Madison may have more health technology talent per person than any city its size. Epic Systems, a few miles away in Verona, builds the medical records software used by most large health systems in the country and employs more than ten thousand people. Exact Sciences makes the Cologuard cancer test here, Promega supplies laboratories from Fitchburg, and the University of Wisconsin feeds a steady stream of spinouts through WARF, its patent office since 1925. Most of these companies share one hard problem: their customer is a hospital, and a hospital never buys alone.
A fractional CMO in Madison costs about $3,000 to $13,000 per month for part-time senior marketing leadership, compared with $180,000 to $290,000 a year in total pay for a full-time CMO. Typical clients earn $2M to $60M and sell software, tests, or services to health systems and labs.
| Member | What they need to see | Common objection |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical champion | Better outcomes and less wasted time | Another tool for staff to learn |
| IT and security | Integration with the records system, a security review | Risk and workload for their team |
| Finance | Payback period and budget fit | No line item this year |
| Procurement and legal | Contract terms, references, vendor paperwork | Months of review |
Many Madison startups win an enthusiastic doctor or lab director, run a pilot, and then wait a year. The champion believed, but nobody gave them what the rest of the committee needed: a security packet, an integration plan, a payback model, and references from a similar health system. Marketing for this kind of sale is less about awareness and more about arming the internal champion with every answer before the questions are asked.
Former Epic staff have started many local companies, and they know how health systems work. Their buyers still ask the same first question: will it work with the records system we already run? Being listed in Epic's Showroom marketplace, having a documented integration, and showing live sites that use it often matters more than any feature. A clear integration page and a short technical brief can save months.
Companies that sell reagents, instruments, or tests face a different committee: lab directors, purchasing, and sometimes payers who decide whether a test is reimbursed. University spinouts often start with strong data and no commercial story. The early work turns publications into a plain statement of what a lab or patient gains and picks the first customer segment carefully.
| Option | Typical cost | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Fractional CMO | $3,000 to $13,000/mo | A health or lab company selling to institutions |
| Full-time CMO (total comp) | $180,000 to $290,000/yr | A funded company with a team to lead |
| Committee sales kit | $3,000 to $7,500 | Pilots that do not turn into contracts |
The fractional CMO cost guide covers pricing in more depth. Statewide context is on the Wisconsin page.
Engagements run mostly remote, with on-site days in Madison, Verona, Middleton, Fitchburg, Sun Prairie, Waunakee, and Monona. Related markets appear on the Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Chicago pages.
Most Madison engagements run $3,000 to $13,000 a month, depending on hours and scope. A full-time CMO in the area costs about $180,000 to $290,000 a year with bonus and benefits. Health technology companies often begin with a $3,000 to $7,500 committee sales kit, then continue monthly to build the content, references, and outreach that move pilots to contracts.
Usually because only one person on the buying committee was convinced. Hospitals need IT, security, finance, procurement, and clinical leaders to agree. If the vendor has not supplied a security packet, an integration plan, a payback model, and references, the champion cannot answer their colleagues, and the decision is delayed until the next budget cycle or dropped.
Yes. Founders who came from Epic understand health systems well, which helps. The marketing work focuses on what their buyers still need to see: proof that the product integrates with the records system, live customer sites, a plain case for return on investment, and material the internal champion can share with the rest of the committee.
Yes. Spinouts usually have strong science and no commercial story yet. The engagement turns research results into a clear statement of what a buyer gains, chooses the first segment where the need is sharpest, and builds a short list of target labs or health systems, so a small team spends its time on the accounts most likely to buy.
MarkCMO provides the strategy and the roadmap, and then delivers it across three tiers, so you get direction and execution from one team instead of handing a deck to someone else to build.
Fractional CMO and COO leadership: strategy, positioning, go-to-market, and the roadmap that sets the direction.
Running the function day to day: managing teams, vendors, budgets, and the operating cadence that keeps the plan on track.
Hands-on delivery: marketing execution, software development, tech-stack build and integration, plus finance and operations support, everything a business needs to scale.
From tech to marketing to finance, strategy through execution, MarkCMO can lead it, manage it, and build it.
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