Steven Michael Fies

Steven Michael Fies - Fractional CMO/CTO

Steven Fies is a fractional executive, technologist, and business strategist who helps growth-stage companies lead their marketing, technology, and operations. He operates as a fractional CMO/CTO – not just advising, but building and executing alongside his clients.

His flagship engagement, Kitay Law Offices, grew from $1M to $7M in annual revenue over five years under his strategic leadership – he currently manages their $1M+ annual marketing budget across SEO, PPC, branding, media, and technology. He built and manages the branded merchandise program for Arrive Logistics ($1M+ in orders to date, 2,000 employees, $2B/yr revenue). Other notable results include a full rebrand for Tammy Lally that landed on the front page of TED.com (2M+ views), and a digital marketing engagement with DermResearch that grew their email list to 15,000+ subscribers before a successful acquisition by Vial Health Technology.

How he got here

Steve’s path to executive advisory wasn’t traditional – it was built by doing every layer of the work himself, for over two decades.

He started coding at ten, launched his first tech consulting business at thirteen, and was managing web servers across four school campuses by seventh grade. He graduated from UC San Diego in 2008 with a B.S. in Management Science (Economics & Business), with honors – where he set the curve in his marketing class and worked as an Economics TA.

After college, he entered the branded merchandise industry as a project manager, directing eCommerce operations and building multi-million-dollar web store programs for clients like Makita Power Tools. In 2015, he founded S.MICHAEL Creative Branding – initially as a freelance web design and branded merchandise operation.

Over the next decade, the business evolved. As his clients grew, so did his role. Single projects became retainers. Retainers became strategic partnerships. Web design became digital marketing became marketing strategy became full executive oversight. By 2022, the business crossed $1M in revenue. Today, his work centers on fractional leadership, AI implementation, and business automation – the natural result of a career spent solving every kind of problem a growing company faces.

He also founded ThinkPlanLaunch, a human capital consulting practice focused on hiring, onboarding, and team development using behavioral assessment tools.

Notable

  • #4 bestselling author in Business & Money on Amazon.com (2016) – surpassed Donald Trump during his first presidential campaign
  • Selected by NASA as 1 of 50 social media influencers to cover an ATLAS V rocket launch (2017)
  • Instructor at General Assembly (branding, marketing, technology workshops)
  • Co-founded Bassics recording studio in San Diego (2012)
  • Licensed ASI distributor with access to 1M+ promotional products
  • Supported 100+ clients; 99.7% order success rate

Personal

Steve is a husband and father based in Raleigh, NC. Outside of work, he plays guitar and chess, builds things in his woodshop, and takes his jet ski out on the lake.

Social

Want to connect? Find Steve on LinkedIn