A fractional CPO engagement with me is $8,000 a month for 25 hours, about six hours a week. Three-month minimum, then month to month. That is the whole price list. The rest of this page says what the hours contain and how the number compares with the market.
Six hours is not much, so it is scheduled rather than floating: two hours with the founder, an hour with each PM, and the rest on that week's decision.
| Row | Fractional CPO with me | Full-time CPO | Market benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $8,000 | $260,000 to $400,000 a year in base and cash, plus equity | $5,750 median US retainer, 107 providers; CPO-only median $7,000, 12 providers |
| Time | 25 hours a month, scheduled | Five days a week | Varies by provider |
| Start | 2 to 3 weeks | Up to eight months to hire | Varies |
| Commitment | Three-month minimum, then monthly | Permanent hire, severance exposure | Mostly monthly retainers |
Market figures from the Fractional Rates Index v2.1.1 (2026), 1,774 providers tracked, 168 with a published price. Full-time figures are US base and cash for growth-stage SaaS. Hourly quotes exist too: the stated median across fractional executive roles is $200 an hour from 30 providers; most senior operators, including me, do not bill hourly.
This fits a funded B2B SaaS between $2M and $15M ARR where the founder is still the de facto head of product: one or two product managers, no product executive above them, and a roadmap that is a list of customer requests.
It does not fit a company before product-market fit, a team that needs someone in the building five days a week, or a founder who wants delivery tickets run rather than product strategy owned. If that is you, the call will say so in the first ten minutes.
The first month is reading: backlog, customer calls, metrics. The second is the rebuilt roadmap. The third is the first quarter run on it. Anything shorter measures nothing, so I do not sell it.
No. The 30-minute call is the test. You leave it with one decision clearer than when you came, whether or not we work together.
Wider scope or more days a week. I say which before you book, not after. The published price is for the standard 25-hour engagement.
I hold the pen on roadmap prioritization and on what enters the quarter. You hold a veto, always. A veto used once a quarter is healthy. A veto used weekly means one of us is wrong about something basic, and we have that conversation in month one rather than month three.
No. Hourly billing prices the time, not the outcome. The retainer buys ownership of the product decisions for the month.
Thirty minutes, no pitch. You get a senior read on your roadmap and your retention number.
