What a fractional advisor actually does.
Senior judgment without a full-time hire, and exactly when it earns its keep.
"Fractional" gets used loosely, so here is the plain version. A fractional advisor is a senior operator who works with you part-time, on the highest-leverage decisions, without the cost or permanence of a full-time executive. You get the judgment of someone who has done it before, applied to your actual situation, for a fraction of the commitment.
What it is, and what it isn't
It is not a coach who asks you questions until you find your own answer. It is not a consultant who delivers a deck and disappears. A fractional advisor is in the work with you, making real calls on real numbers: pricing, structure, capital, partnerships, the next hire, the next pivot. Embedded enough to be accountable, light enough that you are not carrying another full salary.
You do not need a full-time CFO. You need senior judgment on the three decisions that actually move the number.
When to bring one in
The right moment is usually one of these: you have outgrown doing everything yourself but cannot yet justify a full executive team. You are approaching a decision that is too big to get wrong, a raise, an exit, a restructure. Or your revenue is growing but your take-home, your margin, or your clarity is not. That gap is exactly where a fractional advisor pays for itself many times over.
The best ones do not just advise. They see the whole board, tax, capital, partnerships, and systems together, and find the one move with the most leverage. That is the entire point.