Traffic in, revenue out.
The Fractional Head of Growth 90-Day Plan
What I Actually Deliver
Built the growth engine that took cnvrg.io to its acquisition by Intel.
The Fractional Head of Growth 90-Day Plan, Step by Step
This 90-day outline illustrates how I can sequence diagnosis, focused implementation and operating review. We agree the actual milestones, access, client dependencies and deliverables for your engagement. Research and repair can overlap where the evidence and permissions support them; dates do not guarantee revenue recovery.
An illustrative 90-day structure: define the question, ship the agreed work and review evidence at named checkpoints.
I investigate the permitted analytics, campaign, CRM, billing and product records relevant to the decision. The funnel map distinguishes observed losses, missing data and hypotheses, with impact estimates labelled and their assumptions visible.
The diagnostic delivers a prioritised work list, supporting evidence, unknowns and an agreed build scope. A modelled opportunity is not an observed amount of lost revenue or guaranteed recoverable cash.
Days 31 to 60 are the fix. I take the top three leaks from the teardown and close them in priority order. That might be a checkout that drops paying users, an ad account spending into a dead segment, or onboarding that loses people before they see value. I managed $100M+ in budgets across these accounts, so I know the difference between a creative problem and a targeting problem before I touch a dollar.
I personally implement and test the agreed changes, then compare the relevant outcome with its baseline and review horizon. A repair can be delivered before its commercial effect is known.
The later phase reviews which interventions have usable evidence and whether to expand, revise or stop within agreed limits. I document the operating checks and receiving owner. Riverside reported 337% Net MRR growth during my broader growth work; it does not isolate the effect of this 90-day method.
The model behind this is not mine alone. The 90-day structure draws on the same logic Michael Watkins lays out in The First 90 Days: secure early wins, match strategy to the situation, and build momentum before you ask for more. I adapt that framework to growth specifically, where the early wins are dollars recovered from a leaking funnel, not org-chart politics. A fractional head of growth 90-day plan that skips diagnosis and jumps to tactics is just expensive guessing.
You commission a defined mandate with personal research and implementation, permitted access and a documented handover or continuing owner. Compare its full cost and responsibilities with the alternatives. Delivery does not guarantee recovery of a stated revenue amount or an engine that runs without maintenance.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly does the fractional head of growth 90-day plan deliver?
The agreed outputs can include a source-bound funnel review, prioritised implementation, checked tracking or channel changes and an operating handover. We set delivery milestones after reviewing access and dependencies. Commercial results have separate observation windows and may remain inconclusive.
Why 90 days and not a longer retainer?
Ninety days is an illustrative planning horizon, not a universal period sufficient to prove growth. We agree checkpoints for research, implementation and later outcome review around the workload and business cycle. An extension is a separate scope decision.
How is this different from hiring a marketing consultant or a full-time CMO?
Compare the full cost and coverage of the options: salary or fees, benefits, equity, recruitment, ramp time and who implements the work. I bring senior growth leadership and hands-on execution in one engagement, with responsibilities and commercial terms agreed around your business needs.
What happens in the first 30 days of the plan?
I personally investigate the agreed records, interview relevant owners and map the supported constraints. The output names evidence, missing inputs, impact assumptions and the build work to approve. A justified, permitted repair can begin during this phase; the diagnostic does not produce a guaranteed lost-revenue total.
Do I need a big budget for the 90-day plan to work?
We assess the question, source quality, cost, client capacity and fundable observation window. A small scope can be useful without enough traffic for a causal experiment. I personally deliver the agreed investigation or build and keep unresolved outcomes visible.
Is this plan fixed or adapted to my company?
The phases are a planning aid. We adapt their order, overlap, milestones and deliverables to the problem, access, client capacity and evidence.
What do I get in the first 30 days?
A full funnel and attribution audit, customer and team interviews, a ranked bleed list, a growth narrative, and a 60-day build plan you sign off on before any spend.
Do you actually ship work or just advise?
I personally investigate, build and test the work agreed for this engagement. A diagnostic, focused infrastructure build and embedded operating mandate differ in outputs and continuing responsibility. Advice without implementation is available only through separate Advisory.
What happens after 90 days?
We review delivered work, unresolved cases and the receiving owner's readiness. Continuing operation, another build or a separate Advisory engagement can be agreed explicitly. The calendar alone does not establish a self-running growth system.
How many hours a week is this?
Operator and advisory time commitments are agreed for their respective scopes. The plan follows those agreed hours and delivery milestones.
What does it cost?
