Growing companies often reach a point where they need more executive experience.
The challenges become more complex.
The decisions become bigger.
The risks increase.
But hiring several C-level executives can be expensive, premature or simply unnecessary.
The good news is that a company does not need to employ every person whose experience it wants to access.
Experience and employment are different things
For a long time, companies treated talent in a binary way.
Either the person worked for the company or they were outside it.
Today, there are several models in between.
An experienced executive may contribute a few hours per month.
They may help with specific decisions.
They may lead a specific project.
They may sit on a board.
They may act as an advisor.
They may take on an executive role on a part-time basis.
This creates new possibilities for companies that need experience before they are ready to significantly expand their organization.
When does a company start needing external experience?
Some signs are common:
- the business is entering a stage no one on the team has experienced before;
- strategic decisions are becoming more complex;
- the company wants to enter another market;
- the founder is concentrating too many decisions;
- the business needs to professionalize management;
- the company is preparing for fundraising;
- governance issues begin to emerge;
- hiring several senior executives still does not make sense;
- the team needs external references.
In these situations, there are several alternatives.
1. Advisor
An advisor is usually someone with relevant experience in a specific area who supports the company over time.
They may contribute to:
- strategy;
- sales;
- marketing;
- product;
- technology;
- operations;
- fundraising;
- internationalization;
- partnerships.
A good advisor does not need to operate the company on a daily basis.
Their value lies mainly in applying experience to important decisions.
2. Advisory board
An advisory board brings together different people to periodically discuss the company’s main challenges.
The benefit is the diversity of perspectives.
The same decision can be analyzed by someone with financial experience, someone with commercial experience and someone who has already built similar companies.
This reduces the risk of decisions based on a single perspective.
3. Fractional executive
A fractional executive works partially inside the operation.
Common roles include:
- fractional CFO;
- fractional CMO;
- fractional CTO;
- fractional COO;
- fractional CRO.
This model usually makes sense when the company needs executive experience combined with execution.
The difference from an advisor is important.
An advisor mainly advises.
A fractional executive participates more directly in execution.
4. Mentor
Mentorship is especially useful when the main focus is the development of the founder or another leader.
A mentor may share experience, challenge assumptions and help someone think through difficult situations with greater perspective.
The relationship is usually more personal and less centered on formal company decisions.
5. Consulting
Consulting firms work well when there is a clearly defined problem.
For example:
- strategy review;
- process redesign;
- market assessment;
- organizational transformation;
- sales strategy;
- financial planning.
There is usually a project, a timeframe and defined deliverables.
Which model should you choose?
There is no universal answer.
A better question is: what problem are we trying to solve?
If the company needs daily execution, a fractional executive may be appropriate.
If there is a specific project, consulting may work better.
If the founder needs personal development, mentoring may help.
If the company needs different kinds of experience around recurring decisions, advisors or an advisory board may make more sense.
A company can use several models at once
These options are not mutually exclusive.
A company may have:
- a mentor supporting the founder;
- a fractional CFO;
- three advisors;
- a consulting firm working on a specific project;
- investors contributing to selected discussions.
The important thing is to build a support architecture that matches the company’s real needs.
Experience as infrastructure
Companies usually think of infrastructure as systems, processes and technology.
But experience can also be viewed as infrastructure.
When a company knows where to find relevant knowledge for each problem, its decision-making capacity increases.
It does not need to have every answer internally.
It needs to know how to access people who have already faced similar problems.
How Koinz Capital approaches this
Koinz Capital operates precisely in this space.
We connect growing companies to a network of strategic minds made up of executives, founders, investors and experienced professionals.
These people contribute their knowledge, experience and networks to the strategic challenges companies face.
We call this contribution intellectual capital.
The goal is not simply to provide consulting.
It is to create an infrastructure for accessing experience and reputation.
Perhaps the right question is not “who do we need to hire?”
As a company grows, another question can become more important:
“What kind of experience do we need access to in order to make better decisions?”
The answer may involve hiring.
But it may also involve a much broader network of people helping the company grow.
