Fractional CPO / CXO
A twenty-year product executive, on retainer.
Founders hire me to take a product from idea to a shipped MVP — and to stay on as the person who decides what gets built next. Retainers start at $9,500 a month. I take three clients at a time.
What this is
I am not an agency that hands you a deck and leaves.
I embed with your team, own the product roadmap, and keep the build pointed at what customers actually need instead of what is easy to add.
Twenty years as a product and human experience executive — the Product practice at PwC, the product studio at AIG, four security products at Google, customer experience at Hilton. Not a generalist consultant who read the same three books you did.
What I own
The roadmap
Product strategy and sequencing, owned end to end.
The MVP
Defined, scoped, and shipped — nothing more than it needs.
The next three
Releases themed and prioritised before you need them.
The room
Stakeholders and cross-functional teams, aligned and moving.
How it works
Four ways in. One ongoing relationship.
Most founders start with a workshop. It is a low-commitment way to find out whether we work well together before either of us signs up for a year.
Ideation Workshop
A focused, in-person session to pressure-test the idea and agree on the product's goal, theme, and direction. You leave with a point of view instead of a list of opinions.
Product Validation
We test the idea against real customer need and market movement before a line of code gets written. Pre-orders, observed behaviour, and the workarounds people already use. The cheapest moment to find out you are wrong is now.
MVP & Roadmap Creation
I define the MVP, its features, and the themes for your first three releases. You get a plan your engineers can start on Monday — and the fee can be credited against a retainer if you go on to one.
Fractional CPO / CXO
The anchor. I own your product strategy and roadmap on an ongoing monthly retainer — eight hours a week, a standing working session, and a board-ready update every month. Designed to run for years, not weeks.
What it costs
Published, so neither of us wastes our time.
I want products to succeed as bad as you do. Let's do it together.
The retainer is $9,500 a month for eight hours a week, on a twelve-month term with sixty days' notice. The US market for a fractional CPO runs roughly $8,000–$16,000 a month; I sit deliberately at the lower end of it and hold the rate for the year.
- Fixed-fee workshops, validation, and MVP definition are quoted after we talk — the shape of the problem sets the number
- Two strategy days a year are already included. You do not pay for those
- Build is always scoped and priced separately, before the roadmap is final
Fit
Who this works for — and who it doesn't.
This is for you if
- You are pre-seed to Series A and there is no senior product owner in the company
- The roadmap changes to match whoever spoke last in the meeting
- You have engineers, or money for engineers, and no one deciding what they build
- A wrong guess costs you a quarter of runway, not a sprint
- You want someone who will tell you no and keep the product focused
This is not for you if
- You already know exactly what to build and need hands, not judgment — hire a product manager
- You want a deck, a deliverable, and a clean exit — hire a consultancy
- You need someone in your standups every morning — that is a full-time hire
- You want the roadmap to say what you have already decided
- Eight hours a week of senior product leadership is not worth $9,500 to you yet. That is a real answer, and it is fine
What good looks like
What you walk away with.
A defined MVP
Scoped to the one job the product has to do. Nothing in it you cannot defend.
A sequenced roadmap
The next three releases, themed and prioritised, with the reasoning attached.
A product owner who stays
Weekly working sessions and a roadmap that keeps moving after the excitement wears off.
I take three retained clients at a time. That is the whole model. If I am full, I will tell you, and I will tell you when I am not.
For investors & VCs
Execution insurance for your portfolio.
I don't broker deals. When I am the product partner on a company you back, you know the product is being built with discipline and a clear roadmap — not guesswork.
- An executive product owner on the inside, from day one
- Lower product-execution risk across the portfolio
- The roadmap stays pointed at strategy, even when the pressure is short-term
- A monthly written update your founder can put in front of you unedited
Straight answers
The questions that decide it.
What exactly is included?
8 hours split between one 90-minute weekly working session, roadmap ownership between sessions, replies within one working day, a monthly board-ready written update, one stakeholder or board document a quarter, and two strategy days a year.
What isn't?
On-site days beyond the two included, workshops and offsites, hiring and interview panels, investor diligence and pitch prep, Build delivery, and standing attendance at your internal ceremonies. All of it is available — it is quoted, not assumed.
Do the hours roll over?
No. Hours are averaged monthly and do not carry forward. A retainer buys availability, not a bank of time.
Can I start small?
Yes, and most founders do. A workshop or a validation sprint is a real piece of work and a cheap way to find out whether we work well together before either of us signs a year.
Do you take equity?
Let's talk. Cash is the basis of every engagement. Where it genuinely fits, equity sits on top of the retainer — never instead of it.
What are your hours?
9am–7pm ET, Monday to Thursday. Email checked at 9, 11 and 4pm ET. You get an answer within one working day, every time — which is why the published hours are worth reading.
Let's Build
Define the MVP. Ship the right product. Keep moving.
Thirty minutes. Tell me the product and where you're stuck.