Diagnostic, infrastructure and embedded Operator pricing depend on the engagement. Scope, time commitment, delivery milestones and contract terms are agreed before work starts.
Can you guarantee results in 90 days?
I commit to the deliverables and checks agreed in the scope. Growth depends on product, market, budget, execution dependencies and the observation window; I do not guarantee movement in a commercial metric. We record inconclusive outcomes and the next evidence needed.
Does this work for ecommerce as well as SaaS?
Yes. The audit-build-compound structure applies to both; the channels and metrics differ. See SaaS and ecommerce.
What are the responsibilities of a fractional head of growth?
I own growth end to end as your head of growth: acquisition, the funnel to paid, lifecycle, and the measurement that ties it to revenue. I work within the scope and time commitment we agree before work starts. In the 90-day plan this runs as diagnose in days 0 to 30, fix in days 31 to 60, and scale in days 61 to 90.
Who is the 90-day plan a good fit for?
It fits companies with product market fit and real traction that want to scale revenue, not just traffic. They are often B2B SaaS, B2C, or e-commerce, frequently Israeli companies selling to the US. Growth work compounds on a real product and cannot manufacture demand for a broken one. If you are pre product market fit, we first need to establish whether a scoped engagement is appropriate.
Is there a minimum term, and how do I end the engagement?
No, there is no minimum term for the plan. I work month-to-month, and either side can end the engagement with 30 days notice. Ending a fractional engagement involves no severance. Scope, time commitment, delivery milestones and contract terms are agreed before work starts.
Which data and tools does the diagnosis cover, and how is access arranged?
We agree which analytics, campaign, CRM, billing and product records the decision requires, along with permitted access and security terms. Missing sources are named and the scope is narrowed or the dependency resolved; access to every company system is not assumed.
Why a concrete plan beats a strategy deck
A strategy deck describes what should happen. A 90-day plan commits to what will ship, and when. Founders who have been burned by consultants want the second one. So this is the shape of a typical engagement: an audit that finds the real bleeds, a build phase that ships quick wins while standing up infrastructure, and a compounding phase that leaves you with a running engine and a dashboard you trust. Adjusted to your stage, but always concrete.
I do not sell strategy decks. I sell dates, named artifacts, and a checkpoint at day 30 where you see the receipts.
Days 0 to 30
Audit, narrative, and the ranked bleed list
The first month is diagnosis, not motion for its own sake. I read your funnel end to end, audit attribution and tracking, interview your team and a handful of customers, and map where revenue actually leaks. The output is a ranked list of the highest-impact fixes and a clear growth narrative, so we spend the next 60 days on what moves the number rather than what feels busy.
- Full funnel and attribution audit with the tracking gaps named
- Customer and team interviews synthesized into positioning input
- Ranked list of revenue bleeds by leverage and effort
- Growth narrative and the one metric that matters this quarter
- A 60-day build plan you sign off on before any spend
Days 31 to 60
Quick wins shipped, infrastructure stood up
I personally ship and test the approved priority changes while building the agreed tracking, channel and reporting work. The log separates completed implementation from observed commercial effects. If more internal capacity is needed, we define the role and dependencies.
- Top quick wins from the bleed list shipped and measured
- Tracking and attribution rebuilt so the data is trustworthy
- Priority channels built or fixed against your motion
- Live growth dashboard for you and the board
- Hiring plan and scorecard if the team needs a role
Days 61 to 90
Compounding loops and a running engine
The later phase documents repeatable work, source freshness, exception handling and the continuing owner. Before handover, that owner checks the normal and failure paths and the result in the receiving system. Independent operation depends on readiness and agreed maintenance, not a guaranteed day 90 result.
- Winning plays systematized into repeatable loops
- Scheduled reporting with freshness, exception checks and a named owner
- Documented growth playbook handed to your team
- Clear next-quarter investment plan by channel
- Operating responsibilities and escalation documented for the agreed system
The named artifacts you walk away with
Pricing
Choose the work required: a personally delivered diagnostic, a focused infrastructure build or an embedded operating mandate. Separate Advisory provides advice without implementation. Scope and capacity are agreed per client or project.
An audit of your growth stack on an agreed timeline, plus a 90-day roadmap. Fixed scope; any follow-on retainer is agreed separately.
- Full 90-day plan executed
- I ship, not just plan
- Board-ready dashboard
- Engagement duration agreed before work starts
Tracking and automation build. See marketing ops.
Know exactly what you are buying before you sign
Book a 15-min call. I will sketch the first 30 days for your specific situation, free.
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