Fractional Product & Growth

Senior product leadership without the full-time hire.

For founder-led B2B SaaS & AI companies that need clearer product direction, stronger commercial decisions and senior ownership across growth — without hiring another full-time leader.

Book a fit call See engagement options

When product leadership starts to stretch

The roadmap is rarely the only problem.

As a company grows, product decisions become more connected to customer evidence, commercial priorities, engineering capacity and growth. What worked when the founder could hold everything in their head eventually stops scaling.

At that point, the challenge is usually not simply “we need a better roadmap”. It is creating clearer decision-making across what to build, why it matters, how it will drive growth and what the team should stop doing.

Priorities keep shifting

The team is busy, but the rationale behind what moves first is not always clear or consistent.

Customer requests are driving the roadmap

Important feedback is coming in, but individual requests are starting to outweigh broader evidence and product strategy.

The founder is carrying too much product ownership

Too many decisions still depend on one person, making it harder for the team to move independently.

Activation or retention is weaker than expected

Customers are signing up, but too few are reaching value quickly enough or continuing to use the product meaningfully.

Pricing and packaging have not kept pace

The product has evolved, but the commercial model still reflects an earlier version of the business.

Teams need clearer decisions, not more process

Adding more ceremonies, documents or frameworks will not fix unclear ownership or weak prioritisation.

What I can take ownership of

Senior ownership across product direction, growth and commercial decisions.

The engagement flexes around the problem rather than forcing your team into a fixed playbook. The work typically sits across six areas.

Product strategy & priorities

Clarify where the product should focus, what deserves to move next and what should not.

This can include strategic themes, roadmap direction, opportunity assessment, prioritisation and clearer decision criteria.

Customer discovery

Turn customer evidence, usage patterns and commercial signals into better product decisions.

This can include interviews, qualitative research, behavioural data, win/loss evidence and validation of new opportunities.

Activation & retention

Identify where customers fail to reach value and improve the journeys that drive adoption.

This can include onboarding, activation milestones, feature adoption, retention analysis and product-led growth opportunities.

Pricing & monetisation

Connect packaging, usage, value and commercial goals more deliberately.

This can include pricing review, packaging, usage-based models, upgrade paths and identifying monetisation opportunities inside the product.

Product analytics & experimentation

Define the signals that matter and build a practical approach to testing product opportunities.

This can include KPI definition, event requirements, funnel analysis, experiment design and decision-making based on evidence rather than activity.

Cross-functional leadership

Bring product, engineering, marketing, sales and customer teams around clearer decisions and ownership.

That might mean operating rhythm, roadmap communication, launch coordination, stakeholder alignment or simply making sure the right decisions are being made at the right level.

How I work

Enough structure to create clarity. Not enough to slow the team down.

Senior product leadership should reduce decision load, not create another layer of process.

I work directly with founders and cross-functional teams to understand the commercial context, customer evidence and constraints behind the roadmap. From there, I help create a clearer operating rhythm around decisions, priorities and outcomes.

The exact shape depends on the company, but the work usually combines:

Strategic product direction
Regular decision-making and prioritisation
Customer and market evidence
Growth and monetisation analysis
Team alignment
Hands-on support where a problem needs deeper ownership

I am not there to maintain Jira, run ceremonies or act as a project manager. The value is in improving the quality of product decisions and helping the team execute against them.

Selected outcomes

Product decisions tied to commercial results.

Tidio

+25% metered AI revenue

Led product growth and monetisation across AI customer-service products, alongside a 25% improvement in automated resolution.

+12% plugin activation
Three messaging channels delivered in five months

GrowthHero

45% → 85% onboarding completion

Redesigned onboarding and activation around clearer customer journeys and product value.

+40% weekly active users
ARPU increased from $41 to $53

Vitay

$850k → $1.1m ARR

Worked across product leadership, pricing and enterprise readiness to support stronger commercial growth.

+30% ARPU
8 enterprise agreements

See selected work

Engagement options

Choose the level of support the problem needs.

Fractional Product Partner

From £1,800 / €2,100 per month

Up to 4 consulting days per month, usually around one day per week.

Best for teams that need senior product guidance, clearer priorities and ongoing decision support without a full-time hire.

Typical timeframe

Initial 3-month engagement, ongoing thereafter.

Embedded Product & Growth Lead

From £3,600 / €4,200 per month

Up to 8 consulting days per month, usually around two days per week.

Best for teams that need deeper ownership across product direction, growth priorities and cross-functional execution.

Typical timeframe

Initial 3-month engagement; commonly 3–9 months.

Monthly retainers include up to four or eight consulting days per calendar month. Additional days or specialist implementation work are scoped separately.

See all pricing

Is this the right fit?

Best for companies that need senior product ownership, not extra hands on a backlog.

A strong fit when

You already have a working product and real customers
The founder is carrying too much product ownership
Product priorities are becoming harder to manage
Growth has slowed despite continued shipping
Activation, retention or monetisation need stronger focus
You need senior product support without another full-time hire
You want someone who can connect product decisions to commercial outcomes

Probably not the right fit when

You mainly need project management or delivery coordination
You want someone to maintain tickets and run ceremonies
You need a full engineering team
You are still at idea stage without meaningful customer evidence
The main challenge is execution capacity rather than product decision-making

Frequently asked questions

Common questions from founders and product teams.

What does a fractional product leader actually do?: Senior product ownership on a part-time basis. The work can include product strategy, prioritisation, customer discovery, growth, monetisation, analytics and cross-functional leadership, depending on what the business needs.
When should a company bring in this kind of support?: Usually when product decisions are becoming more complex, the founder is carrying too much product ownership, or the company needs senior product capability but is not ready for another full-time leadership hire.
Is this the same as hiring a contract Product Manager?: Not quite. A contract PM is often brought in to own a defined area or delivery workload. This role is focused on senior decision-making, product direction and commercial outcomes across the business.
Can you work with an existing Product Manager or product team?: Yes. The role can sit above or alongside an existing PM, particularly where the team needs stronger strategic direction, coaching, prioritisation or founder support.
Do you work hands-on or just advise?: Both. I can stay at the strategic level where appropriate, but I also work directly on research, prioritisation, analytics, pricing, growth problems and product decisions where deeper ownership is useful.
Do you only work with SaaS companies?: Scale Smarter is primarily built for founder-led B2B SaaS & AI companies because that is where the product, growth and commercial experience is strongest.

Need senior product leadership without another full-time hire?

If product decisions are becoming harder to manage, growth needs sharper focus or too much still sits with the founder, we can work out what level of support makes sense.

Book a fit call View pricing