Overview

Some moments in a company's life do not need a full-time executive. They need executive presence, real accountability, and someone who has already run the play. Board meetings that need a stronger voice at the table. A launch that needs a delivery lead. A leadership gap between two permanent hires. A chief executive who needs a second brain in the room three days a week.

These engagements cover CEO, COO, and GM shapes, engagement-scoped, and calibrated to the intensity your business actually needs. This is not a coach dressed up as an executive. It's an operator, in the seat, for the stretch it takes to move the company forward. Founders, CEOs, boards and investors bring me in when they need real executive weight without the overhead of a permanent hire.

What I Do

Every fractional engagement is defined by the outcome, not the calendar. Days per week, months of engagement, and areas of authority are all scoped to the problem in front of the company. The mandate is specific, the exit criteria are clear, and the goal is always to leave the company stronger than I found it.

Fractional CxO engagements include:

• Fractional CEO for early-stage, transitioning, or scaling companies
  
  

• Fractional COO for scale-up operational lift and executive gap coverage
  
  

• Fractional GM for a new market, product line, or business unit launch
  
  

• Interim executive during hiring or leadership transition
  
  

• Board seat or observer role with defined scope
  
  

• Executive sparring for a leader stepping up into a bigger seat
  
  

• Cross-functional programme leadership for critical launches
  
  

• Interim Head of Product, Head of Sales, or Head of Operations for growth-stage companies
  
  

• Fractional executive for cross-border expansion (CEE to US, Europe to Asia)
  
  

• Full-stack specialist coordination while in the seat: legal, financial, marketing, PR, sales, product development, capital raise, and exit, all through an international trusted-partner network

Typical shape: one to three days per week, three to twelve months, with clear entry and exit criteria and a defined handover to the permanent hire. Engagements are scoped and priced as a day rate against a defined mandate, agreed up front for the full stretch.

How I Work

Fractional work only works if the mandate is real. The first conversation covers what authority sits with me, what stays with the chief executive or the board, and what the exit criteria are for me leaving the seat. Ambiguous authority is the fastest way to burn a fractional engagement. Explicit authority is what makes it work.

From there, weekly cadence, honest reporting, and a firm hand on operating discipline. The goal is not to become indispensable. The goal is to leave the company measurably stronger than I found it, on time, with the permanent hire already onboarded or the incumbent already able to hold the seat themselves.

What you get is executive presence for the stretch. Not a consultant on retainer, not a coach with a framework. An operator in the room, with skin in the game.

A fractional CxO seat often means being the connective tissue across the entire operating stack. When the company needs legal, tax, financial, marketing, PR, sales, or software development input in parallel with the executive work, I bring in specialists from my international network. You get executive weight and a coordinated advisory stack, not another set of relationships to manage.

Why It Matters

Chief executives and boards often reach fractional shape because they've tried the alternatives and hit friction. Full-time hires take months to find, cost a full salary for a role that only needs three days a week, and the fit risk is high. Consultants don't have executive authority. Coaches don't have decision rights. What actually solves the problem is executive presence, scoped to intensity.

A fractional CxO with real operating experience compresses the risk on all sides. The company gets executive weight without the overhead. The person running it gets a peer to make decisions with. The board gets someone accountable in the seat. And when the mandate ends, the handover to the permanent hire is cleaner because the shape of the role is already defined.

What You Can Expect

Companies working with Szel & Partners on fractional CxO engagements typically see:

• Executive weight in the room without full-time overhead

• Faster decision-making and clearer accountability across the leadership team

• Cleaner permanent-hire process because the role shape is defined

• Better board and investor relationships during transitions

• Operational discipline that continues after the engagement ends

• A chief executive who is measurably stronger in the seat than before

• Coordinated international specialist network available from day one of the engagement. No separate onboarding needed.

Engagement shapes range from a single quarter to twelve months. The right shape is the one that matches the business need, not the one that sounds impressive on the deck.