Fractional CPO — A fractional CPO, for deciding what not to build.
Senior product leadership without a six-figure hire. Roadmap, discovery and delivery, from someone who understands what the engineering costs — and is willing to say no to most of it.
- 20+ years building products
- Founded and exited a studio
- B Corp founder
- Reviewed quarterly
What a fractional CPO does here
Product leadership taken on directly, by someone who has carried the engineering cost of their own roadmaps.
Roadmap, discovery, delivery
Discovery run properly rather than as a box to tick, a roadmap honest about what it is trading away, and delivery connected to both. Product and technical decisions are usually the same decision seen from two sides — what to build and what it will cost are one conversation — which is why this seat is worth more when it understands the engineering than when it only understands the user.
Someone willing to say no
Most product trouble in a growing business is not a shortage of ideas. It is a shortage of anyone whose job it is to say no to most of them. Every stakeholder has something they want built and none of them are wrong, which is exactly the problem. Somebody has to hold the line on what version one contains, take the resulting unpopularity, and be right often enough to keep the authority. That is the job.
A short diagnostic first
A couple of weeks on the product — the roadmap, the discovery process, what is shipping and what it is achieving — and you get a written view of what we found. That document is yours whether or not anything follows, and it is priced on its own so stopping there is a real option rather than a polite fiction.
From first note to working together
A conversation
Forty-five minutes on the product, who it is for, and what it is currently failing to do. No deck required.
A short diagnostic
A couple of weeks on the roadmap, the discovery process and what is actually shipping. You get a written view either way.
In the seat
An agreed number of days a month owning the roadmap and the calls that come with it. Fixed monthly fee, reviewed quarterly.
Handover
The habit outlasts the engagement. We leave behind a way of deciding, not a document describing one, and hire our replacement where that is the right answer.
This is probably you if
- The team ships steadily and the numbers stay flat — a busy roadmap achieving very little.
- Every stakeholder has something they want built, and nobody has the standing to refuse.
- You can build it perfectly well yourself, and what you need is help deciding what is worth building.
- Discovery happens after the decision rather than before it, if it happens at all.
- You are about to commit a quarter of engineering to something nobody has pressure-tested.
Fractional CPO — common questions
What is a fractional CPO?
A chief product officer working with you part of a week rather than all of it, owning the roadmap and the decisions that shape it rather than facilitating a process around them. In practice that means running discovery, deciding what version one contains, and being accountable for whether the things shipped moved anything — which is the part that distinguishes it from a product consultant.
Do we need a CTO or a CPO?
Earlier than most people expect, they are the same seat, and we take either or both. The honest test is where the pain shows. If delivery is late, unpredictable or fragile, you want the technical side. If the team ships steadily but the wrong things, you want the product side. We would rather tell you which you actually need than sell you the larger version of it.
We have a product manager. Is this different?
Usually, yes — and it is a difference of authority rather than ability. A product manager runs the roadmap; a CPO decides what belongs on it and can say no to a founder or an investor without it becoming a resignation. Plenty of good product managers are held back by having no one above them to escalate a difficult call to, and the fractional version of the seat is often most useful precisely there.
How is it priced?
A fixed monthly fee against an agreed scope, reviewed quarterly, rather than a day rate. The short diagnostic that usually precedes it is priced separately, so you can take the written view to your own team and stop there.
Can we pay in equity rather than cash?
Yes. Advisory for equity puts product and technical leadership into the business in place of cash, or alongside it. See investment and equity partnerships for how those deals are shaped.
Start with a conversation.
What the product is, who it is for, and what it is currently failing to do. That is enough to begin — no deck required, and we reply to most notes within a couple of working days.
Or email hello@lode.venturesThanks — that's with us.
We read everything ourselves and reply to most notes within a couple of working days.