Why a Fractional GTM / Growth / Marketing Experts could work. If done right...

Here's what I've learned from coaching 250+ companies in growth and marketing, placing over 450 growth hackers at startups and scaleups, and supporting founder leadership through change.

Apr 18, 2025

Here's what I've learned from coaching 250+ companies in growth and marketing, placing over 450 growth hackers at startups and scaleups, and supporting founder leadership development.

but first:

Schedule an introduction call if you are exploring to start with a Fractional GTM/Growth/Marketing Expert.
Interesting in startup coaching? Schedule a coaching session here.
More about me: www.petervansabben.com
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Let’s start:

5 key challenges almost every startup/scaleup faces when starting with GTM or Growth:

1. Overestimating GTM or Growth Maturity: Many startups set budgets and forecasts without realistically assessing their current maturity. This leads to unrealistic MQL targets or prematurely abandoning experiments after early setbacks. A lack of clear planning drives teams to chase trends rather than focus strategically.

2. Mixing Daily Operations and Growth Initiatives: Keep daily operations separate from growth projects:

Maintain what's already working with clear KPIs.
Allocate dedicated space for growth initiatives to experiment with new channels, AI tools, playbooks, and messaging within a structured growth process.

3. Obsession with Funnel Optimisation: Focusing solely on funnel optimisation is shortsighted. Today's buying journeys are fragmented, chaotic, and increasingly complex due to digital marketing and AI. Instead:

Track multiple touch points.
Be active across various channels.
Deeply understand your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and their internal challenges and "jobs to be done."
Prioritise customer psychology and needs as central to your strategy.

4. Lack of Clear and Replicable USPs: A clear, well-documented Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is essential yet often overlooked. Every team member should effortlessly communicate your differentiation. Many companies still struggle with this foundational element.

5. Impatience and Rushing Execution: Quality assessments and genuinely understanding core challenges take time. Brand equity building and marketing campaign implementation also take time. Execution and experimentation should be swift, but direction-setting and problem diagnosis require patience. Patience yields lasting results.

GTM/Growth is hard. It’s messy, and very unpredictable. It’s an outcome of many different elements that need to go well + are at the right maturity level to produce results.

You see this back what’s keeping founders up at night?

Top concerns for founders, 76% of founders are most concerned about go-to-market execution.

2024 Saas Benchmarks Report by High Alpha

How Can Founders Tackle These Challenges?

1. Bring in Fresh Eyes

As a founder, you're likely deeply immersed in operational details and hold biases from past successes. A fractional expert working 1 day a week for 3-6 months can provide fresh perspectives and push necessary changes.

Fractional growth experts should help you:

Clarify leadership direction, plans, and necessary changes.
Implement a structured, data-driven growth process.
Set clear objectives, goals, directions, and KPIs.
Coach your marketing team and develop an experimentation mindset.
Prioritise effectively to maintain execution focus.
Assist optionally with hiring or identifying replacements.

Actionable Step: Test fractional roles to address all six elements holistically. Look for experts who've seen multiple companies internally and have experience in hiring and team building. Also check out your own founder leadership development as reflection point to help when it’s the right time to bring in fresh eyes.

2. Fundamentals Over AI Hype:

AI might be attractive, but solidifying the basics is far more critical. Focus on culture, clearly defined roles and expectations, KPIs linked with OKRs, and regular weekly or bi-weekly meetings. Have price & product clearly defined, have processes clearly defined and make sure the customer journey is mapped and sales are knowing how to do proper need analysis or giving powerful demo’s with controlled trials.

Actionable Step: Evaluate your organisation's maturity with a simple scan. Consider team assessments or try a free assessment as a conversation starter at www.founderroadbook.com.

3. Leveraging Mental Models and Frameworks:

Mental models, frameworks, and canvases accelerate decision-making and simplify complex challenges for your team.

Each founding team and company culture is unique, but the underlying challenges are often similar. Fractional experts can tailor the right models and templates for your context, ensuring clarity and speed in execution.

Clearly communicate your direction and goals, allowing experts to return with actionable frameworks. For further inspiration, explore my collection of over 45 mental models.

When to Work with an Interim, Fractional, or Advisory Expert?

Consider fractional expertise if you:

Need specialised skills not available internally.
Want flexibility in your leadership team.
Prefer cost efficiency compared to a full-time hire.
Temporarily need to fill leadership gaps.

Fractional roles typically operate on a fixed retainer or monthly fee, covering periods of 3 to 6 months, working between 1 and 3 days a week.

Below is a clear overview of the differences between these roles:

What Makes a Good Fractional GTM/Growth/Marketing Expert?

Look for experts who can demonstrate:

Challenge leadership assumptions and organisational maturity.
Have broad experience across multiple companies and can quickly identify impactful opportunities.
Are interdisciplinary, blending sales and marketing effectively to drive the right revenue. Quality of revenue matters.
Have proven operational experience in building startups or working at scaleups.
Are skilled managers who can lead teams, define new roles, and assist in hiring.
Make data-driven decisions and communicate strategically.
Balance foundational growth strategies with short-term quick wins.
Can lead productive yet messy workshops and meetings that challenge assumptions and find deeper truths.
Aren’t afraid of uncomfortable discussions, indicating meaningful progress.
Are personable and trustworthy to foster effective collaboration and support innovation.

How to Set Yourself and the Fractional Expert Up for Success:

Clearly define authority, ownership, and decision-making power.
Communicate roles and responsibilities transparently to the entire team.
Provide structured onboarding to quickly immerse them in company culture and unwritten rules.
Foster early connections with critical stakeholders.
Establish clear and measurable goals aligned with your company's strategic direction.
Plan for succession early, including internal talent development or timely hiring.
Ensure strong C-level support for decisive and impactful execution.