Three Smart Ways to Use Fractional Leaders in Your Business

Looking to hire a fractional CFO, COO, or CMO? Here’s how to get the most out of the arrangement.

Expert Opinion By Kate Swann
INC. Premium, Newsletters

June 19, 2025

Fractional C-suite leaders are all the rage. I mean, what’s not to like? You get all the expertise and hard-won experience of a full time leader for a lower price, with no long-term commitment. But what does that really mean in practice? How do you actually work with a fractional executive?

Many organizations start looking for senior-level help when they are at a pivot point. Say your product has caught fire, and now you have to actually deliver. Or you wake up with 50 employees instead of 15 and realize you don’t know how to scale. Or you are starting to consider an exit strategy but aren’t sure how to position the company or tell its story.

Here are some smart ways you can use fractional leaders to help grow your business.

Experienced advisors

Maybe you are a founder or a CEO who wants insights from someone who has been there (probably multiple times) and knows what works and—more importantly—what does not.

Fractionals can be a great sounding board. Bring them in to review strategy, KPIs, message, organization, go-to-market plans, operations, etc. They can help you prioritize and avoid common pitfalls. A small monthly retainer and strategy review might be enough to bring on a fractional leader who can spot irregularities, risks, and opportunities. They can also recommend solutions—and prevent you from making expensive mistakes.

As a fractional COO, I typically start with a landscape assessment. Often, during this initial phase, I will spot game changing issues such as pricing, offerings, or compensation that can have a significant impact on profits and losses. Investment in fractional advice may seem high, but the ROI of, say, a content strategy that drives new customers, or a financial analysis that prevents restatement during an acquisition will more than pay for itself.

Project-based or strategy development

Do you have a project or initiative that you just never have time to get to? It might be that brand refresh that keeps getting put on the back shelf, or the transition to accrual accounting you know needs to happen. Perhaps you have a steady business, but no sales operations or marketing to create a funnel for growth at scale.

These kinds of initiatives are perfect for a fractional leader. Typically, C-level fractionals have decades of experience doing similar things in other companies. They have the bandwidth and the knowledge to lead and execute strategic initiatives successfully and seamlessly. They know who needs to be involved and how to bring together the right internal and external partners to get that project over the finish line.

While many fractionals have networks of high-performing professionals who can complete almost any project, I usually start by evaluating current staff to see who would be able to execute the work with some light oversight. Developing your team members to take on responsibility is a key factor in the work that fractionals do.

Fully-integrated leadership team members

Don’t be afraid to let a fractional become a full-fledged member of your leadership team—especially if you have junior or mid-level members of your team that can execute. Fractionals can look across the organization and understand what needs to be done to unblock growth at the next level.

Some clients bring in fractionals to fill a functional role when their needs do not yet justify someone in the role full time. Companies may identify the need for a fractional because they are missing expertise in a particular function, like finance or marketing or business development. By bringing a fractional leader into the management team—as opposed to treating the person like an outside service provider—the company gets the full benefit of an experienced professional. This is very different from bringing in an agency to fill a functional need. Integrating your fractional leader into your team also allows them to potentially shape strategy outside their realm and spot opportunities which wouldn’t have come up otherwise.

In my work as a fractional COO, I have coached team members, and even managed them directly in a matrixed organization. Fractionals can also help you identify emerging leaders who have the raw talent and ambition to play a critical role in your company but don’t yet have the experience. They can also help you make key hires, create a strategy or a roadmap, and set up your organization for long-term success.

When I am fully deployed in a client organization (typically a 50% allocation), I work with the executive team to understand and prioritize their needs. Once the CEO signs off on a plan, I partner with teams to develop requirements, bring in partners if necessary, and oversee the execution of the plan. If I am successfully integrated, it can feel like I am full-time in my impact and ability to lead.

Other fractional leaders can be leveraged in a similar way. For instance, a fractional chief product officer might be called in when a new product is being developed or a pivot is needed. The same may be true for your brand and content strategy, if, say, you don’t have a chief content officer. Once the strategy is successfully launched, a more junior team can take over.

Allowing a fractional executive to truly be a part of your team (attending key management meetings, working directly with non-executive personnel, and integrating them into feedback or approval processes) means you get the full benefit of their knowledge directly rather than having to interpret their input and then do it yourself.

Particularly in this volatile economic environment, fractionals are a way to solve your most pressing problems without committing too much time and money.

Kate Swann is a fractional COO and principal of The Fractionals, a collective based in New York City.