Fractional CMO for startups.
Growth partner for serious teams.
I work with early and mid-stage startups that have a small marketing team—and need senior direction without hiring a full-time CMO.
I help early-to-mid stage startups build marketing that’s repeatable—clear positioning, clean funnels, disciplined experiments, and a team that knows what to do on Monday morning.
I’m also the Co-founder at GainScale, where we lead growth strategy and execution for D2C and marketplace brands.
What I Do
Fractional CMO / Marketing Consultant
Clear strategy, team guidance, and execution discipline—without the full-time cost.
Growth Marketing Agency (GainScale)
Full-funnel growth for D2C + marketplaces: acquisition, conversion, retention, analytics.
Fractional CMO / Marketing Consultant
Clear strategy, team guidance, and execution discipline—without the full-time cost.
Growth Marketing Agency (GainScale)
Full-funnel growth for D2C + marketplaces: acquisition, conversion, retention, analytics.
About Pushkar
I’m a marketing leader and consultant. I’ve worked across growth, brand, and analytics—inside fast-moving companies and with large brands.
Most teams don’t need more marketing. They need clear priorities, clean measurement, and consistent execution.
15+ years across brand, media, content, and research-led marketing.
Worked with brands like Coca-Cola, Carlsberg, McDonald’s, Vodafone, L’Oréal, Netflix, Cadbury, Vedantu, Scaler (and more)
What I believe
“More channels” is not a strategy. The funnel has to work first.
If positioning is vague, CAC becomes expensive.
Data doesn’t replace judgment—but it should keep us honest.
Consistency beats intensity. A good weekly cadence compounds.
What I’ve done
Co-founder, GainScale
Lead growth strategy for D2C + marketplace brands; delivered 4x–6x growth, ~3x efficiency, and scaled to 30 Cr+ ARR.
Built and executed full-funnel acquisition strategies, aligning paid media, content, and retention.
In Ed-Tech
Managed marketing budget of over 100Cr annually. Built and improved organic funnel; managed brand spends, budget allocation, and measurement; led brand research & analytics projects. Led early-stage category strategy, positioning, and launch readiness.
In Media Planning & Buying
Led media planning & buying for ₹3,000+ Cr in spends (ATL,Digital & BTL), driving insight-led strategy, advanced analytics, data tools, and optimization across regions, categories, and large client portfolios.
In Marketing Analytics & Research
Led end-to-end marketing research and analytics, driving media optimization through modelling and simulations, managing teams and clients, ensuring delivery quality, and building profitable research solutions.
What I’m known for
- Building a practical growth strategy that the team can actually execute
- Full-funnel thinking: from message → traffic → conversion → retention
- Balancing creativity with discipline (brand + performance)
- Bringing structure to marketing teams that are busy, small, and stretched
Where I’m most useful
When the company is growing, marketing is busy, and things are starting to get messy—channels, teams, budgets, and metrics pulling in different directions. That’s usually where I step in and bring clarity.
How I work
Two clear tracks—depending on what you’re trying to achieve.
Fractional CMO / Marketing Consultant
Best for: Early and mid-stage startups with a small team that needs senior leadership—without the full-time hiring cost.
What you get
- Strategy that fits your stage: ICP, positioning, channel focus, budget logic
- A weekly operating model: priorities, experiments, review cadence, decision-making
- Team leadership: coaching, role clarity, hiring support when needed
- Full-funnel ownership: acquisition → conversion → retention loops
- Measurement you can trust: simple dashboards, clean definitions, fewer vanity metrics
Engagement options
- Advisor Mode: weekly call + async reviews
- Hands-on Lead Mode: I drive the plan and lead execution with your team
- Sprint Mode (4–6 weeks): solve one bottleneck (CAC, conversion, retention, marketplace scale)
What I won’t promise
No “magic frameworks.” If we can’t measure it, we won’t pretend it’s working.
GainScale's Growth Marketing Services
Best for: Mid to Large companies that want strong execution and accountability—without building every capability in-house
Where we help most
- D2C Growth Systems: full-funnel acquisition + CRO + retention
- Marketplace Growth: catalog/listing hygiene, efficiency, scale, operating model
- Marketing Analytics & BI: dashboards, insight mining, performance diagnosis
- Brand + Performance Alignment: so creative and media aren’t fighting each other
- Lead Generation: demand capture, lead quality improvement, nurturing, and sales-ready pipeline growth.
What “done well” looks like
A clear plan, owners, weekly reviews, and documented learnings—so performance improves over time, not just this month.
Portfolio
Let’s talk
Whether you are exploring a fractional marketing lead, or you want to discuss a GainScale project, fill the form here and I will get in touch.
pushkar.karn@gainscale.co
9902-911-988
DM on LinkedIn
Pushkar Karn