A full-time GTM Engineer (€110K all-in/year). An agency engagement (€30-80K for 3 months). A fractional/interim partner (€3-7K/month). DIY with your current team. Which choice fits which stage, and what's the real ROI of each option?
The question "how do we do this" comes one step after "should we do this." And it's not binary. Four options, each with its own profile, costs, risks, and ROI timeline. In this article the complete decision framework.
This is part of our GTM Engineering series. For context read What is GTM Engineering? and Hiring your first GTM Engineer.
The four options: an overview
| Option | Annual cost (NL) | ROI window | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time hire | €95K-€140K | 6-12 months | High (mishire = 9 mo loss) |
| Interim/fractional | €36K-€84K | 2-4 months | Low |
| Agency project | €30K-€80K one-time | 3-6 months | Medium (knowledge stays external) |
| DIY (internal team) | "Free" (time) | 12-24 months | Very high (often fails) |
Option 1: Full-time hire
What it is: A GTM Engineer on payroll, full-time, part of your team.
When yes:
- You have $5M+ ARR;
- You have a sales team of 5+ and marketing team of 3+;
- You have budget for 18-24 months runway for this hire;
- There's a leadership sponsor who takes GTM Engineering seriously;
- You already have a baseline RevOps foundation.
When no:
- You're pre-PMF;
- You don't yet know which GTM systems you need;
- You have no onboarding capacity (too busy).
The math: A mid-level GTM Engineer in NL costs €75K-€95K all-in. Senior €95K-€125K. Plus tooling budget (€15-25K/year for Clay + providers + sequencer). Plus equity or bonus. Total: €110-150K per year for mid, €140-180K for senior.
The big risk: mishire. Per hiring research, 30-40% of GTM Engineering hires don't survive year one. Reason: role ambiguity, lack of sponsor, or skill mismatch. A mishire costs you 9-12 months plus opportunity cost. Read Hiring your first GTM Engineer for the mitigating hiring process.
ROI window: realistically 6-12 months before the hire has built the system delivering a team-equivalent of output.
Option 2: Interim / fractional GTM Engineer
What it is: An experienced GTM Engineer or GTM lead working 1-2 days per week, often for 3-6 months. No employment, no long agreement.
When yes:
- You have €1M-€10M ARR;
- You know you need GTM Engineering but not which systems are priority;
- You want to lay a foundation before doing a full-time hire;
- You have no RevOps or GTM Engineer currently.
When no:
- You have one specific, defined project (better agency then);
- You already have a good RevOps team and want operational scaling (better hire).
The math: Senior fractional GTM Engineers in NL/BE typically charge €800-€1,500 per day. A 4-month engagement, 1 day/week, costs €13-25K for the fractional + tooling. At 2 days/week: €26-50K.
The strength: Senior expertise without full-time commit. The fractional brings patterns from other companies, avoids beginner mistakes, delivers in 3 months the infrastructure a new hire would build in 12.
The weakness: The fractional isn't always there. For projects with time pressure or operational continuity that's a problem.
The ideal outcome: the fractional builds the foundation in 3-6 months, then you onboard an internal mid-level hire taking over. Senior expertise for setup, junior cost for maintenance. For most scale-ups this is the most capital-efficient route.
This is what I do for most of my clients. Read more about how I fill this in.
Option 3: Agency project
What it is: A specialized agency delivers a defined project — often in 3-6 months. Defined output, fixed price (or fixed timeframe), clear scope.
When yes:
- You have a defined project: HubSpot implementation, building a complete enrichment stack, setting up an AI agent suite;
- You have an internal team that can maintain after delivery;
- You value speed and certainty over cheapness.
When no:
- You want continuity and ongoing optimization;
- You have no team to maintain after delivery;
- Your goal is "culturally rooting" GTM Engineering in your organization.
The math: A typical GTM Engineering project at a specialized agency costs €30-80K for 3-6 months, depending on scope. HubSpot implementations via a partner like Pack of Nodes — my second brand — typically fall in €25-60K for a complete setup.
The strength: speed and certainty. A good agency delivers in 3 months what a new internal hire would do in 9.
The weakness: knowledge disappears after delivery. Unless you have someone internally to handle the handover well, you build infrastructure you don't understand.
