The first month of a fractional growth engagement should create a better operating view of the business. It should not be a race to launch visible activity.
Speed matters, but speed without sequence creates rework. I would rather make one important decision with evidence than launch five experiments that the team cannot interpret.
Week one: agree what the business is trying to change
Start with the commercial goal and the reason it matters now. Understand how the founder describes the problem, how sales and marketing describe it, and where those views conflict.
Agree the boundaries of the role. Who can decide? Who owns execution? Which responsibilities remain with sales, marketing, product or an agency?
Week two: inspect the path to pipeline
Review the ICP, offer, current demand sources, funnel stages, qualification, handoff and reporting. Look at the material the team really uses: campaign briefs, call notes, CRM stages, lost reasons and weekly reports.
The purpose is not to grade every component. It is to identify where the commercial system loses momentum or useful information.
Week three: form and test the diagnosis
Set out the likely constraint, the evidence supporting it and the evidence that could disprove it. Review that view with the people closest to the work.
A good diagnosis is specific enough to influence resource allocation and humble enough to change when new evidence appears.
Week four: establish the next 90 days
Turn the diagnosis into an order of operations:
- a small number of priorities;
- a named owner for each;
- the measure that will inform the next decision;
- work to maintain;
- work to stop or defer;
- a weekly review rhythm.
The first month should end with less ambiguity, not simply more documentation.
What should not happen
Avoid changing tools before understanding the reporting problem, hiring before defining the ownership gap, or launching new channels before examining the offer and handoff.
There can be exceptions. An obvious operational failure may need immediate action. But urgent fixes should not replace the wider diagnosis.
You can see the full structure on the Fractional Head of Growth page. If the problem is still too ambiguous for an ongoing remit, start with a Growth Diagnostic.