Fractional Chief Product Officer

For brand new startups


Congratulations! You’ve raised some money. You’ve got a great idea. You want to deliver care online and maybe even in-person. But, you’ve never done this before. Or you don’t have deep medical expertise and you need to know how doctors think and what they will and won’t do. You need to architect every moving part of a novel care model so you can have a clear and rational roadmap to get you through to the next round. And you want to be confident that you’re laying the right foundation to get you all the way to the IPO.


What are the deliverables?

Chief Product Officers typically come later in the game when companies need deep expertise for a suite of products that need to be strategically operationalized. Young care model companies often hire a “Product” person who has built technology in the past and is responsible for shepherding the development of the platform. But technology is just one of nine components of a care model. And the challenge during this phase of the company is the time it takes to build the strategic vision. You need to architect the plan. And then it’s an issue of “hurry up and wait.” It’s strikingly similar to building a house. At the outset, you spend tons of time with the architect designing a new house from the ground up for your unique needs. Then, as the house is being built, the architect is there to ensure it’s built to spec. And, over time, the architect is no longer needed as you move in. Especially if the architect has educated you and your family exactly how to use your house and how to care for it for decades to come.

A “fractional” CPO delivers a holistic and strategic vision for building and operationalizing a care model.

  • We work as team players to define and document the source of truth for all nine components of a care model.
  • We communicate the components to all stakeholders across the company.
  • We direct the team to create the components of the care model.
  • We work on a day-to-day basis with the entire team in meetings and on your platforms (Slack, Jira, Productboard, email, etc.).
  • We meet with potential and current investors.
  • We co-create and document the “Northstar” vision for where we want the company to be in 1, 3, and 5 years.

What is the scope of the engagement?

Typically, this is a 6 to 12 month retainer.


Let’s see if we’re a good fit.