FAQ
Fair questions, answered plainly.
What a fractional CMO is, what I charge, how I work and who I work with. If your question isn't here, send it over and I'll answer it myself.
Fractional CMO basics
What is a fractional CMO?
A senior marketing leader who works with your company part time, on a retainer, instead of as a full-time executive. You get the strategy, the leadership and the accountability of a CMO for a fraction of the hours and the cost. With me, you also get hands on execution and the AI system that keeps it running between meetings.
Who is Monica Hacker?
A fractional CMO based in New York and Miami and the founder of Hacker House. About ten years in growth marketing, eight of them agency side at Forward Progress and NoGood, building growth for brands including Stitch Fix, Huggies, Summer Fridays and Centrust Bank. She now works with DTC, beauty and wellness, and healthcare brands, and builds the AI growth systems their marketing runs on.
What is Hacker House?
Hacker House is Monica Hacker's fractional CMO and AI growth systems practice. It is a marketing consultancy, not a coliving house or a startup hacker house. Monica does the work herself and keeps the roster small.
What is the difference between a fractional CMO and a marketing agency?
An agency sells a scope and staffs a team against it. A fractional CMO owns the outcome, leads whoever is doing the work, whether that is your team, your agency or both, and answers for the number. Most of my clients keep their agency. I lead it.
When is a company ready for a fractional CMO?
Usually when you're already spending on growth, something is working but not scaling, and nobody senior is holding the whole picture. For DTC brands that is usually once paid is running and retention is the next lever. For healthcare organizations it is usually when media spend is real and the intake funnel is leaking.
Pricing and terms
How much does a fractional CMO cost?
With me, from $8,500 a month for about 10 to 12 hours a week. There is a 4 month minimum with a review at month 3, and if the work is not paying for itself we change the scope or stop. Every price is a starting point and goes in writing before anything starts.
What does the Growth Audit cost and what do I get?
$1,500, delivered in 7 to 10 days. A prioritized read on acquisition, revenue quality, customer behavior and the demand environment around you, the verdict on what to fix first, and a recorded walkthrough of every finding. It is credited toward your first month if you move to a retainer.
What is Growth Underwriting?
Everything in the Growth Audit plus market and competitor work, cohort and margin analysis, and a written memo with the verdict. It is for founders deciding whether to scale, raise or sell. From $5,000, 2 to 3 weeks, credited toward a retainer.
What does paid acquisition on its own cost?
From $4,500 a month with a 3 month minimum. Google, Meta, LinkedIn and CTV, plus the landing pages and funnel behind the ads, tracking and attribution, and a budget and scaling plan.
What does an AI growth system cost?
One workflow starts at $4,000. A full system build runs into five figures, and it is included in a fractional CMO retainer.
How I work
Who actually does the work?
Me. You are not getting a junior account manager and a templated report. I keep my roster small so I stay close to the work and the numbers.
How fast can you start?
Within two weeks of signing. Month one is the audit, the plan, and the system running underneath it.
Do you work remotely?
Yes. I'm based in New York and Miami and work with founders across the US. Most engagements are remote with a weekly working session and async in between.
Which industries do you focus on?
DTC and ecommerce, beauty and wellness, and healthcare. I've also worked with fintech, banking and B2B SaaS, and the brands I work best with are already spending on growth, whatever the budget size.
What is the free website audit?
Drop your URL and email at monicahacker.com/free-audit. My agent does the first pass, I read it, and within one business day you get three things I'd tighten up on your site. No call, no logins.
Still have a question?
Thirty minutes on my calendar usually answers all of them. No pitch, no pressure.
Book a call →Thirty minutes. Bring your numbers, or just bring the problem. You'll leave knowing what I'd fix first.