The executive you need, at the size you are.
A seasoned CMO, COO, or CFO who joins your leadership team a few days a month, owns a number, and builds the function so it runs without them. Senior judgment without a senior salary.
Pick the seat that's empty
Fractional CMO
For companies where marketing is a cost center that can't explain itself. Owns positioning, the plan, the team, and the pipeline number.
Best fit when new business still comes mainly from the founder's relationships, and marketing reports activity instead of results.
Fractional COO
For companies where everything still runs through the founder. Owns the operating rhythm, the systems, and who sits in which seat.
Best fit when growth is outpacing process, the same problems keep coming back, and every week gets invented from scratch.
Fractional CFO
For companies making big decisions on a bookkeeper's numbers. Owns cash, the forecast, margin, pricing, and a plan the financials can pay for.
Best fit when the books close late, hiring and pricing calls are guesses, and a loan, investor, or sale is on the horizon.
Three ways to fill the seat
| Full-time hire | Strategy project | Fractional executive | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best when | You can afford the seat and you know who belongs in it | You need the plan, the alignment, or the system designed, and your team can run it from there | You need someone to own running it, week after week, until it works |
| What it costs | Six figures plus equity, benefits, and a recruiter fee | A fixed project fee, quoted before you commit | A fixed monthly retainer, a fraction of a full-time salary |
| Time to start | Three to six months to hire | A few weeks | About two weeks |
| What you get | One person's playbook, full time | A plan with named owners, budgets, and metrics, built with your team in the room | An operator who has held the seat, in your leadership meetings, owning the number |
| Commitment | Multi-year | Defined scope, defined end date | Quarter to quarter |
| Builds your team? | Sometimes | Yes. Your team leaves owning the plan | Yes. We run it, then hire and hand off |
Not sure whether you need the plan or the person? That's what the first call is for. Plenty of clients start with a strategy workshop or an operational assessment and add a fractional seat when execution needs an owner.
Diagnose, embed, hand off
Diagnose (first 30 days)
Assess the function, meet the team, read the numbers, and agree on the one number the seat will own. You get a written plan before month two.
Embed (month two on)
A fixed weekly cadence. Your fractional executive runs the meetings, owns the scorecard, makes the calls, and reports to you like any other leader.
Hand off (when you're ready)
When the business can carry a full-time leader, we help you hire and onboard one, then step back. The function stays. We don't.
Operators who have held the seat.
Every Branch fractional executive has run the function inside a growing company, not just advised one. You get a named leader in your meetings every week, with the rest of Branch behind them.
Straight answers
How much of their time do we get?
How long does an engagement last?
Is it one person or a team?
We already have someone in the role. Is this still useful?
What does it cost?
Not sure which seat is empty?
Fifteen minutes with a Branch founder. We'll tell you which role fits, or whether you need one at all.
Book a 15-minute call