Every business has the dream of crafting a product that perfectly resonates with the desires and needs of its target customers. The development of such a product is ideally led by the vision and expertise of a C-level product leader.
Alas! Most growing organizations find it tough to get a product expert with reasonable years of experience and expertise. But not anymore!d the highest level
Introducing COHIRE! Let your product development be led by the strategic guidance of a CPO and make your product stand out. No, you don’t need to bust your budget by onboarding such an experienced product leader. Engage a fractional CPO with the help of COHIRE and derive the same value!
A Fractional CPO Leads Your Products to the Path of Success From Day One
The products made by a business form the core of the value provided to customers. The more the product is capable of addressing the pain points and desires of customers, the more the business is geared toward success. This is why companies take product development seriously. It’s always ideal to have your product development be led by a C-level product head.
- Unfortunately, most growing companies can’t justify the cost of a full-time Chief Product Officer.
- Yet they would get immense value out of such a person’s experience.
- A fractional CPO offers a middle path.
Businesses can onboard a fractional Chief Product Officer and benefit from the same level of product leadership as they would from a full-time expert. Such a CPO works for a specific number of hours or months or on a project-by-project basis.
Why Does Your Growth-Stage Startup Sincerely Needs the Guidance of a Fractional CPO
Every early-stage or growth-stage startup stands at a crossroads at some point. One road leads to a thriving product line capturing the awe of target customers. The other road leads to products that are made without any plan, that have features that the target customers don’t need. A fractional CPO leads the company to the first path – the path of success.
Establish a Clear Roadmap:
Such a Chief Product Officer offers clarity regarding the product. The fractional CPO analyses the company, creates a perfect buyer persona, and then leads the product development based on data. The result? A clear product development roadmap leads to a perfectly crafted product that addresses the needs and pain points of target customers. The idea is to maximise value for both customers and your business.
Find the Product-to-Market Fit:
Startups might sometimes try to build products for which there is actual demand. Many companies fall into the trap of inventing pain points to sell their products. A fractional CPO makes sure that there is actually a market for the kind of product and functionalities that your business is aiming for. Such a product lead will go so far as to tweak the functionalities of the products to make sure that they are actually of use to the target customer segment. Making these crucial decisions falls within the scope of a fractional CPO’s work and proves to be instrumental in laying down the foundation for success.
Foster a Culture of Innovation:
Fractional CPOs build a culture of product innovation in growing organization from day one. They provide businesses with the right kind of attitude so that their product development never stagnates. This is specifically important these days. Remember, your competitors aren’t sitting idle. They’re continuously innovating. Stand on the shoulder of a fractional CPO and your product will keep on evolving.
Bridge Tte Gulf Between Product and Marketing:
Your products form the core of your value proposition. As such, your marketing strategies and product development strategies should be aligned with each other. A fractional CPO works closely with other executives in your company and builds a perfect synergy between product development, marketing, and sales.
An Overview of the Responsibilities of a Fractional CPO
So, what exactly can you entrust a fractional CPO with? While sometimes the role and responsibilities of a fractional CPO can get fuzzy, here are some definitive responsibilities of a person in such a position:
- Creating product development strategy and roadmap
- Mapping product features with the actual needs of target customers
- Guiding product managers and ensuring a hiccup-free product development
- Establishing KPIs to measure how successful the product is in terms of business and in terms of addressing the pain points of customers
- Establishing a synergy among the product team, sales team and the marketing team
Reap Real Benefits When You Engage a Fractional CPO
Startups and growing organizations will benefit immensely from the vision and expertise of a fractional CPO.
Objective Decision Making:
The most important value that a startup can get from such a fractional product lead is clarity. Oftentimes, businesses are so in love with their products that they can’t make objective decisions regarding what’s best for their products. A fractional CPO works closely with the top executives in the company, but they have the power to step back and rely on data to objectively craft a product development roadmap.
Same Expertise at a Fractional Cost:
As the name suggests, you can pay a fraction of the salary of a fulltime CPO to onboard and engage a fractional Chief Product Officer. However, your business will benefit from the same level of expertise. It’s just that the CPO will be working for other companies as well.
Expedited Product Development:
A fractional CPO helps the company zoom forward from the dream stage to the selling stage by speeding up the product development process. No more ‘figuring out’, minimal A/B testing!
