Startup CXO

Chapter 131Fractional Chief Product/Technology Officer

Drew Dillon

Getting Started in a Fractional Product Role

A lot of people in Product have a random resume where it's a little bit of sales, a little bit of engineering, a little bit of design, and then all of sudden you're in Product because if you average all those together you've basically defined “product.” When I first spoke with CEOs I was often the first person that the CEO had ever met who did a product fractional job. They really had no idea what I did or how they could work with me; I was just a person that their VC told them they needed to talk to. For product and technology roles there are two hurdles to overcome because you have to sell your role and then sell yourself on top of it. The term “fractional” changed all that and takes a lot of guesswork off the table. Maybe a company doesn't need me five days a week, maybe just a couple of days a week. I'll come in, we'll work together, and maybe it will be a full‐time gig, or maybe we'll get to this good spot, and I'll help them find a full‐time leader.

I would suggest anyone considering a fractional role to not leave their full‐time job until they at least have a couple of people interested in hiring them. Making fractional work sustainable is less about the first round of leads and it's really about the next round. So, planning for that period when that first set of contracts ends you need to be able to answer the question, how are you going to get that next set ...