Fractional CPO and go-to-market.
For startups that need to move fast and scale product and go-to-market. Expert advice, hands-on product leadership, or both: we work with you, inside your team, so what gets built is what buyers will pay for.
You don't hire fractional because you can't afford the real thing. You hire fractional because you're in a specific situation that a permanent hire would handle badly, too slowly, or at the wrong cost.
Raphaël worked in product at Google, then led product at Horangi Cyber Security from MVP through Series B to its acquisition by Bitdefender. He has done this job from the inside, and that is how we work with you.
For startups ready to scale · Product and go-to-market
Not sure where it is stalling? Take the four-minute Execution Health Check
Product
Fractional CPO
When product decisions are slowing the business, the founding CEO is still running product by default, or you need a senior operator to build the function before making the permanent hire.
Urgency
Hiring a full-time CPO takes three to six months. The problem is costing money now. Or your VP just left and someone needs to hold the function while the search runs.
The founder bottleneck
You're still running product by default. You need to exit that role but you're not ready for the permanent hire. A fractional runs the function properly while you develop that picture.
The technical founder
You're a great engineer building the right thing. You've never run a product organisation. You need someone to install the operating system, not own it forever. Show me how, then leave.
The board signal
Investors want to see product leadership maturity. A promoted PM with a title change doesn't move the needle. A credible senior operator in the function does.
After the round
You have closed the round and the plan says scale. The team is shipping, but nobody senior is deciding what buyers actually need.
The internal candidate
You have a director who should be your VP in 12 months. You need someone to hold the function, develop them, and hand it over cleanly when they're ready.
Go-to-market
Head of go-to-market
When the product is ahead of the selling. We set the go-to-market strategy with you and coach your team to run it: who buys, why now, what to say and in what order. We do not make your cold calls.
Nobody can say who buys it
The product has users and a demo that lands. The buyer, the budget and the reason to buy this quarter are still guesses.
Sales runs on the founder
Every deal that closed, the founder closed. Nothing about how is written down, so nobody else can repeat it.
The message changes every meeting
Each pitch is tuned to the last conversation. The website, the pitch and the sales call say three different things.
The first sales hire is coming
You are about to hire someone to sell. Before they start, someone has to decide what they are selling, to whom, and how.
Looking for a fractional CTO?
Many founders who go looking for a fractional CTO or CPO at this stage have a product question rather than an engineering one: what to build, in what order, and for which buyer. That is the work we do. We sit alongside your technical lead, not in place of them, and if the gap really is architecture or running an engineering team, we will tell you on the first call.
What we do
We work inside the team, not from the sidelines. For three to twelve months we lead product and go-to-market with the founder: what gets built, for whom, how it is positioned and sold, the team, the hiring and the operating rhythm.
What it produces
A product and go-to-market team that runs without us, and a clear brief for whoever you hire to lead it next. The measure of a successful engagement is that our departure doesn't cause a regression.
What it isn't
We are not parachuting in to diagnose and leave. Our name is on the outcome.
“Having someone own the thinking with you rather than just advise sporadically feels different.”
“The biggest thing we were stuck on: what were we building, for who, and what was the direction? That’s something that has now concretely changed: we gained clear focus. We’re now very targeted in the what, for who, and why. The product marketing side was something we lacked a lot in. There was a big gap in how to translate what we had to an ICP: that’s something we really struggled with and where Raphaël helped the most.”
What you are committing to
Typical shape, not a fixed package
How long
Typically three to twelve months.
Your time
One to two days a week, inside your team.
What you keep
A product and go-to-market function that runs without us.
Three months when there is a function to fix and someone to hand it back to. Twelve when it has to be built from nothing and the person who will run it has not been hired yet. The gap between those is a hiring plan, not a stage, so the length is something we work out together before it starts.
Why SHA/RP
What sits behind the work
Inside the team, then handed back.
We do the work, not slides about the work, and leave a team that runs without us.
The founder's side of the table.
Raphaël worked in product at Google, then led product at Horangi Cyber Security from MVP through Series B to its acquisition by Bitdefender. We know what building it looks like from the inside.
Investors who will take the meeting.
Our network spans Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and we introduce you only once the pitch is ready.
We win when you do.
We stay through the raise, and part of our fee is a small share of what you raise.
On the record
“… He doesn't jump to solutions. He gets to the crux of the problem first, builds solid hypotheses, and does the foundational research to back them up. The rigor was real. …”
Where is it stalling?
Tell us what is stalling and what it is costing. On a first call we will both see whether we are a good fit for each other, and whether a fractional CPO and go-to-market is the right shape, or whether it is not.
No obligation either way. We will come back with a tailored answer, or tell you it is not us.
Or write to us directly at office@sha-rp.com.
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