Fractional Chief Revenue Officer
Fractional CRO (Chief Revenue Officer)
Executive ownership of your entire revenue engine — sales, marketing, partnerships and retention — reporting to you and your board, without a full-time C-suite hire.
Who this is for
If one of these sounds like your company, this engagement will pay for itself.
You raised a round and owe the board a revenue plan
Investors funded a growth thesis. You need someone at the executive table who can build the revenue model, defend it in a board meeting and then actually deliver against it.
Sales and marketing are fighting instead of compounding
Marketing reports MQLs, sales says leads are junk, and nobody owns the number end to end. A CRO puts one person over the whole funnel with one definition of success.
Revenue is growing but unpredictably
You are past first traction and into seven figures, but forecasting is guesswork, churn is unexamined and pricing has never been revisited. That is a revenue architecture problem, not a rep problem.
You need a CRO but can't justify the salary yet
The role is right, the comp package is not. A fractional CRO gives you executive-grade decisions now and lets you hire permanently once the model is proven.
What you get
A concrete plan for the first 90 days — not a slide deck and a retainer.
Days 1–30
Revenue diagnostic
- Map the full funnel from first touch to renewal and find where revenue actually leaks
- Review unit economics: CAC, payback period, ACV, win rate, churn and expansion
- Interview sales, marketing, CS and your top and lost customers
- Deliver a board-ready diagnostic with the three moves that matter most this year
Days 31–60
Build the revenue architecture
- Align sales, marketing and CS under one funnel model with shared definitions and targets
- Rebuild the revenue plan: segments, pricing, quota capacity and headcount to hit the number
- Set the operating cadence — weekly forecast, monthly business review, quarterly planning
- Fix the reporting stack so one dashboard tells the truth about revenue
Days 61–90
Execute and report
- Run the revenue org day to day, including managing sales and marketing leads
- Reset comp plans and territories against the new model
- Own the board-level revenue narrative and reporting
- Define the permanent CRO or VP profile and start the search when the model is proven
How it works
Engagement model, duration, and how this compares to a full-time hire.
Executive scope, part-time load
This is a seat on your leadership team. I make revenue decisions, manage the leaders under the function, and answer for the number in board and investor conversations.
Typical duration: six to twelve months
Revenue architecture takes longer than a sales playbook because it spans pricing, marketing, sales and retention. Most engagements run two to four quarters with a defined handover point.
How it differs from hiring a full-time CRO
A full-time CRO is one of the most expensive and highest-risk hires a company makes: long search, heavy base plus variable, meaningful equity, and a year lost if the profile is wrong for your stage. Fractional gives you the same decision quality in weeks, at part-time cost, with an exit ramp that does not require a severance conversation.
Scope wider than sales
If you only need the sales team built and managed, a fractional VP of Sales is the cheaper, sharper answer. Choose a CRO when marketing, pricing and retention need to be owned by the same person as sales.
Engagement & Investment
Fractional CRO engagements run at $250–350 per hour, depending on the breadth of ownership and how deep into the revenue org the work goes.
Compare that to a full-time CRO at $200K–350K+ in base salary alone — before equity, bonus, benefits, payroll taxes, search fees and a two-quarter ramp. Fractional means you fund executive judgement by the hour, not a fixed cost centre, and there is no severance conversation if the fit is wrong.
Load is flexible: a few hours a week once the model is running, considerably more during a turnaround or a board-driven reset. Scope and hours are agreed upfront, so invoices never surprise you.
Why Adam
An operator who has built and sold the thing, not a consultant who read about it.
- Three exits as a founder — I have carried the revenue number, not just advised on it
- $20m+ in revenue built across the companies I founded and operated
- Built and sold companies across the US, Europe and Asia
- Hired and trained 1,600+ people across 40+ countries
- Featured by CBS News, Forbes Business Council, CEO Weekly and Digital Journal
- Currently building Jackson Square Company, a holding company and venture portfolio
Frequently asked questions
What does a fractional CRO do?
A fractional Chief Revenue Officer owns every function that touches revenue — sales, marketing, partnerships and customer retention — on a part-time basis. That means setting the revenue plan and pricing, aligning the funnel end to end, managing the leaders of each function, running the forecast, and reporting revenue to the founder and board.
What is the difference between a fractional CRO and a fractional VP of Sales?
A fractional VP of Sales builds and runs the sales team. A fractional CRO owns the entire revenue system, including marketing, pricing and retention, and typically manages the sales leader. If your problem is pipeline execution, start with a VP of Sales. If your problem spans the whole funnel and needs a voice at the exec table, you need a CRO.
How much does a fractional CRO cost?
The rate is $250–350 per hour, set by scope and how much of the revenue org sits under the engagement. Weigh that against a full-time Chief Revenue Officer, who typically commands $200K–350K+ in base salary before equity, bonus, benefits, payroll taxes and executive search fees — and before the two quarters most CROs need to ramp. Fractional buys the same executive decision-making without carrying a permanent exec line on the P&L, and without severance exposure if the profile turns out to be wrong for your stage. Engagements flex with the work: light-touch hours once the revenue plan is running, heavier during a reset or a board-facing quarter, with scope agreed before anything starts so there are no surprise invoices. Book a free consultation and we will scope the engagement together.
When should a company hire a fractional chief revenue officer?
Typically post-product-market-fit and post-raise, when revenue exists but is not yet predictable and multiple go-to-market functions need to be coordinated by one accountable executive. Earlier than that, a CRO is over-scoped for the problem.
Do you work with the board and investors?
Yes. Board reporting, revenue narrative and the forecast investors see are part of the role. Having founded and sold companies myself, I have been on the other side of those conversations.
How does the engagement end?
With a documented revenue model, an operating cadence your team runs on its own, and — when you want one — a permanent CRO or VP of Sales recruited and onboarded before I step out.
Related services
Get an executive on your revenue number
Bring your funnel, your forecast and your board deck. In thirty minutes I will tell you where the revenue is leaking and whether a fractional CRO is the right fix.
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