The Fractional CRO Fix: A Temporary Solution or Another Trap?

Hiring the wrong go-to-market leader is one of the most expensive mistakes a startup can make. I’ve written extensively about it, the “Superhero CRO” myth, the misalignments of timing, expectations, and profile.

The economic risk is immense. For an early-stage company, a senior GTM hire represents hundreds of thousands of euros in direct and opportunity cost.

When this critical hire fails, a shockingly common outcome, the consequences are severe: founder dreams are put at risk, valuations drop, and boards often enter a “circle of hell,” cycling through one failed VP after another.

So, it’s not surprising that many founders turned to a new model: the fractional CRO.

It promises:

• A lower-commitment way to get senior leadership.
• A flexible way to de-risk a critical hire.
• A tactical fix for strategic pain.

I was one of the first in Europe to embrace this model back in 2018. I ran full-stack GTM engagements for companies like Tiendeo and Wide Eyes, helping them scale and reach successful exits.

I wasn’t an advisor or a consultant. I was a fractional revenue leader, in the trenches.

Over time, after nearly seven years of seeing the model evolve, and seeing its cracks, here’s what I now believe: the classic fractional model is a temporary fix, not a durable strategy.

It was born as a reaction to a problem. Yet, it often creates a new set of challenges.

Let me explain why.

The Fractional Leader’s Dilemma: The Illusion of Impact

The idea behind the fractional model is solid:

“Let’s get an experienced operator to lead GTM for 1-2 days a week. We save cash and stay flexible.”

But here’s the truth nobody tells you: you can’t drive deep transformation in 1-2 days a week.

You often operate without real authority, missing critical context, and are too stretched to go deep into people, process, and culture. As a result, you become an expensive “doer” rather than a true transformer.

For the leader, it can become a comfort zone.

For the company, a dangerous illusion.

And importantly, for an ambitious, hungry leader who wants to truly shape a company’s destiny, it’s rarely the right long-term path.

The Founder’s Trap: The Illusion of Outsourcing GTM

Here’s the biggest trap I’ve seen again and again: founders believe they’ve “outsourced” GTM to the fractional CRO.

So they step back. They focus on product, ops, or fundraising. But GTM is not something you can outsource in the early stages.

You can’t outsource conviction.

You can’t delegate positioning.

You can’t hand off the core sales motion.

In short, this is what I call “Founder Abdication“, and when it happens, the GTM machine stalls. No matter who’s at the wheel.

The Real Choice: Full-Time Partner or Founder-Led GTM?

This brings us to a crucial, binary choice every founder must make.

Either you are ready to bring a true GTM partner on board, or you are not.

If you are, you’re not just hiring a CRO. Instead, you’re bringing on a GTM co-founder.

This person must be fully integrated, empowered with a clear mandate, and trusted to shape the company’s future alongside you.

They are all in.

But if you’re not ready, the answer isn’t a halfway measure.

Instead, the answer is to own your role as the company’s GTM leader.

This is where the fractional model can become a trap.

It creates a false sense of security, delaying the hard but necessary work of building a GTM foundation that only a founder can truly lead.

What Do Hands-On Founders Really Need?

So what does a founder who is still the de facto CRO really need?

Not a part-time operator.

Not a manager.+

Rather, a strategic sparring partner.

This became crystal clear in my work with companies like Cloud Academy.

The CEO was brilliant and deeply involved in his GTM, but he needed a high-level sounding board to challenge assumptions, de-risk key decisions, and inject external perspective.

My role wasn’t to run his sales team. It was to ensure he was equipped to lead it more effectively.

It wasn’t a fractional CRO engagement.

It wasn’t classic advisory.

It was something else: more focused, and ultimately, more impactful.

What Comes Next

The classic fractional model was a necessary innovation.

But now, it’s time to evolve:

• From execution bandwidth to strategic and tactical depth.

• From outsourcing GTM to owning it, with the right partner.

• From fractional leadership to a more agile model of strategic GTM coaching and advisory.

Is there still a place for the fractional model? Sure.

It can be a short-term fix to plug a gap, or a way to “date before you marry” a future GTM leader.

But it’s not a long-term strategy for building a scalable revenue engine.

In my next article, I’ll break down what this “third path” really looks like, and how a GTM Sparring Partner is built for hands-on founders in the new era of capital-efficient, AI-driven SaaS.

 

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