwinds.
What is the organic contribution to revenue? Separating organic from paid-driven revenue requires incrementality testing, not just attribution modeling. A company with strong branded search may be crediting paid campaigns for conversions that would have happened through organic anyway. The incrementality gap is a common inflator in marketing diligence packages.
For companies where marketing diligence is part of the acquisition process, I can provide a pre-close audit covering these questions in an engagement scoped to the project. Contact me with the context and I will scope it directly.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions: fractional CMO for private equity
How does a fractional CMO work across multiple portfolio companies?
The structure depends on the portfolio company's stage and need. For companies in active growth mode: an Operator engagement with scope-dependent pricing where I own the full acquisition funnel and report directly to the portfolio company's leadership and the PE operating partner. For companies in measurement-building mode: a Diagnostic engagement with scope-dependent timing and pricing followed by quarterly check-ins to maintain the measurement architecture. Scope, availability and start date are agreed per client or project. Scope and time commitment are agreed before work starts.
What does a 100-day plan produce that a consultant's strategy document does not?
I personally investigate the agreed evidence and implement the selected measurement, campaigns or journey work. We define delivery checkpoints, source coverage, review measures and a handoff or continuing owner. A 100-day plan can organize priorities, but it does not guarantee complete measurement or a commercial result within that period.
How do you handle the transition when a full-time CMO is hired?
I document the selected architecture, source and cost definitions, operating checks, known gaps and maintenance responsibilities, then test the agreed handoff with the receiving owner. That supports continuity without guaranteeing the incoming hire’s ramp time or asserting that every former system remains operational.
Can you work with portfolio companies in different verticals?
Yes. The measurement methodology - verified CAC, contribution-margin ROAS, attribution coverage percentage - applies across verticals. Channel mix and creative strategy vary; measurement principles do not. I have worked across SaaS, e-commerce, marketplace, and service businesses. The fastest ramp is in verticals where I have prior pattern recognition, which I will tell you honestly in the scoping conversation.
What happens in the first 30 days at a newly acquired portfolio company?
The first work is agreed around the actual portfolio-company question and available sources. I personally inspect the selected campaign, customer and billing records, document cost and outcome definitions and distinguish source matches, timing differences, duplicate or missing records and unknowns. We set delivery checkpoints separately from the economic observation window.
Which marketing metrics do you report across portfolio companies, and how are they defined?
We agree comparable definitions for acquisition costs and eligible new customers, attributed revenue and advertising spend, finite-horizon customer contribution, and source-match coverage. Record the sources, windows, cost allocations, denominator, matched and unknown records. Causal incrementality needs a suitable comparison; a fixed coverage percentage alone does not establish reliability.
Can you review a company's marketing before we acquire it?
Yes. I personally investigate the marketing evidence included in the agreed pre-close scope, including selected customer costs, acquisition concentration and attributed or incremental evidence where available. We agree authorized access, deliverables, schedule and reviewers with the responsible transaction owners. The work is not an audit opinion or a valuation guarantee.
Do you focus on paid acquisition rather than SEO and brand in a PE hold period?
Choose the channel and implementation from the actual portfolio-company objective, buyer cycle, margin, cash needs, capacity and hold or exit assumptions. I personally implement agreed paid, SEO, content, brand, conversion, lifecycle and measurement work. Each has an appropriate evidence window; no channel is universally the standard lever.
Why use a fractional CMO instead of hiring a full-time CMO at a portfolio company?
Compare the actual leadership gap, personal implementation, required coverage, source access, continuity and full costs of each option. A scoped engagement can address a defined need while the business evaluates a permanent role. Start date, delivery capacity and review windows are agreed; a fixed hiring delay or week-one outcome is not presumed.
Next step
Talk about your portfolio company's growth problem.
Tell me the stage, the current paid spend, and the measurement situation. I will tell you whether a fractional CMO engagement makes sense and what the 100-day plan would look like for your specific situation. No deck. 20 minutes.
For CMO role background: Spencer Stuart CMO research · My operating history: Yaniv Goldenberg on LinkedIn
Work with Yaniv
Fractional Head of Growth for B2B SaaS, B2C, and e-commerce. Revenue that compounds, not spikes. Any channel, any motion, any stage.
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