Startup practice
Advisors give you opinions. We take the seat.
Fractional head of sales, head of product, or head of marketing for technology startups. Operating chief for owner-led companies.
Catapuult clients have included Nike, Block, Intuit, and many startups.
The seats
We fill the seat you cannot hire for yet.
Fractional head of sales
Pipeline, process, pricing, and deals. In the calls, not above them.
Fractional head of product
Roadmap, prioritization, and the discipline to cut. We build our own products, so we know your tradeoffs from the inside.
Fractional head of marketing
Positioning, messaging, and a go-to-market plan your team can execute.
Fractional CEO
For founder-owners who need an operating chief without the full-time hire. Strategy, operating cadence, and the decisions that stall without one.
How it works
In the boat means in the boat.
Not a monthly call. Not a memo. The work looks like this:
- We run your pipeline reviews.
- We rewrite the deck ourselves.
- We sit in your sales calls.
- We work the positioning until it survives a real prospect.
- We build the plan with the people who have to run it.
- We chair the operating reviews and force the decisions that keep sliding.
The first week ends with something you can use. No onboarding month. That can be a pipeline audit, a deck teardown, a first positioning draft, or an operating review of the business, depending on the seat. From there we set a weekly operating cadence with clear owners and numbers.
The enterprise angle
Your hardest buyer is an enterprise. We work that side of the table too.
Our principal, Chris Salis, ran SAP's procurement software business as VP and General Manager. Today we advise enterprise procurement teams, the same people who approve or kill your deals. We know how your contract gets stuck in sourcing and how to get it out.
We build our own products, so we respect yours. CampusFlow, front office and visitor management software for schools and corporations. HoopCount, basketball stats for club players across teams, seasons, and games. Procurement tools deployed at client companies. We face your tradeoffs ourselves: what to build, what to cut, what deserves the week. That changes the quality of the advice you get.
Founder FAQ
What founders ask before they commit.
How is this different from an advisor?
An advisor reacts to what you bring. A fractional operator owns a function and a number. We are in your tools, your meetings, and your pipeline.
Where are the case studies?
Not here. We do not publish case studies. Whoever referred you has seen the work. Ask them, then ask us the hard questions in the first conversation. No referral? Ask the hard questions anyway.
How much of your time do I get?
Enough to own the seat, not comment on it. The commitment depends on which seat and what shape it is in. We size it in the first conversation.
Why does a startup firm also do enterprise procurement?
Because your buyers are enterprises. Working the buying side keeps the selling advice current.
What do you cost?
Depends on the seat and the time commitment. Ask, and you get a number in the first conversation, not after a discovery phase.
Referred? Email chris@catapuult.com and name who sent you. Not referred? Write anyway. Maybe we can help.
Email chris@catapuult.com