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Every stuck initiative looks a little different up close. Some need a leader to drive them to the deadline. Some need the research and learning cycles that turn a stalled growth plan into a working one. Others need someone who can carry an approved idea through the handoffs that usually kill it. Find the one that sounds like yours.
Solution Development and Growth
"We have the product. Growth isn't coming."
Sometimes the growth plan needs sharper execution. Other times the market is telling you the fit isn't there yet, often because validation got skipped. Whether it's a physical product, a SaaS platform or a service line, I lead the business side of it, from validating the idea to finding product-market fit or growing what's already launched.
What I do
I start with empathy and observation to understand what your customers need and where the plan is off. When the data doesn't exist, I set up short learning cycles so you can find out quickly and cheaply. Then I turn what we learn into decisions about what to build and where to spend.
I once inherited a product that had failed before I'd learned everyone's names. I listened to the seasoned pros, ran a design thinking process to find where the launch went wrong, and then reset the forecast. Within two quarters, we beat the new plan.
Depending on your needs, this can include:
Customer research
Market and concept validation
Product-market fit research and learning cycles
Product development process
Growth planning and service line prioritization
The impact
Contributed to a 15% profitability improvement through a parametric product launch at a $3B organization.
Validated 100+ product concepts across five food departments for a large retailer's private label program.
Helped a healthcare technology company determine which of two service lines could contribute more to its growth goal.
Best fit
Companies bringing a new product or service to market
Teams whose growth plan stalled and who aren't sure why
Founders who need commercialization leadership without a full-time hire
"But Alison, we don't have budget for validation." I get it. There are scrappy ways to validate ideas even when money's tight. One business partner described me as a master of stretching resources. Let's talk about what's possible.
Maneuvering Innovation
"Leadership approved it. Somewhere between departments, it died."
The yes happens in the meeting. The failure happens in the handoff, when one team doesn't know how to validate the idea and the next doesn't know how to take it on. That's only one example. Every organization has an immune system, and it attacks new ideas even when they fit the strategy and would give you a real competitive edge.
What I do
I map who really decides and what each of them needs before they'll say yes. Different roles value different things, so I help you build the case each decision-maker needs to hear.
I also look for the scar tissue. A pilot that burned the company before, strained relationships between teams and skipped validation all quietly kill new ideas. Once you can see them, you can plan around them. The goal is a real decision. A clean yes or a clean no beats a slow fade every time.
At a pioneering mobile health startup, I led business development into some of the largest healthcare organizations in the country. Each deal had only three or four decision-makers, but each of them valued something different. I learned what mattered to each role and adjusted our pitch as we moved through the sales process. We closed the company's first revenue-generating deal.
Depending on your needs, this can include:
Stakeholder, incentive and motivation mapping
Building the business case, framed for each decision-maker when it matters
Validation that de-risks the handoff
Innovation transfer between teams or business units
Selling innovation into large organizations
The impact
Added the quantitative validation method that helped an internal innovation group secure commercialization funding for the first time.
Secured the first revenue-generating contract for a mobile health startup, and landed about 50% of its contracts.
Led an account team to win an executive-sponsored innovation competition at one of the world's largest private brand companies.
Best fit
Internal champions whose ideas keep stalling between departments
Founders trying to sell into or pilot with a large corporation
Organizations ready to pursue innovation but lacking someone to shepherd it through the system
"We already have an innovation team." Without a culture that carries ideas across departments, your innovation team becomes an island. Let's talk about building the bridges.
Driving Initiatives
"The deadline is real, and the team is stretched thin."
You've got the vision and just enough budget to green-light the work. What you don't have is someone with the bandwidth to drive it. Sometimes that's a strategic project too important to fail that doesn't fit neatly into anyone's job description. Sometimes it's a department, like marketing, that needs a leader you can't hire full-time yet.
What I do
I start by actually showing up, in person, where the work happens. I listen to the team and walk the floor until I understand where the friction points are. People need to feel heard and seen before they'll move forward with you.
Then I bridge the gaps between people and teams and solve the micro-problems that delay the larger work. On one tangled launch, I built a project "nerve center" on a whiteboard in the team's pod to track the critical path, problems, fixes and status. It's silly simple, but almost no one does it. It kept everyone focused and earned recognition from executive leadership.
Depending on your needs, this can include:
Initiative scoping and cross-functional team leadership
Stakeholder alignment
Brand and marketing strategies that fit your budget
Sales enablement and growth strategies
Navigating organizational complexity without drowning in it
The impact
Led a team through database and product-testing roadblocks that threatened a four-month delay, and hit leadership's original launch window. Revenue forecasts stayed intact.
Stepped in to lead a stretched team through a post-acquisition data migration affecting hundreds of customers across two ERP systems, and delivered within leadership's timeline.
Built the marketing strategy for a brand in turnaround, then coached the team to drive it. Organic web traffic grew an average of 30%, and the team's own content strategy turned into YouTube revenue within nine months.
Best fit
Companies that are motivated but lack the capacity to drive follow-through
Teams launching strategic initiatives without dedicated leadership
Departments, like marketing, that need direction before they need more headcount
If you're here, you already know a full-time senior leader isn't in the budget yet. That's exactly why fractional exists. Let's talk.
Let’s talk.
Not sure which turtle is on your line? Let's talk. I'll help you sort through the options and find the right starting point.