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PRODUCT · FRACTIONAL PM

Fractional product manager and CPO

A fractional product manager is a senior product lead who joins your team part time to run discovery, the roadmap and delivery, without a full-time hire. Startups use one for a first product; scale-ups as a fractional CPO.

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Led by Roger GrekosCo-Founder, product

The drawing shows a long backlog and, under it, the same work tied to one outcome, the input metrics that move it and the tickets that move each metric.

Early teams get a fractional product manager. Teams that already have product people get a fractional CPO: a fractional chief product officer, not a chief people officer. Either way, you get a part-time product manager who works inside your rituals and decides what ships next.

01SOUND FAMILIAR?

Signs you need a part-time product manager

  • SYMPTOM 01

    The founder is still the product manager, and it shows

    Usually means: Product decisions wait for one person's calendar, so engineers guess or stall.

  • SYMPTOM 02

    We ship every sprint, but nobody can say why these features

    Usually means: There is a backlog but no strategy that ties the work to a customer outcome.

  • SYMPTOM 03

    Our roadmap is whatever the last five sales calls asked for

    Usually means: Requests are not weighed against evidence, so the loudest customer sets the plan.

  • SYMPTOM 04

    We need a head of product but cannot justify a full-time salary yet

    Usually means: You need senior product judgment a few days a week, not a full-time executive.

  • SYMPTOM 05

    Our last product manager left and took the context with them

    Usually means: Decisions were never written down, so the next person starts from zero.

Led by Roger GrekosCo-Founder, product

Not sure whether you need fractional help or a full-time hire? Describe how product decisions get made today.

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02WHAT WE DO

What a fractional product manager does for your team

It is the job of a head of product, scaled to the days you need, and part of our product management consultancy. Everything we write stays with you when the engagement ends.

  • Product leadership as a fractional CPO

    For teams past their first product, we act as a fractional chief product officer. We set product goals with the founders and line them up with engineering and sales. Then we shape the plan for the next stage alongside our startup scaling strategy work.

  • A roadmap tied to outcomes

    We turn the backlog into a short roadmap of now, next and later. A written list says what the team will not do, and why. The method is in our guide on how to build a product roadmap.

  • Discovery that keeps running

    We keep a steady rhythm of customer conversations and usage reviews, and bring what we learn to planning so priorities change for a reason. Product discovery services cover a bigger research push as a separate, timeboxed project.

  • Delivery your engineers can trust

    We write the specs, acceptance criteria and release notes, and run planning with your tech lead. Product calls get made in the room, so engineers are not left building on a guess.

  • Help when you hire SaaS product managers

    When it is time to hire SaaS product managers of your own, we write the role and join the interviews. Then we hand the roadmap, research notes and rituals to the person you choose.

  • Interim cover between hires

    If your product manager has left, we keep the roadmap moving while you recruit. Teams that want to hire interim product managers for a fixed gap get the same work with a clear end date.

Illustration of a ticket filled in until it is ready for engineering

03IN BRIEF

Fractional CPO or product manager: which fits?

Choose a fractional product manager if you need someone to do the product work, and a fractional CPO if you need someone to lead it. Before product-market fit, most startups need the first: a senior person who talks to customers, sets priorities, writes specs and runs planning with engineering. Once you have product managers of your own, the gap is usually leadership. A fractional chief product officer sets product goals with the founders, coaches your product managers, plans hiring and explains the product plan to the board. Both roles are part time, and both can start small and grow with the work. Some teams move from one to the other as they grow. If the gap is technical leadership, look at our fractional CTO services instead. Or pair the two roles so product and engineering plan together.

How a part-time product lead fits into your team

A part-time product manager works best with fixed days, clear decision rights and written updates. We agree which days we are with you and who on your team we report to. We also agree which decisions are ours and which stay with the founders. On those days we run planning, review work in progress, talk to customers and write the specs for what comes next. In between, the roadmap, decision log and research notes stay current in your own tools. Nobody waits for a meeting to find out what changed or why. Writing it down also makes the role easy to hand over later. Founders keep the final word on direction. Product strategy consulting comes first if that direction is itself unclear. No product manager can prioritize well against a strategy nobody has written down.

04STEP BY STEP

How a fractional engagement runs

  1. 01

    Audit

    We read what exists: the roadmap, the backlog, analytics, recent customer feedback and the last few releases. We interview the founders and the tech lead, then write a one-page view of where product decisions get stuck.

  2. 02

    Build

    We take the product seat: run planning, reset the roadmap, start customer conversations and own the specs. You get a short written update every week with what changed and why.

  3. 03

    Ship

    We hand the seat to your own hire or a founder, with the roadmap, research notes, decision log and rituals written down. A few handover sessions cover the switch.

05ENGAGEMENT OPTIONS

Ways to work with a fractional product manager

  • Product advisory

    A senior sounding board for a founder who is still running product.

