Fractional exec or portfolio operator: working out who you actually need

By Megan Luttrell

Since launching Aussie Fractionals, I've read every brief that's come through (usually with a coffee, sometimes at 11pm). One pattern has shown up quickly. A lot of founders asking for a "fractional" hire are really looking for a senior operator who can set the strategy and then roll their sleeves up and deliver it.

Both are great hires, and both are a smart way to get senior experience into a startup before you can justify it full time. They work differently though, and knowing which one you need changes who puts their hand up for your brief.

What a fractional exec does

A fractional exec takes an ongoing seat on your leadership team for part of the week. Think a CFO two days a week or a CMO one day a week. They own the function, report into you, sit in your leadership conversations and are accountable for how that area performs over months or years. They set the direction and usually lean on a team, an agency or contractors to carry out a lot of the work.

This suits you when you need senior judgement in a function on an ongoing basis, you have people (or budget for people) to execute, and you want someone who'll still be around in a year.

What a portfolio operator does

The other kind of person founders are asking for is a senior operator building a portfolio career. They've done the big full-time roles and have chosen to spread their experience across a few companies at once. They can set the strategy and do the work themselves, whether that's rebuilding your sales engine, getting your go-to-market off the ground or running a launch, and they'll work with you on a set project or on an ongoing basis.

Plenty of the best people I know have gone this way. Their week might be a fractional seat with one startup, a three-month project with another and an advisory role on the side. More and more senior talent in Australia wants to work like this, so we've opened the board up to it.

This suits you when you have a specific outcome in mind, there's no team underneath the role yet, and you need someone who will build the plan and deliver it.

Why the difference shows up in your brief

The two groups expect different things from a role. If you brief for a fractional CMO and actually need someone to build and run the campaigns themselves, you'll attract people who expect a team to direct, and the conversations will stall. Time commitment, length of engagement and how people price their work also differ, so getting this right early saves you and the operators a lot of back and forth.

Where the demand is right now

We're seeing the most briefs in marketing, growth and BD. Founders want people who think commercially and can still get stuck into the execution, which is exactly where portfolio operators tend to shine.

How to write a brief that gets the right people

The single most useful thing you can tell us is whether you need someone to own a function over time or deliver a defined piece of work. After that, say what success looks like in the first 90 days, who they'd be working with (or whether they'd be working alone), roughly how much of their week you need, and how long you expect it to run. That's enough for the right operators to recognise themselves in it.

Building a portfolio career? Come and join us

If you're a senior operator working across a few companies, or thinking about making the move, list yourself on Aussie Fractionals. And if you're a founder who needs senior help, submitting a brief is free.