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Netacea Case Study

Netacea

uses ScaleWise to provide fractional CMO support to refine their marketing strategy

ScaleWise took a data-driven approach to evaluate what was working and where there was room for improvement. This was key to establishing a clear baseline for Netacea’s marketing strategy and uncovering opportunities for optimisation.

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Business type

Cybersecurity specialist, SaaS scale-up

Solution type

Interim/ Fractional

Size of commercial team

16

Company stage

Series A

Founded in 2018, Netacea is a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) company in the cybersecurity market, specialising in bot protection. 

 

The company serves a diverse range of clients, including some of the world’s most reputable brands, helping protect their enterprise accounts from automated robotic attacks. 

Netacea Need

As Netacea grew, the marketing team found itself underpowered and faced with the daunting task of effectively driving growth and expanding market presence globally. 

 

The leadership team recognised the need to strengthen its go-to-market (GTM) strategy to acquire new customers and maintain effective market positioning in a competitive space.

Scaling Story

To address these challenges, Netacea engaged ScaleWise to optimise its marketing function. ScaleWise provided fractional CMO support to refine Netacea’s marketing strategy, filling existing gaps and doubling down on what’s been working well. 

 

In order to get a comprehensive understanding of Netacea’s current position and capabilities, we ran an in-depth diagnostic assessment of Netacea’s marketing operations.

 

We used a data-driven approach to assess what was working and where improvements could be made. This process was critical in understanding the baseline of Netacea’s marketing strategy and identifying areas for optimisation.

ScaleWise Impact

Once the issues were clearly identified and we were able to set a baseline for Netacea’s GTM strategy and broader marketing efforts, we worked with the team to effectively dismantle the machine and reverse engineer the steps needed to move forward effectively. 

 

By aligning the marketing efforts with the company’s goals and objectives, we helped streamline the GTM strategy, enabling the company to scale its efforts. 

 

The work delivered several key benefits:

1. Access to expertise & insights

Netacea gained access to ScaleWise’s deep knowledge and experience in scaling B2B tech companies. The fractional support allowed for a strategic and broad scope, without the overhead or commitment of a full-time hire.

2. An optimised marketing function

Netacea was able to reassess its marketing operations, implement improvements, and enhance its overall GTM strategy, driving more efficient customer acquisition and greater market presence.

3. Working with trusted advisors

ScaleWise proved to be not just a service provider but a trusted extension of Netacea’s team, offering guidance, support, and alignment with the company’s broader success.

Andy Hill

Chief Revenue Officer, Netacea

“I would highly recommend ScaleWise. They have proven to be not only an extension to our own team but also trusted advisors. They’re very much aligned to the output and success of Netacea and helping to be a part of the journey to deliver that success.”

 

James Middleton

Director of Product Marketing, Netacea

“If you’re a tech startup that’s looking for someone to take control of your GTM strategy on a short-term or maybe even long-term basis, ScaleWise definitely have the skills and experience that you can make use of to optimise and improve your opportunities.”

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Frequently Asked Questions

Think of it as head-renting instead of head-hunting. Rather than spending time and money trying to hire a full-time leader, Interim & Fractional leadership involves hiring leaders on either a short-term or part-time basis usually to carry out a specific purpose. They are experienced senior-level operators that can be parachuted into your company on short notice to drive high-performance in particular aspects of your business.

Unlike a coach or a consultant, Interim & Fractional leaders are hands-on doers whose remit is to get stuck in and get things done. For more information, check out our: Definitive guide to Interim & Fractional Leadership.

Interim & Fractional leaders both provide flexible GTM support based on your specific needs. Interim leaders usually work full-time (4-5 days per week) for a set period of time (i.e. 4-6 months) to bridge an ‘interim’ leadership gap. Fractional leaders work a fraction of the time for a fraction of the cost, usually working between 2–4 days per week on a rolling basis. As Interim & Fractional leaders flexibly work between both roles depending on the requirement, we consider them as one leadership solution.
We’ll help you define what you need and produce a detailed role brief with realistic goals. This goes beyond a job description, capturing the specific leader profile required and clear deliverables. Then we’ll produce a shortlist of suitable candidates (based on your needs, culture and leadership style) from our wide network of experienced Interim & Fractional commercial leaders. Finally, we’ll organise interviews to ensure there’s a cultural chemistry and expertise alignment from the outset.

