Fractional CPO
Experienced. Embedded. Transformative.
Step in as your fractional CPO. I own the product strategy, lead and hire the team, and run the function while we find a permanent CPO — or decide you don't need one.
Who it's for
You need this if the gap is urgent.
Plug gaps
Your CPO has just left, gone on leave, or never existed — and you need to fill the gaps now.
Scaling pressure
You're scaling fast and product is the bottleneck. You can't wait 6 months to hire a full-time CPO — or wait for your current leadership to level up.
Premium experience
You need someone who's done the job at scale, but can't attract or pay the full-time salary.
What you get
From strategy to succession.
Full diagnosis
I'll go deep into your product strategy, delivery and team, and uncover the real problems to solve.
Strategy & operating model
I own product strategy end-to-end: vision, bets, roadmap shape, prioritisation rituals, and how the function operates.
Lead, coach and hire
I lead your existing product leaders, coach them up, and run the hiring process for permanent roles — including my own replacement.
ExCo representation
I represent product in your leadership team, at the board level. All decision-making, narrative and KPIs are owned.
How it works
Simple, scoped, focused.
A few calls to confirm fit. A scoped first 30 days to audit and stabilise. A 3-month minimum engagement, with at least 6 for real transformation.
I also partner with Rational Partners, a fractional CTO agency that often brings me in for product-side work.
What a fractional CPO actually does
A fractional Chief Product Officer is a senior product leader who owns your product function part-time — typically two to three days a week — instead of joining as a full-time executive hire. The accountability is the same as a permanent CPO: product strategy, the operating model, the shape and performance of the team, and how product is represented to the executive team and the board. What changes is the commitment, the cost and the speed at which it can start.
Most companies reach for this in one of three moments: the CPO has left and the roadmap is drifting; the business has scaled past its first product leader and the function needs rewiring; or a Series A–C company needs executive-grade product judgement before it can justify a full-time salary. In each case the risk of waiting six months for a permanent hire is higher than the cost of bringing in someone who has done the job before.
The first 90 days
The first 30 days are a diagnosis: strategy, delivery, customer evidence, team shape, stakeholder trust. I use the COACH framework to find where the system around your people is breaking down, rather than treating symptoms like missed dates or noisy roadmaps. By day 30 you get a written view of the real problems and a plan.
Days 30–90 are execution: a strategy the exec team can repeat, a prioritisation rhythm people trust, clear ownership across teams, and a hiring plan for the roles that are genuinely missing — including, where it makes sense, my permanent replacement. Your existing product leaders get coached up rather than worked around, which is often the fastest route to a function that no longer needs me.
Fractional CPO vs consultant vs interim hire
A consultant diagnoses and hands over a deck. An interim hire fills a seat for a fixed term. A fractional CPO owns outcomes: I sit in your leadership team, carry the product number, make the calls and stay accountable for them. If you need judgement alongside an existing product leader rather than someone taking the wheel, product advisory is usually the better fit. If the gap is in the individual rather than the function, executive coaching for product leaders or a team coaching programme will get you further.
Meet Emma
18 years in product.
Two unicorns scaled.
I'm Emma van Dijkum. Former VP Product at Multiverse and Funding Circle, with senior roles at Naked Wines and Octopus. I've built B2B product teams from 16 to 120 and led through reorgs, M&A and the kind of growth pressure that tests every leader.
I'm not a generic executive coach. I've sat in the product seat, owned the P&L and defended the roadmap to hostile ExCos — and now I help others do it better.
FAQs
Good questions.
- Will you find my permanent CPO?
- Yes — and coach them into the role. Most engagements end with a clean handover, not a cliff edge.
- What's the minimum commitment?
- Three months. Real change at the function level needs at least a quarter to stick.
- Do you only do B2B SaaS?
- Mostly B2B SaaS, fintech and edtech. If your space is adjacent, let's talk on the discovery call.
- How quickly can you start?
- Typically within two to three weeks of the discovery call. The first 30 days are an audit and stabilisation phase, so there's no long ramp-up before you see impact.
- How do you handle confidentiality with the board?
- Everything discussed in the engagement is confidential. I operate as a member of your leadership team, not an external consultant — which means the same discretion applies.
- What happens if it's not working?
- We have an honest conversation. Engagements have a three-month minimum, but if something isn't landing I'd rather address it directly than run the clock. Most issues are surfaced and resolved in the first four to six weeks.
- How many days a week does a fractional CPO work?
- Usually two to three days a week. Enough to own the function and be present for the decisions that matter, without the cost of a full-time hire.
- Is a fractional CPO the same as a product consultant?
- No. A consultant recommends; a fractional CPO owns. I sit in the leadership team, carry the product number and make the calls.
Let's talk
You've been figuring
it out alone
long enough.
Let's talk.
A 30-minute discovery call. No pitch. We'll figure out whether — and how — I can help.
Prefer email?
emma@product-leadership-coaching.comWhere I work
Based in Spain, working remotely with companies and leaders globally — across UK, EU and US time zones.