What a fractional CRO costs
A fractional CRO is priced by days per week and by scope, not by headcount: a fixed monthly fee for two to three days a week during the build, less on a retained seat, and a fraction of the fully loaded cost of a full-time chief revenue officer.
How the price is built. Three variables set it: days per week (two to three during a foundation build; one or two on a retained seat), the scope (a diagnostic, a ninety-day build, or an ongoing seat), and whether the engagement includes closing deals personally, which it does in founder-led companies. Fixed fees, quoted after a thirty-minute call, with named milestones — my terms are on Work With Me.
How it compares. A full-time CRO at a Series A–B company costs base, bonus and equity plus the recruiting fee and the six months it takes to find and ramp one. A fractional CRO costs a monthly fee for the days you use, starts in weeks, and leaves behind a documented system rather than a dependency. The right comparison is not the fee against zero; it is the fee against the cost of another two quarters of founder-led selling that does not scale.
Equity. Most fractional engagements are cash retainers. I do not ask for a large equity grant; advisory equity only where a board prefers it. Equity-heavy fractional deals tend to blur the line between operator and advisor, and the operator role is the one you are paying for.
What is included. The work product is yours: the ICP, the playbook, the forecast model, the cadence, the hiring scorecards and the templates. Everything I build is documented so it survives me. What is not included is an outsourced sales team; the fractional CRO builds the engine and the first hires run it.
When it is not worth the money. If you have fewer than ten conversations a month with people who match your ICP, you need a founder-led discovery sprint, not a CRO. I will say so in the diagnostic, and the diagnostic is priced so that answer is cheap to get.
How I work
Three ways to engage — the two-week diagnostic, the ninety-day foundation, the retained seat — and the terms in one paragraph.
Open »The Revenue Diagnostic
Thirty questions across six pillars, including the one nobody else scores: the AI agents already in your revenue engine. A score, three findings and a ninety-day plan.
Run the diagnostic »New essays and operator tools, as they publish.
A few times a month, by email. No list is sold or shared; one click to leave.