At ScaleWise, all our Interim & Fractional leaders have scaled at least one company (Seed to Series C) in senior GTM roles, usually at VP or C-Suite level in sales, marketing, customer success, partnerships or revenue operations (RevOps). Many have worked with other scale-ups in Interim & Fractional roles too. As such, they’re adept at quickly diagnosing issues, prioritising solutions and having an immediate impact.

Instead of joining with a wide-ranging brief, Interim & Fractional leaders focus on pre-agreed objectives. During the engagement, they will implement and execute a pre-agreed plan, so it’s crucial to agree on these objectives, deadlines and KPIs beforehand. Interim & Fractional leaders can also help interview and onboard their permanent replacement, ensuring they hit the ground running.

For example, the five most common tasks for an Interim & Fractional VP of Sales include restructuring the sales process, devising a coherent commercial strategy with company-wide buy-in, improving sales team performance and advising on sales hires (i.e. SDRs, AEs or even their full-time replacement).

Unlike full-time hiring (which can take up to 6 months), Interim & Fractional leaders are placed within 1–4 weeks and can have an immediate impact. This short time frame is possible thanks to ScaleWise’s unrivalled network of GTM leaders and the idiosyncrasies of the Interim & Fractional model (i.e. they don’t need company-wide onboarding and can dive into pre-agreed tasks straight away).

ScaleWise’s matching process vastly minimises the risk of a bad partnership. However, if the Interim & Fractional leader is not working out, it’s easy to terminate the relationship as there’s no long-term contract (you take out a month-by-month contract with ScaleWise, not the leader).

At ScaleWise, we find the reverse is usually true. Companies either hire their Interim & Fractional leader full-time (this happens in 35% of cases at ScaleWise) or they decide they no longer need support in one area (i.e. sales) and want support in another area (i.e. marketing). With ScaleWise, moving from an Interim & Fractional sales leader to an Interim & Fractional marketing leader is simple.

Interim & Fractional leaders are not hands-off consultants, but highly-experienced commercial leaders who join with a clear mandate and instantly command respect from the team due to their previous experience. Employees respond well to their ‘external’ status as it doesn’t disrupt the internal team dynamic (and avoids office politics) and enables them to objectively make swift strategic decisions (not decisions based on bias or nostalgia).

 

However, it’s important for the leadership team to support the Interim & Fractional leader and make it clear to employees that they have the authority to make changes (it helps if an internal leader introduces an Interim & Fractional leader to all the key divisions within the business at the start).

Our Interim & Fractional leaders turn into permanent employees every 1 in 3 placements. If you’re looking for a leader that will eventually transition to full-time, it’s worth being upfront about this in the matching stage.

Interim & Fractional leaders placed through ScaleWise are contracted to ScaleWise, not your company. That means we can place them quickly and easily without you needing to negotiate payment terms or waste any time setting up contracts and billing relationships with lots of different leaders. It also makes it easier to change GTM support if required (i.e. using an Interim & Fractional Customer Success leader after working with an Interim & Fractional CMO).

Unlike a coach or a consultant, Interim & Fractional leaders are hands-on doers who get stuck in and get things done. At the outset, they will agree working schedules, practices and processes with you, including days of the week, communication channels, check-ins and access to the wider team.

 

For example, a leader might work part-time (i.e. three days’ work spread out across the week to ensure responsiveness to company needs) in a hybrid capacity for a few companies concurrently. No matter the working agreement, though, it’s crucial to schedule frequent catch-ups (i.e. one hour per week) to discuss updates, barriers and progress.

Interim & Fractional leaders are scaling professionals. To get roles, they need a strong catalogue of past successes, positive case studies of their previous Interim & Fractional work, and supportive references. As such, they always commit to the role whole-heartedly.

 

Yet, more importantly, they are motivated by enjoyment. They have often chosen a portfolio career as they love taking on new challenges and sharing their insights to help companies grow, so the more fulfilling the role, the more the Interim & Fractional leader will go above and beyond.

ScaleWise has supported the portfolio companies of top-tier investors​

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