What is a fractional CRO?

TL;DR its a sales and marketing coach

The goal of this post is to answer the most common questions people have about what a fractional CRO does. If you are an early-stage founder or sales leader interested in hiring me to coach you, please drop me a line at arnie@therevenuearchitect.com or DM me on LinkedIn.

1. What is (and isn’t) a fractional CRO?

2. How does a fractional CRO compare to an advisor or part-time CRO?

3. Advisor vs Fractional vs Part-time vs Full-time. Which option is best for me?

4. How early should a startup hire a fractional CRO?

5. What does a typical fractional CRO engagement involve?

6. How much does it cost to hire a fractional CRO?

7. 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 troubleshooting 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 people are full time jobs that require a 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:

1. GTM Advisor

2. Fractional CRO

3. Part-time CRO

4. 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 built and sold a company.

• A fractional CRO is a go-to-market coach and is best for an early-stage or bootstrapped startup where:

  • Annual revenue is <$5M.

  • Revenue growth is unpredictable or slow.

  • The founders are from technical or services backgrounds and don’t have much prior GTM experience.

• 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 leaders for the sales, marketing and CS departments 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 has turned over after missing goals several times, investors have taken control of the company and the goal is to rebuild and find an exit.

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.

5. What does a typical fractional CRO engagement with me involve? [Timeline + format]

Timeline: This is a typical timeline for working with me as your fractional CRO:

Format:

• We have a live working session once a week.

• I provide an agenda for each session based on the milestones we trying to hit and we add whatever else that is top of mind for you. The agenda will change from week to week based on our progress.

• We work through the agenda during the session and I send you a recap of your follow ups after the session ends to hold you accountable.

• We continue to work asynchronously over email in between sessions as needed, for example in reviewing your sales calls.

6. How much does it cost to hire a fractional CRO?

Working with me costs $3,500-$6,500 per month, depending on the number of people on the team who need coaching.

Here’s how that compares to the other options:

7. How to hire me as your fractional CRO

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.

I’m a 3x startup CRO and have coached 100+ startups to date. 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 described me as:

• “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, please get in touch at arnie@therevenuearchitect.com or DM me on LinkedIn.

Here are the types of problems I’ve helped my clients with:

• 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 motion to connect more efficiently with your prospects.

• Improving your discovery skills to build trust and credibility in your first meetings.

• Building and maintaining deal momentum to get deals across the finish line.

• Improving your demoing skills to get people excited about using your product.

• Improving your proposal and negotiation deals to get through procurement.

• Overcoming buyer objections around doing business with an early-stage startup.

• Improving your account management skills to reduce churn and generate upsells.