    You get

    • Working sessions on roadmap and priority calls
    • Written notes and next steps after each session
    • A review of specs and plans before they reach engineering

    Typical shape

    One or two sessions a month

    Quoted after a short call

    Ask for a quote

  • Product reset

    A fixed-scope project to fix one product problem, such as a messy roadmap or a stalled launch.

    You get

    • An audit of the roadmap, backlog and data
    • A rebuilt roadmap with a not-doing list
    • Specs for the next release

    Typical shape

    A fixed scope

    Quoted after a short call

    Ask for a quote

  • Fractional product lead

    A part-time product manager or fractional CPO in your team, on agreed days.

    You get

    • Owns the roadmap, specs and planning
    • Runs customer research and reports findings
    • Hiring support and a written handover

    Typical shape

    Set days each week, reviewed monthly

    Quoted after a short call

    Ask for a quote

06WHO IT IS FOR

Who a fractional product manager is for

Roger Grekos

07LED BY

Who leads your product work

Roger Grekos leads the product services at BrainStormers, from validation and discovery to pricing and scale planning.

Half of good roadmap work is writing down what we will not build yet, and why. That list protects the team more than any feature does.

Roger GrekosCO-FOUNDER · PRODUCT
Roger Grekos
Co-Founder, Product, Project & Scale
Background
Roger co-founded BrainStormers and has led product for 12+ years across SaaS, fintech, media, gaming and services. At Find.co he led product strategy for a media portfolio whose revenue grew from $22M to $55M in three years; at PayEm he took a procurement platform to $1M ARR in 12 months.
Roger's profileLinkedIn

08

Related services

  • Product strategy

    Decide who the product serves, what to build next and what to drop, with evidence behind each call.

    Roger

  • Product discovery

    Customer interviews, workshops and prototypes that show what customers will pay for before you build.

    Roger

  • Scale planning

    A staged plan for your next stage of growth: team shape, process, product operations and the systems behind them.

    Roger

  • Fractional CTO

    A senior part-time CTO for architecture, hiring, vendors and the roadmap, without a full-time salary.

    Thanos

  • Product and engineering

    Need engineering as well? Pair a fractional product manager with our software product development team so one plan covers both.

    Roger and Thanos

09

Insights on product leadership

  • SCALE STRATEGYGUIDE

    How to build a product roadmap

    How to build a product roadmap a startup can follow: formats, a seven-step process, RICE scoring, a copyable template, examples for three stages and habits that keep it honest.

    Roger Grekos

  • SCALE STRATEGYGUIDE

    How to find product-market fit

    How to find product-market fit: the signals that show it, how to run the product-market fit survey, the questions to ask, and what to change when the answer is no.

    Roger Grekos

  • PRODUCT VALIDATIONGUIDE

    How to validate a business idea with real evidence before you build

    How to validate a business idea before you write code: interviews, bottom-up sizing, smoke tests and pre-sales, with go, pivot or stop signals and real examples.

    Roger Grekos

10FAQ

Questions about fractional product managers

What does a fractional product manager do?

A fractional product manager does the work of a senior product manager on a part-time basis. That covers talking to customers, setting the roadmap, writing specs, running planning with engineering and deciding what ships next. The difference from a full-time hire is the schedule and the contract, not the seniority of the work.

Is a fractional CPO a chief product officer or a chief people officer?

Here, a fractional CPO is a fractional chief product officer: a part-time head of product who owns product strategy, the roadmap and the product team. HR also uses the acronym for chief people officers, so check which one a job post or proposal means.

What is the difference between a fractional and an interim product manager?

A fractional product manager works part time for an open-ended period, often alongside other clients. An interim product manager usually works full time for a fixed gap, such as parental leave or the months before a permanent hire starts. The tasks are much the same; the schedule and the end date differ.

How many days a week does a fractional product manager work?

Most fractional product managers work one to three days a week. Teams where a founder is still close to product often need one day; teams with several engineers shipping every week usually need two or three. The days are agreed at the start and adjusted as the workload changes.

When should we replace a fractional product manager with a full-time hire?

Hire full time when product work fills most of the week and stays that way. Common signs are a second engineering squad, a steady stream of customer research or a roadmap that needs daily decisions. A well-run fractional engagement plans for that point and leaves a role description and a clean handover.

Can you help us hire and onboard our first full-time product manager?

Yes. We can write the role description and define what good looks like in the first 90 days. We also sit in on interviews and review the final candidates with you. Once the new hire starts, we hand over the roadmap, research notes and decision log, then step back on a date agreed in advance.

Led by Roger GrekosCo-Founder, product

Talk to Roger about a fractional product manager

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NEXT STEP

Get a product lead

Tell us where product decisions stall today. We will suggest the smallest engagement that fixes it, from a single advisory session to a fractional lead on agreed days.

You’ll talk to Roger

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