What working with a fractional executive team looks like
An engagement with The Virtual C-Suite starts with a 30-minute call with a partner, moves to a written 90-day plan with the seats, hours and price agreed in advance, and then runs as a standing monthly leadership meeting plus the work between meetings. Retainers are month to month after the first 90 days, and scope is reviewed every quarter.
How does the first 90 days work?
How many hours do I get?
Retainers are scoped in hours per month per seat, in three bands: advisory (about 8 hours a month: the monthly meeting, phone and email access, review of what you send), working (about 16 hours: advisory plus a defined project or standing responsibility), and embedded (about 30 hours: the partner owns the function, attends your weekly leadership meeting and manages staff or vendors in it).
- The monthly meeting
- Phone and email access
- Review of what you send
- Everything in advisory
- A defined project or standing responsibility
- The partner owns the function
- Attends your weekly leadership meeting
- Manages staff or vendors in it
Who do I actually meet with?
The partners. There is no account manager and no delegation to associates. If an engagement needs a fractional CFO, CMO or COO, we bring one from our partner network and they join the same monthly meeting under the same plan.
Do you work on site?
Yes, in Maryland, Washington DC and Northern Virginia. The monthly leadership meeting is in person by default for clients in that corridor. Our security partner is based in El Paso; his assessments are on site wherever you are, and his program work runs remotely with scheduled days in the DMV each year [confirm number]. Everything else runs by video, phone and shared documents. Clients outside the region are fully remote with travel billed at cost when it is needed.
What is the commitment?
The first 90 days is a fixed engagement. After that, month to month with 30 days' notice. There is no placement fee, no success fee and no equity.
What is not included?
Litigation, which David will refer or handle under a separate engagement. Day-to-day IT support, which EDG.tech or your existing provider delivers. Security guard services or armed response. Bookkeeping and tax. We will tell you on the first call if what you need is one of those.
How is this different from a consultant?
A consultant delivers a report and leaves. A fractional executive owns a function and is accountable for it month after month, sits in your leadership meetings, signs off on decisions and is reachable when something goes wrong at 7 pm on a Friday. Full comparison on the fractional vs full-time page.
Fractional vs full-time vs interim →