Fractional CPO
Pro CPO, pro-rata
Do you need senior product-centric leadership, but aren’t ready to add to your executive team on a full time permanent basis? Perhaps you’re looking for someone to build a Product function in your business? Or do you need an experienced Chief Product Officer to help your team, and organisation, become truly product-led?
A fractional Chief Product Officer might be the right fit.
What is a fractional CPO?
A fractional Chief Product Officer (CPO) is an experienced leader you hire on a part time basis, as a trusted advisor, to bring strategic advice, proven experience, and a ‘been there, done that’ toolkit and skillset.
How does hiring a fractional Chief Product Officer work?
I become a proper part of your senior team, without you having to commit to a full time permanent hire. I usually work with fractional clients two to three days per week for at least six months. This gives enough time for us to build, change, pivot, or focus together - whatever your brief is.
What can a fractional CPO do?
When I work as a fractional CPO I’m in ‘advisory mode’ and will work on strategic planning first and foremost. Everything from product vision, product strategy, and product market fit (PMF) to creating a whole new Product function, developing high performing Product teams, or planning product go to market (GTM).
What do fractional CPOs not do?
There are no hard and fast rules about what fractional CPOs won’t work on. Most however, because of the nature of being fractional, don’t take on line management responsibility / people management. Coaching, mentoring, and developing people is a very common part of my role though.
When you’re creating a whole new Product team and / or your company’s first ever Product function
When you are restructuring your team, changing strategy, or pivoting - I bring focus and clarity
When you need a fresh product-anchored perspective on core strategy, especially when seeking growth
When your company is starting (or needs to start!) its journey to becoming truly product-led
When you’re starting something new and want / need to deliver real impact at an early stage
When you need to move at pace and / or covertly in order to leverage a competitive advantage you’ve identified
When you don’t have the CPO skillset in house and aren’t ready, or can’t budget, to hire one full time yet
When I add value as a fractional Chief Product Officer
If you’re not quite ready to get started yet, it’s usually best to wait until you are - fractional leaders will hit the ground running
If your people aren’t change-ready yet (or, worse, entirely opposed to change), as a good fractional CPO will come in and drive change
If you need a full time CPO to build long term buy-in, drive long term change, or provide long term longevity it’s probably better you hire a permanent Chief Product Officer in the first place
When you need ‘slowly slowly’ or ‘softly softly’ - it’s not usually the modus operandi for a good fractional CPO used to, instead, moving at pace and making tough decisions in order to deliver results
When a fractional CPO might not actually be what you need
Let’s talk
Do you have a challenge I could support you on? I’d love to chat about potential solutions and am happy to offer a free initial consultation.