Fractional VP of Sales
Fractional VP of Sales
I step in as your VP of Sales — building the team, the playbook and the pipeline discipline that turns founder-led selling into a repeatable machine.
Who this is for
If one of these sounds like your company, this engagement will pay for itself.
Founder-led sales has stalled
You closed the first customers yourself, but you are now the bottleneck. Every deal needs you in the room and revenue flatlines the week you are heads-down on product or fundraising.
Your first sales hire didn't work out
You hired an AE or a 'head of sales' without a playbook, quota model or onboarding, and it failed expensively. You need someone who can diagnose what went wrong before you hire again.
You have reps but no system
Two or three sellers, no forecast you trust, no consistent discovery process, and pipeline that swings wildly month to month. The team needs management, not more leads.
You need to hire sellers and can't judge them
Sales interviews are easy to pass and hard to score. I run the scorecard, the interview loop and the ramp plan so your next hire is a hire, not a lottery ticket.
What you get
A concrete plan for the first 90 days — not a slide deck and a retainer.
Days 1–30
Diagnose and stabilize
- Ride along on live deals and listen to recorded calls to see how selling actually happens today
- Audit the CRM, pipeline hygiene and every open opportunity for real vs. wishful stage
- Define the ICP and disqualification criteria so reps stop burning weeks on bad fits
- Rebuild the forecast from the bottom up so you know what is truly closing this quarter
Days 31–60
Install the playbook
- Write the discovery framework, objection handling and demo structure the team runs every time
- Set the outbound motion: target lists, sequences, channels and daily activity standards
- Put quotas, comp and stage definitions in place so performance is measurable, not anecdotal
- Start a weekly pipeline review and 1:1 cadence that I run until your team can run it
Days 61–90
Hire, coach and hand over
- Run the hiring loop for AEs or SDRs: scorecards, sourcing, interview panel and ramp plan
- Coach existing reps on live deals weekly with documented feedback
- Document the whole system so it survives my exit
- Recruit or promote the permanent sales leader and transition them in
How it works
Engagement model, duration, and how this compares to a full-time hire.
Part-time, embedded, not advisory
I work inside your company — in your CRM, on your calls, in your Slack and in your sales meetings. This is a management role delivered part-time, not a monthly strategy call.
Typical duration: two to three quarters
Long enough to install a playbook, hire and ramp reps, and prove the motion works. Short enough that you are not paying executive salary for a job that should end with a handover.
How it differs from a full-time VP of Sales
A full-time VP is a long search, a large base salary, equity and real risk if the profile is wrong for your stage. A fractional VP starts in days, costs a fraction of that load, and if the fit is wrong you find out in weeks. You also get someone who has run sales at multiple companies rather than one.
You get a leader, not a closer
I will sell alongside your team to prove the playbook works, but the goal is a team that outperforms me. Success is your reps hitting quota without me on the call.
Engagement & Investment
Fractional VP of Sales work is billed at $250–350 per hour, depending on scope — whether hiring, ramping and day-to-day team management are all inside the engagement.
A full-time VP of Sales costs $200K–350K+ in base salary before equity, bonus, benefits, payroll taxes and recruiter fees, and takes months to source and ramp. Here you pay only for the hours that build pipeline and close deals, with no severance risk if the fit is wrong.
Hours flex with the phase of work: heavier during a team build-out or hiring push, lighter once the playbook is running and reps are hitting quota. Scope is agreed upfront so there are no surprise invoices.
Why Adam
An operator who has built and sold the thing, not a consultant who read about it.
- Serial entrepreneur with three exits across the US, Europe and Asia
- $20m+ in revenue built across companies I founded and operated
- Hired and trained 1,600+ people, including sales teams built from zero
- Recruited and managed talent across 40+ countries
- Featured by CBS News, Forbes Business Council and CEO Weekly
- Built Gold Jobs, a sales training and recruiting agency in Europe — later acquired
Frequently asked questions
What does a fractional VP of Sales do?
A fractional VP of Sales runs your sales function part-time: setting the strategy and quota model, building the playbook, hiring and coaching reps, managing pipeline and forecasting, and reporting revenue to the founder or board. It is the same job as a full-time VP of Sales, delivered on a defined number of days per month for a defined period.
How much does a fractional VP of Sales cost?
Engagements run $250–350 per hour depending on scope — how many days a month, whether recruiting and onboarding reps are included, and how large the existing team is. Set that against a full-time VP of Sales: $200K–350K+ in base salary alone, before equity, bonus, benefits, payroll taxes, a recruiting fee that is often 20–30% of first-year comp, and the ramp before they influence a single deal. Fractional means you pay only for the hours that actually move pipeline and revenue, and if the fit is wrong you stop — no severance, no unwind. The load flexes with the work: more hours while the team is being hired and the playbook written, fewer once reps are ramped and the cadence holds. Scope is agreed upfront, so there are no surprise invoices. Book a free consultation and we will scope it against your team and number.
When should a startup hire a fractional sales leader instead of a full-time VP?
When you have product-market fit signals and paying customers but not yet a repeatable process. At that stage a full-time VP is expensive, hard to attract and easy to hire wrong. A fractional leader builds the system first, so the eventual full-time hire inherits a working machine and is much easier to evaluate.
How is a fractional VP of Sales different from a sales consultant?
A consultant recommends. A fractional VP owns the number. I sit in your pipeline reviews, manage your reps, run your hiring loop and carry accountability for the forecast — the deliverable is revenue and a functioning team, not a report.
Will you hire my sales team for me?
Yes. Scorecards, sourcing, interview loop, reference checks and the 30-60-90 ramp plan are part of the engagement. Recruiting is what I have done at scale across 40+ countries, so hiring is not an add-on for me.
What happens at the end of the engagement?
You keep the playbook, the CRM structure, the comp and quota model, the hiring scorecards and the meeting cadence — all documented. Where you want a permanent leader, I help recruit and onboard them before I step out.
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Read moreReady to stop being your own VP of Sales?
Thirty minutes, no pitch deck. We will look at your pipeline, your team and your numbers, and I will tell you honestly whether a fractional VP of Sales is what you need.
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