Hiring guide

How to hire a fractional chief growth officer

For consumer brands between three and a hundred million in revenue

Hire a fractional chief growth officer when growth has stalled, demand has not, and nobody inside the company owns the whole funnel. Look for an operator who has run paid growth and creative from inside a brand at your stage and in your category. Ask what number they will be measured on. Agree a fixed-fee audit first and a six-month term after it. The interview should feel like an audit of your business, not a pitch for theirs.

First, decide whether you need one

Three different problems get called "we need growth help." They have three different answers.

  • You have a channel to run and a team to own it. Hire an agency or a media buyer. Give them a scope.
  • You are spending enough that growth is a full-time job with a team under it. Hire a VP of Growth. Full time, in the building.
  • Nobody owns the whole funnel, and you cannot yet justify the full-time seat. Hire a fractional chief growth officer. Part of a week, all of the number.

Most brands between about three million and a hundred million in revenue are in the third case for a year or two. That is the window this seat exists for.

What a fractional CGO should own

If the person you are talking to will not own all of these, you are hiring a consultant, and you should pay consultant money.

  • The growth number. New customers, cost to acquire, payback, and the margin after the ad is paid for.
  • Paid media strategy. And often the buying itself, at least until the team can.
  • Creative strategy and the testing cadence. Which hooks run, how many, and what kills them.
  • The funnel. Landing pages, offer, checkout, subscription, the first week after the sale.
  • Retention economics. Because the cost to acquire only makes sense next to what a customer is worth.
  • Hiring and training. The people who will run it when they are gone.

Where to find one

Ask founders one stage ahead of you who did the work when their numbers moved. Listen for operators who talk about specific ads and specific cohorts on podcasts, not about frameworks. Read the case studies on their site, then check the dates and the roles against the public record. The good ones have a short list of brands with years next to them. The weak ones have a wall of logos with no dates.

Seven questions to ask in the interview

  1. What was your actual role at each brand on your site, and in which years?
  2. What number will you be measured on here, and what does it need to reach by when?
  3. What would you stop spending on in the first month?
  4. Who writes the hooks, and how many concepts go live in a normal week?
  5. What happens when a test loses?
  6. How many brands do you work with at once?
  7. How does this end?

Good answers are specific and a little uncomfortable. The person should be willing to disagree with you about your own business in the first conversation.

Red flags

  • They will not name a number they would be held to.
  • They talk about creative volume but not about which hooks hold.
  • They cannot say what they would cut.
  • The deck has more logos than dates.
  • They want to start Monday without looking inside the accounts first.
  • They quote a price before they have seen anything.

Terms that are normal

  • A fixed-fee audit before any retainer, credited against the retainer if it continues.
  • A monthly retainer with part of the fee tied to agreed results.
  • A six-month minimum, then a thirty-day out.
  • A cap on how many brands the operator works with at once.
  • Read and edit access to the ad accounts, analytics and the store from day one.
  • A weekly working session, not a weekly status deck.

The first ninety days

  1. Weeks one to three: the audit. Accounts, creative, funnel, unit economics. A written plan at the end.
  2. Weeks four to eight: the rebuild. Kill what does not pay. Rebuild the testing cadence. Fix the page or the offer that is leaking.
  3. Weeks nine to thirteen: scale what held. Put budget behind the winners. Start hiring the people who will run it.

If nothing has been killed by week eight, something is wrong. Growth work that only adds is not growth work.

By Grant Baker, growth operating partner · Updated August 27, 2026

Questions people ask

What does a fractional CGO cost?

It depends on the brand's size and the scope. Most operators quote a fixed fee for the audit and a monthly retainer for the engagement, with part of the retainer tied to results. Ask for the number after the audit, not before it. A price quoted before anyone has seen the accounts is a guess.

Fractional CGO or fractional CMO: what is the difference?

A fractional CMO usually owns brand, positioning and the marketing team. A fractional CGO owns the growth number: paid acquisition, creative testing, conversion and retention economics. Some people do both. Ask which number they will be measured on.

How many hours a week is fractional?

Enough to own the number, which is usually more than one day and less than three. The better question is how many brands they work with at once. Three or four is a workable limit. Ten is an agency.

Should I hire a fractional CGO or an agency?

If you have a channel to run and a team to own it, an agency. If nobody owns the whole funnel and you cannot yet justify a full-time growth leader, a fractional CGO. Many brands use both, with the CGO directing the agency.

How long should the engagement last?

Six months is a fair minimum. A testing cadence takes about that long to find winners and prove they hold. The right ending is when your own team runs the engine without the operator.

What should I have ready before the first call?

Read access to the ad accounts, analytics and the store. The last twelve months of profit and loss by month. And an honest answer to one question: what is the one number that would change the business if it moved?