CEO/ Kaizen Executive Search, Inc. / MedTech & Digital Health Startup Specialists/ Builders of Virtual Clinics/ Hospital at Home
We get a lot of outreach from fractional consultants looking to transition into full-time roles. And it makes sense. Startups today are leaning hard into "fractional everything." Plenty of great talent is saying yes to fractional work not because it's ideal for them, but because something is better than nothing. A fractional CFO, for example, can be a game-changer. But when startups start hiring fractional everything? That’s a red flag. A fractional CFO makes sense when you need strategic financial oversight but haven’t hit the scale (or burn rate) to justify a full-time hire. Same goes for fractional legal, regulatory, or even market access. These roles can be in "bursts", but not daily. Here's where things can get sideways: Fractional CCO- NOPE. Fractional Head of Sales- NOPE. Fractional CEO- Yes, I’ve seen it. Big NOPE. Fractional “Everything” because you think it saves money. Quite the opposite. What actually happens? No one is fully accountable. Execution gets pieced together. The team loses clarity on who’s actually leading. Leadership is not a gig economy. You can’t scale a company on 10% loyalty from 10 different people. You need someone in the chair who’s making the hard calls, owning the roadmap, and bleeding for the brand. If you use fractional strategically, it can be game changing. But don’t confuse “lean” with “leadership.” There’s no fractional version of trust, culture, or commitment. #medtech #healthtech #startupleadership #executivesearch #fractionalCFO #strategichiring