Fractional C-Suite Roles with Matthew Fenton
Season 8, Episode 6
Hi everyone,
Now that I’ve defected from Twitter, I’ve chosen to start spending more of my time on LinkedIn (Habit replacement, according to Charles Duhigg, is one way to break a bad habit, after all!)
That attention shift has led me to notice that some solopreneurs often have a little line in their bio that includes a “fractional” C-level job. And more and more, I saw that come up. Fractional CMO. Fractional CSO. Fractional CFO.
Traditional C-suite jobs can be all-consuming — I know because I married a startup founder. So it got me curious about what “fractional” might mean. It felt unconventional — perhaps like a step up on the ill-defined and varied career progression that freelancers might find themselves on.
To peel back the curtain on what fractional C-suite jobs look like, and why they might be desirable, I brought on Matthew Fenton.
Matthew is the founder of Three Deuce Branding, a consultancy with a simple mission: to help good people build great brands. Since 1997, his company has helped hundreds of clients — including Fidelity Investments, Wrigley, and Valvoline — to achieve ‘brand clarity’ by better positioning, strategy, and messaging. Matthew has also spent seven years in brand management, including two as a CMO. He helped develop and launch White Mystery Airheads and grew Trolli’s Sour Brite Crawlers into the best-selling gummy worm in the country — my favorite snack, by the way, when I’m out on the trails.
You might know Matthew from Winning Solo: a coaching business he launched in 2021 designed to help other independent consultants and creatives enjoy longevity, balance, and success on their own terms.
In this episode, we talked about
The benefits of fractional roles
How to determine if a fractional role is right for you
The value you provide as a fractional CXO
How to work your way up to a fractional role, if that’s something you desire!
Listen to the episode wherever you podcast!
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PS: We didn’t dive into the drawbacks of working as a fractional CXO, but Matthew provided the following points in a follow up email:
Reduced flexibility. A fractional role is a significant and ongoing time commitment. So if you cherish your flexibility, it may not be ideal.
“You can get too complacent.” This is an argument I’ve heard – that a role like this might lead you to stop doing the other things you need to do for the health of your business. But ultimately, this is not a problem with fractional roles; it’s a problem with becoming complacent.
When the fractional relationship ends, you’ll have a hole to fill. Same goes for anchor clients. Some solutions: Ensure that the fractional role is at a good fee, so that you don’t have to scramble to immediately replace that income when it ends; add a termination clause to your contract (60-90 days feels reasonable); and otherwise, enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate.You may not get a full seat at the table. Some (though certainly not all) full-timers may think your opinion counts less by virtue of your working arrangement. The best response is to prove your worth. But if this is an ongoing concern, it’s a signal that you may wish to activate that termination clause.
You can’t do everything you’d like to do. This is a challenge in my current fractional role – the amount of bandwidth we’ve allotted means that I don’t have time to get to everything the business needs. So prioritization is a must. And we’re in discussions about whether and how to expand this relationship.
Until next month,
Wudan
EVENTS!
October 15, 12-1pm PST: How to best work with a freelance team
If you’re looking for some help so you can be more efficient in running your business, you’ll want to sign up for this webinar. You'll be able to hear from Anita Kenney, who has been an assistant for three decades, consultancy founder Emma Carew Grovum, and me! about how to best work as a member of someone else's team, and how to basically, learn to become a manager. (Which is not exactly a skill you learn in school!) Sign up today: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-to-best-work-with-your-freelance-team-tickets-945866350717