Michael FertmanProduct Marketing Leader and CMO for PE- and VC-backed B2B SaaS, fintech, and data businesses
When you need a new product to drive growth, or an old one to grow again.
I'm accountable for the product's revenue, and lead its pricing, packaging, positioning and sales enablement.
I work with businesses over $25M in revenue that serve enterprises, in a full-time, fractional or interim role.
I led product management and pricing for Dun & Bradstreet's $500M subscription business, where annual revenue growth rose from $14M to $30M. 2003 to 2009.
VP of product marketing at a $400M PE-backed fintech. Built its first product marketing team.
First chief marketing officer, reporting to the founder and chief executive. Built its first marketing function.
Product marketing, product management and pricing for product lines from $5M to $500M.
Associate on data-intensive projects for consumer goods clients.
Accountable for the safe navigation of a nuclear-powered cruiser during the First Gulf War.
If everyone owns the number, then nobody owns the number
Each team owns its own goal, and no one owns the product's revenue.
- Product ships every feature on time.
- Marketing hits its lead goals.
- Sales makes its number with other products.
- Finance keeps the company on budget.
- The product stops growing while every team's report shows its goal met.
“I can go out and sell one of these [new products] or I can sell two [of our core products] and meet my number.”
The chief executive is often the only person that product, finance, sales and marketing all report to. So the product's revenue falls to the chief executive by default.
I'm accountable for the number nobody owns
The changes that grow a product's revenue usually cross all four teams at once. I own the revenue of one product, or a set of products, across those teams, so the chief executive has one person accountable for it.
CEOs, operating partners and CMOs hire one person to grow a product's revenue.
The best fit is a new product four months or more from launch, or a product whose growth needs changes in more than one team at once.
Fractional work starts with a paid diagnostic of the product and its revenue gap.
Fractional CMO for 12+ VC-backed B2B SaaS and fintech companies, 2014 to 2020.
Interim head of product marketing for a $25M Series B AI software business, 2025 to 2026. Interim VP of marketing at AlphaPoint, 2019.
VP of product marketing at Apex Fintech Solutions, 2023 to 2024. First CMO at Guidepoint, 2010 to 2013.
Go-to-market launches and revenue growth
I built the approach on interviews with launch leaders at 15 B2B SaaS companies with $600M to $20B in revenue.
The targeting and pricing are tested with customers and the sellers' pay plan is set before launch day.
I split the product's revenue into customers who left, cut back, stayed, bought more or joined, then make one or two changes where the gap is biggest.
The sellers who closed the first deals show the rest of the team the buyer, the pitch and the proof.
I led the go-to-market launch of a new product, from ideal customer profiles and buying-committee personas to positioning, sales enablement and launch day.
I built Apex's first product marketing team, pitched the company's first SaaS product for enterprise financial institutions, and was approved to launch it.
As its first chief marketing officer, I built marketing from scratch, and marketing-driven pipeline grew 5x.
I made moving clients to a new platform the team's only priority, and turned around a $30M portfolio whose growth had stalled.
“Most notably, he proved to be a true sales partner, working directly with our sales force to tighten our messaging, and win against larger more entrenched competitors.”
Bring a product and its revenue target.
On a 30-minute call, we'll talk about where the product stands and whether my experience fits the work.
Let's talk ↗