Everything you want to know
before reaching out.

A Portfolio CMO is a senior marketing executive who serves multiple companies simultaneously in an embedded capacity, operating inside each company's leadership team as their CMO. Unlike a fractional consultant who advises from the outside, a Portfolio CMO owns outcomes: pipeline, ARR influenced, team performance. Tom Berger works with 2–3 B2B SaaS companies at Series A or B at any given time.

A Fractional CMO typically advises from outside the company, often billing hourly or on a loose retainer, without deep operational involvement or outcome accountability. A Portfolio CMO is embedded inside: attending leadership meetings, owning pipeline and ARR goals, managing or mentoring the marketing team, and reporting to the CEO. The key distinction is accountability: a Portfolio CMO's engagement is tied to the outcomes they move, not the hours they log.

"Fractional" implies you're getting a piece of someone's attention. "Portfolio" reflects a different model, a small intentional set of companies that each get genuine embedded leadership, not a divided share of time. Tom limits his active engagements to 2–3 companies specifically to ensure the depth of focus each company needs. It's closer to the way a great investor runs a focused portfolio than the way a consultant manages a client list.

Tom works primarily with B2B SaaS companies at Series A or Series B: typically $2M to $20M ARR with demonstrated product-market fit. These are companies that have a product customers love and a pipeline that isn't growing fast enough. Pre-PMF companies are not the right fit; the GTM work Tom does requires a validated product and a real ICP.

No. Tom's background and expertise is in B2B SaaS with a direct or inside sales motion. He does not work with B2C, marketplace, consumer subscription, or agency-model businesses.

Your existing hire typically becomes significantly more effective. Most Series A companies have made a good hire, a capable growth or product marketer who is stuck in their lane because there is no senior direction above them. Tom provides that strategic layer: setting vision, prioritizing the roadmap, and mentoring the hire directly. Founders often describe this as getting two people performing at once.

The right time is typically when you have real PMF but your pipeline isn't growing at the pace your board or growth plans require. Specific signals: your marketing hire is executing but lacks strategic direction; you've closed a Series A and need to build the GTM function; you're plateauing on PLG and need an enterprise motion; you have 90 days before your next board meeting and no clear story on how marketing is moving ARR. If any of those fit, it's worth a 30-minute call.

The Embedded CMO engagement includes: a full GTM audit and positioning review in month one; a 12-month roadmap with quarterly milestones and budget framework; weekly presence in leadership and pipeline review meetings; direct management or mentorship of the existing marketing team; hiring support (job descriptions, interview process, candidate evaluation); board and investor reporting on marketing metrics; and ongoing pipeline and ARR tracking against agreed-upon outcomes. 2–3 days per week. 90-day start, month-to-month after.

A GTM Sprint is a four-week fixed-scope engagement delivering: a full GTM audit; ICP and competitive landscape analysis; a messaging and positioning brief; a full-funnel health assessment; a prioritized 90-day execution roadmap with owners and milestones; team structure and hiring recommendations; and a 90-minute live readout. It is priced as a flat fee and serves as a natural on-ramp to the Embedded CMO engagement.

The Marketing Audit ($5,000 flat fee) includes: a founder strategy session; sales team interviews to validate ICP and objections; 2–3 customer interviews; a messaging audit across all customer-facing surfaces; a funnel health review covering pipeline sources, conversion rates, and CAC by channel; a team structure assessment; and a written report with an executive summary and prioritized recommendations, delivered with a 90-minute live debrief.

Yes the Marketing Audit and GTM Sprint are intentionally designed as on-ramps to the Embedded CMO engagement. They give both parties a chance to work together, validate fit, and build the diagnostic foundation that makes the full engagement more effective from day one. There is no obligation to continue each entry-point engagement delivers standalone value.

Tom is typically operational within one week of engagement. He does not require a lengthy onboarding period. The first 30 days of an Embedded CMO engagement are structured as a deep audit and orientation, after which strategic direction and active execution begin.

The Marketing Audit is $5,000 as a flat fee. No ongoing commitment required. ~4 weeks from kickoff to written report and debrief.

The Marketing Advisor service is $2,000 per month, month-to-month. It includes one 60-minute strategy session per month, async email access, review of one major deliverable per month, and a quarterly priority check.

The Embedded CMO engagement is outcome-linked pricing is structured around the specific pipeline, SQL, and ARR goals agreed upon at the start of the engagement. Contact info@bergercmo.ai to discuss your situation and get specifics. GTM Sprint pricing is also a flat fee contact for details.

Tom has 25+ years in B2B SaaS marketing. He served as CMO at BioRender (where he built the enterprise GTM from zero and drove 78% of pipeline), VP Marketing at DigitalOcean (ARR grew from $141M to $255M during his tenure), VP Marketing at Sift (built the BDR function to 50% of pipeline in year one), and VP Marketing at Bolt (supported $650M in fundraising). He is a Harvard Business School speaker, Forbes E-volution Award recipient, and Optimizely Optie Award winner. He studied design at Carnegie Mellon. Full bio →

Tom's experience spans developer tools and cloud infrastructure (DigitalOcean), hardware SaaS (Sift), life sciences and research software (BioRender), fintech infrastructure (Bolt), and enterprise SaaS broadly. He has led both PLG-first companies transitioning to enterprise and pure enterprise sales motions.

The full career history, philosophy, and recognition is on the About page. You can also connect on LinkedIn or reach out directly at info@bergercmo.ai.