Fractional CEO Services Focused on Valuation and Value Creation
A Fractional CEO from Oak CEO partners with your company on a part-time, ongoing basis to steer change, accelerate growth, or prepare for transaction while keeping costs and commitment flexible.
Do You Need to Hire a Fractional CEO?
Get Started:
- Fill out the form with your contact details and a brief description of your need for a Fractional Executive.
- Our specialist, Christoffer Nielsen, will get back to you within 24 business hours to clarify goals, cadence (days per week/month), and priorities.
- We’ll then provide a tailored proposal covering scope, rhythm, and fees.
Christoffer Nielsen
Phone: (737) 232-0838
In my daily work, I focus on business valuation and transaction advisory. I have extensive experience in identifying the measures that affect value.
Fractional CEO – What Is It?
A Fractional CEO (Chief Executive Officer) is a seasoned executive who leads your business on a part-time basis, typically a set number of days per week or month, providing top-tier leadership without the cost and commitment of a full-time hire.
Typical scenarios are business owners who due to their speciality is great at what they do, but lacks the busienss acumen, and hence the business falls behind in some areas. A fractional CEO fixes that problem. Oftentimes, this is not a matter of luxury, but rather a necessity as the business outgrows the business acumen of an otherwise very skilled specialist who owns the business.
Fractional CEO vs. Interim CEO – What’s the Difference?
An Interim CEO is typically full-time for a limited time and urgent situations.
A Fractional CEO provides the same caliber of leadership part-time on an ongoing basis.
Both bring deep executive experience; the distinction is commitment and rhythm: interim is full-time, short-term; fractional is part-time, sustained leadership.
When Are Fractional CEO Services Right for You?
1. Business outgrows leader
Most small businesses, who are run by technical specialists without business acumen, do indeed need a fractional CEO, but there is a cost benefit struggle for companies in the low fix figures in terms of revenue. From roughly a quarter million in revenue, up to eight figure, there is little doubt a good fractional CEO is a net benefit. Low to high eight figure businesses need to make a decision of what benefits the business the most. The founder backed up by a fractional CEO, or a regular full time CEO with the founder only in the board/background. Most would agree with, that founders generally are invaluable to the company, but most would also agree that they lack in some more professional areas.
2. Exit plan or retirement
Younger tech founder looking to exit? Older business owner looking to retire? Either way, your business is many times too dependent on you, and unfortunately also too unprofessionally managed by an outside perspective. A fractional CEO fixes this..
When to Engage a Fractional CEO: Two Common Scenarios
1. When your business dependent on you
For many owners in their 60s, the biggest obstacle to selling their company is personal goodwill. The business relies too heavily on them, reducing both fair market value and buyer interest.
This is a perfect scenario for engaging a fractional CEO. By stepping in part-time, a fractional CEO gradually transfers operational responsibility from the owner to the organization and formalizes processes so the company can run without the founder.
The earlier this transition begins, the more the owner’s personal dependency decreases, and the higher the likelihood of a successful sale.
2. The owner/manager who needs professional management
Many founder-led companies—like a welding industry firm run by an owner who is an exceptional welder but not a traditional CEO.
A fractional CEO can step in part-time to share the CEO role, bringing the professional management to where it needs to be, to allow for the continuation of growth without outgrowing the owner, and for the owner/manager to keep doing what he does best.
How a Fractional CEO from Oak CEO Increases Business Value
Hands-On Leadership with a Value-Creation Mandate
With backgrounds in business valuation and M&A, Oak CEO brings rigorous, practical leadership. With our fractional CEO services, our expert works alongside the management team to drive the actions that lift value: sharpen strategy, tighten execution, improve unit economics, and prepare for future ownership changes.
Whether you’re navigating change, building towards exit, or scaling for growth, fractional leadership provides consistent senior attention at a sustainable cadence.
Expect tough prioritization when needed, focusing on core offerings, right-sizing costs, and formalizing processes, in order for the business to compound results over time.
Examples of What a Fractional CEO Can Deliver
Imagine a mid-sized company preparing for investment or exit. Oak CEO places a fractional CEO who, over six months of part-time engagement, can:
- Reduce owner dependency through delegation
- Digitize critical workflows
- Implement SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures)
- Expand margins thru both auditing both procurement and sales
- Improve financial reporting to investor-grade standards
No One Size FIts All
We do not believe those who claim to have a “system” that works on everything. That sounds like a get rich quick scheme to us. Our methodology is to get intimately familiar with the business, and then take on the task the make the sometimes difficult decisions that will get the business to reach whatever target or goal that you as the owner is looking to achieve.
Key Agreements with a Fractional CEO
To ensure success, define scope and authority from day one: cadence (days per week/month), decision making authority, spending limits, and reporting expectations. Clear guardrails avoid friction, protect culture, and let the Fractional CEO move fast with confidence.
Examples of questions to align on:
- Hiring and organizational changes: what requires board or owner approval?
- Authority to enter, terminate, or renegotiate major customer/supplier agreements
- Spending thresholds, investment criteria, and external reporting cadence
With aligned expectations, owners and the part-time CEO can focus on what matters most, compounding value.
Some Clarifications About the CEO Role
In British English, CEO is called Managing Director. Only one title, without any division or indication of whether operational or strategic.
In American English, there is CEO and president, and also COO and general manager etc. These definitions are loosely defined and it is not abundantly clear on how operational vs strategic each role is. The CEO of a small company is likely to be more operationally focused than a COO of a larger company, despite the fact that CEO is at the top of hierarchy, and that COO literally stands for Chief Operating Officer.
Norwegian differs from most other languages, in terms of that it has two distinct roles, “daglig leder and “styreleder”. It clearly defines whether operational or strategic. In the smallest of companies, both of these tend to be filled by the same person, the owner, but with increasing sizes of the business, this generally gets split between one person that is involved in the day-to-day operations, like a general manager and one person that works strategically, like the CEO of larger companies.
1A — Operational CEO (larger company)
This mostly resembles the COO of a public company.
1B — Operational CEO (smaller company)
This mostly resembles an owner manager of small company or micro company.
2A — Larger company strategic CEO
This is your typical CEO of a public company.
2B — Smaller company strategic CEO
This is more of an advisor that makes decisions and makes the current business owner strategically abundant, in order to decrease the key person discount that often plagues smaller companies. The purpose is also to increase the professionalism in the company, relating to financial reporting, SOPs and of course, what affects business value the most: Profitability.
Hire Us as Fractional Executive
Oak CEO provides experienced Fractional CEO Services, to increase your company’s value. Efficiently, reliably, and with a cadence that fits your needs. Contact us to explore a scope and rhythm that work for you.