The operator in the seat, not just the system.
Some companies don't need another vendor running campaigns. They need one person accountable for the pipeline number, in the room where the decisions get made. Fractional Head of Growth is the Pipeline Engine delivered as embedded leadership: the same infrastructure, directed by someone who answers for the result.
When a system isn't the missing piece.
Most companies should take Install + Run. Fractional earns its premium in a narrower set of situations.
Nobody owns the growth number
Marketing reports activity. Sales reports pipeline. No single person is accountable for the line connecting the two, so the forecast is a guess every quarter.
You have marketers, not a plan
One or two capable people, busy every day, with no priority order and no system behind them. They don't need replacing. They need direction and infrastructure.
The hire is 6 months away
You know you eventually want a full-time growth leader. You're not ready to carry the salary, and you can't afford to stall demand while you search.
Full ownership, not just execution.
Ownership of the pipeline number
We agree the target in the first two weeks and it becomes the number the role is judged on. Not impressions, not MQLs, not activity. Qualified conversations your sales team accepts.
A seat in the leadership conversation
In your exec or leadership meeting, with the growth view, the budget case and the tradeoffs. You get an operator who argues the point in the room, not a status report emailed in from outside.
The Pipeline Engine underneath
Paid campaigns on your primary 1-2 channels, landing pages, lead capture, tracking and attribution, nurture, reporting. Built and operated, not just advised on. This is what separates the role from a consultant.
Direction for the team you already have
Your marketers get a priority order, briefs they can execute against, and standards for what finished work looks like. Most of the lift in the first 90 days comes from unblocking people who were already trying.
A fixed cadence, not a retainer of hours.
You're buying an outcome and a rhythm. Here's the rhythm.
Weekly
A working session with you and whoever owns marketing execution. Campaign performance, what shipped, what's blocked, what changes this week. Campaigns are managed continuously in the background, not batched into the call.
Monthly
Performance review against the pipeline number: cost per qualified lead, volume, pipeline created, and what we're changing as a result. Written, so it survives the meeting.
Quarterly
Budget and channel plan for the next quarter, with the case for where spend should move and what we stop doing. This is the conversation most companies never get to have with an agency.
Always on
Reachable for the decisions that don't wait for a meeting: a pricing change, a competitor move, a deal that needs air cover. Embedded means embedded.
The method has a history. The brand is new.
Empowered Rank is early and I'd rather say that plainly. What follows are outcomes from demand generation programs I ran in-house, measured the same way I'll measure yours. Company names are withheld under the confidentiality terms of those roles.
Averaged across 3 programs. See the full numbers and exactly how they're counted.
What's in, and what's not.
- Ownership of the agreed pipeline number
- Growth strategy, channel and budget planning
- Paid campaigns (1-2 channels), built and managed
- Landing pages, lead capture, nurture
- Tracking & attribution
- Weekly working session and monthly reporting
- Direction and briefs for your existing marketers
- Full SEO/content engines
- Complete RevOps/CRM builds
- Hiring or managing your sales team
- Brand or full website redesigns
- Organic social management
- PR
- Media budget (paid to platforms on your accounts)
We'll quote these as add-ons or point you to who's great at them. We never quietly fold them into your retainer.
$8,000–$15,000/mo.
Three month minimum, then rolling with 30 days notice.
What moves the number
The range is set by how much of the function you're handing over: the number of channels in play, whether you have marketers to direct or nobody in seat, and how much of the Pipeline Engine still needs building versus operating. We quote a fixed monthly figure after the Audit, and it doesn't move without a scope change you approve.
For comparison, a full-time growth leader in US B2B usually lands north of $200,000 a year once salary, benefits, payroll tax and equity are counted, plus three to six months to hire and ramp. That's the tradeoff this tier exists to solve.
The questions that decide this.
How is this different from Install + Run?
Install + Run is a system we build and operate for you. Fractional is a person who owns the number. Same infrastructure underneath, different level of accountability. With Install + Run you get campaigns, pages, tracking, nurture and reporting. With Fractional you also get someone sitting in your leadership conversations, setting the growth plan, briefing your team and answering for the result. See the Pipeline Engine page for the full Install + Run scope.
How does the cost compare to hiring a full-time Head of Growth?
A full-time growth leader in US B2B usually lands north of $200,000 a year once salary, benefits, payroll tax and equity are counted, plus three to six months to hire and ramp. Fractional runs $8,000 to $15,000 a month with no ramp and no severance risk, and the campaign execution is already inside it rather than being a separate agency line on top.
How many hours a month do we get?
We don't sell hours. You're buying ownership of an outcome and a fixed operating cadence: a weekly working session, a standing place in your leadership meeting, campaign management run continuously in the background, and a monthly performance review against the pipeline number. If the number needs more time in a given month, it gets more time.
Do you replace our marketing team?
No. Most companies at this stage have one or two marketers who are capable but have never been given a system or a priority order. Fractional gives them both, and they usually get better fast. If you have nobody in seat, the role runs the demand function directly until you're ready to hire.
Is there a minimum term?
Three months to start, then rolling with 30 days notice. Under three months there isn't enough signal to judge the work fairly, and neither of us learns anything useful from it.
Does the fee include media spend?
No. Media budget is paid to the platforms on your own ad accounts, which you own and keep if we stop working together. The monthly fee covers the leadership and the operating work only. We never take a percentage of your ad spend, because that quietly rewards us for spending more of your money.
What happens when we hire someone full-time?
That's the intended exit, not a problem. The system, the accounts, the tracking and the documentation are yours throughout, so a new hire inherits a working engine and a written record of what's been tried instead of starting cold. We'll help you scope the role and can stay on at a lighter cadence through their ramp.
What if we only need the system built?
Then take Install + Run. It's the cheaper and more common route, and it's the right answer for most companies. Fractional is worth the premium only when the growth decisions themselves need an owner, not just the execution.
Starts with the same Growth Audit. If Fractional isn't the right tier for you, we'll say so and point you at Install + Run.