Reduced Failure & Risk:
Let’s face it, no matter how loudly we say “fail fast, fail often”, we all hate failures. This is especially true for the owners of MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises). Failures can be expensive and demoralising for them. A fractional CPO reduces the likelihood of failure and minimises risk.
Flexibility:
Many growing entrepreneurial ventures might not need the expertise of a CPO all through their product development lifecycle. In these cases, businesses can flexibly scale up or down the services offered by fractional CPOs.
A Win-Win Situation:
When a business engages a CPO, its product development is geared towards business success as well as customer success. It’s a win-win situation.
How to Select the Right Fractional CPO for Your Startup
A fractional CPO will obviously benefit a startup or a growing business of small to medium scale. But it all comes down to whether the executive is a perfect fit for your business. So, how do you select a fractional CPO who is a perfect fit? Here are some pointers:
- As a business owner, you must be clear about what you want from the fractional CPO. Do you want guidance regarding product development? Do you want to change your product features? Do you want guidance regarding the launch of a new product? You should have clear answers to all questions like these.
- Secondly, make sure that the fractional CPO you shortlist has experience working in the niche that your business is in. Industry experience goes a long way.
- The third most important thing that you should do is to verify whether your selected fractional product lead is aligned with the culture in your company.
Then comes assessing the prospective fractional CPO’s market knowledge and his or her product development acumen. However, managers or owners at a startup or growing organization that has just started might not be able to evaluate this. This is where COHIRE comes in.
COHIRE Helps You Onboard the Perfect Fractional CPO for Your Business
We understand the challenges of finding the right fractional CPO for your business. This is why we have created COHIRE, a platform where you can engage a fractional CPO who is a perfect match for your business.
Your Pain Points — Our Solution
Finding the perfect CPO for your business can be a time-consuming affair. If you make one wrong decision, your products will start lagging behind. COHIRE solves this problem! Just follow these three steps and give your business the CPO it deserves:
- Go to COHIRE. List your requirements, pain points and what you need the CPO to do for you.
- Our dedicated team will handpick the best fractional CPO for you. Remember, this is not a generic hiring platform. We take your needs and pain points into account and handpick the best CPO based on them.
- Onboard the CPO and take your product development to the next level!
The USP of COHIRE
Engaging a fractional CPO comes with hidden challenges. Remember, these are all C-level executives. You don’t “hire” them like other employees. This means the good ones among them won’t even apply! So how do you find the good CPOs? The answer is COHIRE.
- Most good C-level executives won’t apply like other potential employees.
- COHIRE leverages its network to connect with the best CPOs out there. Our system keeps a record of their expertise, experience, and preferred industries.
- When you tell us your requirements and pain points, we match these with our records to find you the best match CPOs. It’s not all automated, though. We manually handpick the best CPOs for you after the initial selection.
Your product is not the hero of your business—it forms the core of the values you provide.
Give your awesome products justice. Hire a fractional CPO!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How many hours does a fractional CPO work?
Ans. A fractional CPO shares his or her work hours with more than one company. Hence, the person does not work full-time for a business. The exact number of hours a fractional CPO works depends on the contract terms signed by the CPO and the company. Sometimes, the hours remain flexible. Again, sometimes, the CPO might work on a project-by-project basis.
2. Is engaging a fractional CPO better than hiring a full-time CPO?
Ans. It depends on the size of the company. Hiring a full-time CPO does not make sense if you own a startup or growth-stage venture. It can get prohibitively expensive. On top of that, the processes or systems implemented by a full-time CPO might be overwhelming for a CPO.
But at the same time, any independent business – irrespective of the size – needs the vision and expertise of a CPO from day one. In this scenario, engaging a fractional CPO makes sense. The systems implemented by a fractional CPO will not be an overkill for the growing companies. And at the same time, engaging such a fractional product lead won’t burn a hole through your pocket.
3. What does a fractional CPO job description look like?
Ans. A job description for a fractional CPO would read: “We are looking for a fractional CPO who will help us be the go-to company for (product). We need someone who has a track record of leading companies through the growth phase. The ideal candidate should have expertise in leading product teams, especially in the B2B sector. The CPO will effectively head the product development and make strategic decisions…”
4. How much does a fractional CPO cost?
Ans. A fractional CPO costs a fraction of what you would pay a full-time CPO. The exact amount depends on the project scope, hours of work, and the contract signed between the fractional CPO and the company.
