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Big Creek Growth Newsletter: Edition #26🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️☝️

Big Creek Growth Newsletter: Edition #26🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️☝️

Optimizing Startup Operations

Big Creek Growth Company
January 31, 2025

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The Rise of the Fractional Team:
Why One Expert Isn’t Enough

Startups have long embraced fractional executives to tackle critical challenges on a budget. But as businesses scale and challenges multiply, the next evolution has emerged: the fractional team. Instead of relying on one expert to solve a single problem, startups are assembling a cohesive group of fractional professionals to tackle cross-functional challenges together. It’s like having a dream team on demand, but without the price tag of full-time hires. Here’s how fractional teams are reshaping the startup landscape.

Why One Expert Can’t Do It All

Fractional executives are incredibly effective at addressing specific gaps in a startup’s operations. A fractional CFO might fine-tune your financials, or a fractional CMO could transform your marketing strategy. But in many cases, solving one problem uncovers others. As an example, after a fractional CFO helps you prepare for fundraising, you might realize you also need a marketing expert to refine your messaging and a tech lead to prepare for scaling. Instead of cycling through individual hires, a fractional team brings coordinated expertise to tackle interconnected challenges.

Flexibility Without Commitment

One of the biggest advantages of fractional teams is flexibility. Startups can scale expertise up or down depending on their needs. Maybe you need a team to drive a product launch for six months, then shift focus to operational efficiency during your next growth phase. Fractional teams are designed to adapt, working part-time or on a project basis, which gives you access to top-tier talent without locking in full-time salaries. It’s a perfect solution for startups navigating the unpredictability of growth.

How Fractional Teams Improve Outcomes

Fractional teams don’t just solve problems—they help startups avoid them in the first place. By addressing challenges holistically, they prevent siloed decision-making and missed opportunities. For example, a fractional CFO may propose a growth strategy, but without input from marketing or operations, that strategy might fall flat. A fractional team ensures every decision is vetted through multiple lenses, leading to stronger, more sustainable outcomes and growth.

Assembling Your Fractional Dream Team

Building a fractional team starts with identifying your startup’s most pressing needs. Look for areas where expertise is lacking or where current efforts feel disjointed. Place like Big Creek Growth, other advisory firms, or personal referrals can connect you with skilled professionals who thrive in a fractional capacity. Once you’ve identified the right people, focus on creating a culture of collaboration, even if your team is part-time or remote. A strong fractional team can become the backbone of your startup’s growth, offering the expertise and agility you need to scale smarter.

Fractional teams are the future of startup growth. By bringing in coordinated, high-level expertise without the overhead of full-time hires, startups can solve complex challenges, align their strategies, and move faster than ever. If one fractional expert is good, imagine what a whole team can do.

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Fractional Openings

Chief Technology Officer @ Curanostics
Chief Marketing Officer @ Crop.photo
Growth Marketing Lead @ Punks & Pinstripes
Chief Financial Officer @ DIZPOT
Director of Performance Marketing @ Intero Chiropractic

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More AWESOME Newsletters

Ever felt nervous tackling a new project or presenting your ideas to leadership? You’re not alone, and MoreThanCoders is here to help. This newsletter is packed with practical advice on mastering soft skills, so you can communicate confidently, lead effectively, and take your software engineering career to the next level

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Hiring Predictions for 2025

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Startup Story

Postpone

Postpone was founded by Grant McConnaughey, a software engineer who missed building and coding while working as a Director of Engineering at an insurance startup. What started as a simple Reddit post scheduler in early 2020 quickly became a passion project during the COVID lockdowns. Over the next few years, Grant steadily grew Postpone into a profitable side hustle. By October 2022, he took the leap and left his job at Zapier to go all-in on Postpone, turning it into a full-time business.

At its core, Postpone is an all-in-one social media marketing toolkit, helping creators, brands, and agencies grow their audiences across 12 different social platforms. Unlike most social media management tools, which focus primarily on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn, Postpone uniquely excels at Reddit marketing. It offers not just post scheduling but also powerful tools like subreddit analytics, post performance tracking, engagement tools, subreddit discovery, and repost prevention—features that make it indispensable for Reddit-focused marketers.

One of the biggest challenges Postpone faced came in Summer 2023, when Reddit changed its API policies, adding new rate limits and paid tiers. At first, this was a terrifying moment, threatening the core of the business. However, instead of panicking, Grant and his developer, Valdir, expanded Postpone’s capabilities beyond Reddit, adding support for 11 additional social platforms. This not only reduced platform risk but also made Postpone a significantly more valuable tool for users. Looking back, Grant sees this as a lesson in resilience: every crisis is an opportunity for growth.

Postpone’s ideal customers include content creators, small businesses, and social media marketing agencies that need an efficient way to manage and grow their online presence. Grant’s key advice to new entrepreneurs? Market more—building a great product isn’t enough if no one knows about it. He also stresses the importance of shipping value to customers, rather than obsessing over technical perfection. His journey proves that a side project can turn into a thriving business—if you focus on solving real problems and aren’t afraid to pivot when challenges arise.

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EVENTS