The ideal outcome: agency for build phase, internal hire for run phase. I often combine this myself: I do strategy and governance, Pack of Nodes does pure HubSpot implementation, and the client has one internal RevOps person for maintenance.
Option 4: DIY (internal team)
What it is: Existing employees learn GTM Engineering on the job. Often: a RevOps employee, an SDR with technical affinity, or the CTO in their free hours.
When yes:
- You have an internal employee with truly available time (not "needs to fit it in");
- You have 12-18 months runway to absorb the learning curve;
- You accept that the first 6 months deliver little.
When no (90% of cases):
- Your sales VP says "our RevOps can do this on the side" — almost always unachievable;
- Your CTO "has interest" — product development inevitably slows;
- You have time pressure from board or VC.
The math: No direct cost seems attractive. But opportunity cost is high: 12-18 months where your systems are underdeveloped relative to competitors who do invest. For a typical scale-up: €500K-€1M in missed pipeline.
The reality: In 80% of DIY projects I see, one of two things happens. Either the project crumbles after 3 months because the employee is overloaded. Or the employee builds something technically working but functionally misaligned, because pattern knowledge is missing. Both lead to 6-9 months of loss.
When it does work: if your internal employee has an experienced mentor or fractional consultant available. Coaching + DIY works; pure DIY rarely.
The hybrid model that works most
In my practice I see the most effective route for scale-ups (€2-15M ARR) is a hybrid:
- Months 1-4: Fractional GTM Engineer (1-2 days/week) lays the foundation: ICP, CRM architecture, enrichment, first plays.
- Months 3-5 (parallel): Specific agency projects where needed (e.g., HubSpot implementation via Pack of Nodes).
- Months 4-5: Hire mid-level GTM Engineer or senior RevOps employee.
- Months 5-9: Fractional + internal hire work together on knowledge transfer.
- Months 9+: Internal hire takes over. Fractional comes 1 day/month for strategy and optimization.
Cost over 12 months: ~€25-40K fractional + €30-60K possible agency + €80-110K hire from month 5 = €135-210K. Sounds like a lot, but in 12 months delivers a complete, staffed, running GTM machine — instead of a hire who has to figure it out alone in 18 months.
The three scenarios per company stage
My direct recommendation per stage.
Pre-seed / Seed (<€1M ARR): No full-time GTM Engineer. Founders + 1 fractional consultant for 1 day/month for strategy and critical builds. Do most yourself. Read GTM Engineering for early-stage startups.
Series A / Early scale (€1-5M ARR): Hybrid. 1-2 days/week fractional for 4-6 months to lay the foundation. Then mid-level hire takes over.
Late Series A / Series B (€5-15M ARR): Full-time hire (senior or mid-level) + fractional for strategy (1 day/month). Optional agency for defined projects.
Series C+ (€15M+ ARR): Internal team of 2-4 people. Fractional/agency for specific hard projects (M&A integration, international expansion, AI implementations).
How to choose a good fractional or agency?
Three criteria that make the difference when picking an external partner.
1. Comparable company stage experience. A fractional who only did enterprise doesn't understand how seed works. An agency only serving seed-stage misses depth. Ask for 3 reference customers in comparable stage.
2. Tool-neutral. Avoid partners who always prescribe the same tool regardless of context. A good partner asks questions first, prescribes after. If the first question is "are you using Clay already?" instead of "what are you trying to solve?": red flag.
3. Handover plan. How does the partner ensure your team can continue after the engagement? Documentation, training, knowledge transfer sessions, handover period? If this isn't explicitly part of the proposal, ask for it. A partner wanting to make you dependent doesn't deliver long-term ROI.
The choice no one makes: don't do it
Honest last option: don't do GTM Engineering. For a seed startup with strong product-market fit, organized founder-led sales, and a hyper-focused niche it may make sense to postpone GTM Engineering to post Series A.
Not every company needs it at every moment. What they all do need: awareness of what it is, a plan for when they'll do it, and clarity on which option fits their stage.
Whether you choose hire, fractional, agency, or DIY — the worst choice is making no choice and letting it happen undefined. Then the "our CTO secretly does it on weekends and RevOps tries to keep up" scenario emerges. Rarely works. Read also Prerequisites before starting for the checklist.