The Future is Fractional: How Smart Founders Are Building the Next Generation of Companies
Fractional. It used to be a word that meant "less than whole." Now? It's the smartest move a founder can make.
The old playbook - hire full-time, burn cash, hope for the best is getting a serious face lift. The founders and operators who are winning right now are building lean, moving smarter, and bringing in world-class talent exactly where and when they need it.
We're bringing together four experts who live and breathe fractional work, from both sides of the table, for a unscripted conversation about what the fractional model actually looks like in practice.
Meet our Panel:
Andy Karuza — Co-founder of NachoNacho, B2B SaaS & AI marketplace. Andy's moderating and keeping the conversation honest. (He's also really good at asking the questions you didn't know you needed answered.)
Taylor Crane — Founder of Fractional Jobs (fractionaljobs.io), the largest network of fractional executives in the world with 30,000+ professionals. Former fractional Head of Product himself - so he's been on both sides of the hiring equation.
Emily Hollender — Founder of Next Wave Marketing Partners and fractional VP of Marketing. Former Rent the Runway, The Wing, and Tia, now three years deep into fractional life with 30+ clients across Series A to D consumer startups.
Craig Brown — Founder of Troubadour and Hubble expert. Runs a product marketing agency for B2B SaaS and AI tech startups. Fractional product marketer who knows the startup side inside and out.
What we're getting into:
How do you actually define "fractional", and why does it matter that we get the definition right?
What early-stage founders should look for when hiring their first fractional executive and the mistakes that trip people up.
How fractional talent at early-stage companies looks different than later-stage, and why that's actually the unlock.
What investors and VCs are seeing in portfolio companies that are getting fractional right.
Whether you're building your founding team, evaluating your next investment, or thinking about going fractional yourself, this one's going to change how you think about the best hire for your company.