The goal of this post is to answer the most common questions people have about hiring a fractional CRO:
What is (and isn’t) a fractional CRO?
How does a fractional CRO compare to an advisor or part-time CRO?
Advisor vs Fractional vs Part-time vs Full-time. Which option is best for me?
How early should a startup hire a fractional CRO?
What does a typical fractional CRO engagement involve?
How much does it cost to hire a fractional CRO?
How to hire me as your fractional CRO!
1. What is (and isn’t) a fractional CRO?
A fractional CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) is a go-to-market coach who helps early-stage sales and marketing leaders get to the root cause of their growth problems, provides specific and detailed direction on how to fix them, guides them through implementation and provides external accountability.
A fractional CRO is not a part-time member of the leadership team, or a part-time manager of the GTM team. Leading and managing are full time jobs that require full-time commitment, especially in a startup.
2. How does a fractional CRO compare to an advisor or part-time exec?
Startup CEOs have 4 options for executive help with GTM strategy and execution:
GTM Advisor
Fractional CRO
Part-time CRO
Full-time CRO
Here’s a breakdown of the scope of responsibilities you can expect from each option:
The main difference between a fractional CRO and an advisor is that a fractional CRO guides the GTM team through a structured engagement whereas an advisor provides point solution advice for specific problems.
The main difference between a fractional CRO and a part-time (or full-time CRO) is that a fractional CRO coaches the GTM team, whereas a part-time or full-time CRO also manages the GTM team.
The other key difference between a fractional CRO and a part-time CRO is that a fractional CRO is usually an independent contractor, whereas a part-time CRO has to be a company employee if they are going to manage company employees.
3. Advisor vs Fractional vs Part-time vs Full-time. Which option is best for my startup?
Choosing the right option for executive GTM help is a function of your company size and revenue growth rate. Fractional CRO and GTM Advisor roles are a good fit for early-stage companies, whereas part-time and full-time CRO roles generally only make strategic sense for later-stage companies with larger GTM teams and well over $5M annual revenue.
An advisor is a domain expert and is best for an early-stage startup where:
Annual revenue is <$5M.
Revenue growth is steady.
One or more of the founders are experienced GTM executives, having previously been the CMO, CRO or COO or having previously built and sold a company.
A fractional CRO is a go-to-market coach and is best for an early-stage startup where:
Annual revenue is <$5M.
Revenue growth is unpredictable or slow.
The founders are running the GTM but don’t have a lot of prior GTM experience, for example a founder from a technical or services background.
A full time CRO is best for a growth-stage startup (Series B+) where:
Annual revenue is >$5M.
Revenue growth is steady.
The GTM team has experienced leaders in sales, marketing and CS and the CEO is looking to build more predictability and enter new markets.
A part-time (or interim) CRO is a turnaround exec best for a late-stage startup (Series B+) where:
Annual revenue is >$5M.
Revenue growth has plateaued.
The GTM leadership team has turned over, usually after missing goals several times and the goal is to get the company in a position to sell for a non-fire-sale price.
4. How early should a startup should hire a fractional CRO?
You can get value out of hiring a fractional CRO as soon as you have a customer feedback loop, which typically happens once you have met with 40+ prospects or won 5+ customers.
This gives you enough data to refine your ideal customer profile, build a warm outreach strategy, improve your selling skills and start mapping out your customer journey.
What does a typical fractional CRO engagement with involve?
Timeline: This is a typical timeline for working with me as your fractional CRO:
Format: We typically meet live for an hour long working session every week or a 2 hour long session every two weeks. I provide an advance agenda for each session based on the milestones we trying to hit and we add whatever else that is top of mind for you. We work through the agenda during the session and I send you a recap of your follow ups after the session ends. and continue async over email or Slack in between sessions.
How much does a fractional CRO cost?
Here’s what you can expect to pay for each of the 4 options. Working with me typically costs $3,500-$6,500 per month, depending on the number of people on the team who need coaching.
Interested in hiring me as your fractional CRO?
I’m a 3x startup CRO and have coached 100+ startups over the past 10 years. Whatever early-stage GTM problems you are currently facing, I’ve probably worked through them a few times before and can guide you quickly to implement a solution.
My clients have said I am “the person who fixes the gaps in our GTM strategy”, “the person who tells us what we didn’t know”, “the person who gives us practical advice we can act on”, “the highest leverage hour of my week”. If that sounds like what you are looking for, I’d love to chat.
Examples of problems I can help you with:
Getting to the root cause of what isn’t working in your current GTM.
Tightening your ICP to focus on prospects who are likely to buy from you.
Writing messaging that engages your prospects with relevant insights.
Building a warm outreach program to connect more efficiently with your prospects.
Improving your customer-facing sales skills to build trust and credibility with prospects and win more deals.
Reducing your churn by training your CS team to demonstrate value and engage multiple stakeholders.
Generating more upsells by developing your CS team’s sales skills.
If you are interested in working with me, I’d love to hear from you! Please email me at arnie@therevenuearchitect.com or DM me on LinkedIn.
Thanks for sharing Arnav - this was incredibly informative. I wish there were similar resources for "fractional" roles in other functions. In your opinion, when is the earliest that a non-GTM-experienced founding team should bring in a fractional CRO?
So interesting to have your vision! Thanks for sharing!
Do you think this approach of Fractional CRO might be viable outside of the US? As in France the concept is quite new