When to hire a fractional head of growth. And when not to.

The companies that call me about a fractional head of growth almost all describe the same picture, in different words. Revenue is somewhere past $2M. There's an agency for ads, a freelancer for the website, maybe a second agency for SEO, and a coordinator inside who sends them things. Each one reports a number that looks fine. Nobody can tell the owner what the total is, whether it's working, or what to do next quarter. So the owner does it, at night, badly, because it isn't their job.

That's the signal. Not "we need more marketing." It's "nobody owns the number." Here's how to tell whether a fractional seat is the answer, and how to tell when it isn't.

Signs you're ready

You have at least two vendors and no referee. Three dashboards, three definitions of a lead, and a monthly meeting where each one explains why the other's number is the problem. A head of growth's first job is to make them one number.

The product sells when the right person hears about it. This matters more than anything else on the list. If your close rate is healthy and your customers stay, growth is a distribution problem, and distribution is what the seat is for.

You'd make decisions in weeks. A fractional operator moves fast and asks for decisions fast. If a budget change needs a quarterly board cycle, you'll waste the days you're paying for.

You want to understand the numbers, not be protected from them. The weekly page I send says what a lead cost, what a customer cost, and what I'm changing. Some owners want that. Some want a deck with a green arrow on it. The seat is for the first kind.

Signs you're not, yet

The product doesn't sell yet. If you haven't found the customers who buy when they hear about it, you need a founder on the phone, not a growth operator spending money to find out. Fix the offer first; it's cheaper.

You want someone to execute a plan you've already written. That's a good use of money, but it's a channel engagement, not a seat. Pick the solution and keep the plan.

You need someone in the building every day. A fractional seat is a set number of days a month, by design. If the culture needs a full-time presence, hire full time and let a fractional operator help you hire well.

What the first ninety days should look like

Be suspicious of anyone who starts by launching things. The first weeks are for reading every account, every report, every vendor contract, and talking to a dozen customers. Out of that comes the thing most companies at this stage have never written down: who we sell to, what we're selling them, why they should believe it, and how we say it. Everything else inherits from those four lines, which is why they go first.

Then the channels get restructured around that, the leaks get closed (tracking, follow-up, wasted spend; there are always three), the vendors get a scorecard, and the weekly number starts arriving. By day ninety you should have a trend you can judge and a plan for the next ninety. If you can't judge it by then, the engagement isn't working, and a good operator will tell you that before you do.

Five questions to ask before you hire one

• "What number will you own, and when will I see it?" If the answer is "brand awareness," keep looking.
• "Who does the work?" You're hiring a person. If the person is going to hand your account to their agency, you're hiring an agency with a nicer title.
• "What did you do at the last three companies, and can I call one?" Growth operators have numbers and references. Consultants have frameworks.
• "How will you use AI, and what will you still check yourself?" The right answer is specific: production by the model, judgment by the person, and a list of what never ships unreviewed.
• "How do I end it?" A month's notice is normal. A twelve-month contract for a fractional seat is a tell.

The companies I've done this for that went on to the Inc. 5000 had one thing in common before any of it started: an owner who was ready to let someone own the number and hold them to it. If that's you, the conversation is short. If it isn't yet, the audit is free and it'll tell you what to fix first.

Tell me where the company is and I'll reply within a business day with whether the seat fits, and if it doesn't, what I'd do instead. Or start with the audit and see the work first.