RE: Your next fractional CRO
Dear founder,
You're probably reading this between a board update and a deal only you can close.
That's the week I know best. Over fourteen years and six companies, I've built and executed sales playbooks from scratch, whether it be outbound, inbound, retention, or partnerships.
THE COMPANIES I'VE WORKED FOR
Maybe you're pre-seed, and every deal still closes on your calendar. Maybe you've just raised, the board wants pipeline that doesn't depend on you, and you're still working out what a sales engine should even look like.
I've sat in both versions of this.
Your early revenue engine probably isn't really one.
They're a founder, a few heroic reps, and a spreadsheet. That works right up until someone asks for repeatability. The gap between a seed story and a Series D story is rarely the product.
It's always the sales engine.
Six ways it stalls between rounds. If you nod at two or more, keep reading.
Founder-led sales has hit a ceiling
You're closing every deal yourself. Pipeline drops the moment you get busy with hiring or fundraising.
Channels run in silos
Inbound, outbound and partners each have an owner and a story. You're still the one adding it up to one number the night before the board call.
Global pipeline isn't predictable
Meetings get booked in India and the deals close in the US. The handoff is where they go quiet.
First sales hires don't ramp
New reps burn through good leads before they're ready. Your first AE has no playbook to follow.
The Series A plan is just a hiring plan
Reps get hired before anyone can say what each one should add to the number. Payroll grows faster than pipeline does.
Expansion is an afterthought
New logos get all the attention while retention quietly decides your valuation.
Revenue by design, not heroics.
SIX COMPANIES · ONE CRAFT · FOURTEEN YEARS
Where I'm useful to you.
Every round buys you two or three quarters to prove the next story. I work inside that window. The job changes with the stage you're at.
Zero to one. I find the buyer
You have a product and a few people who already bought it. What you don't have is a way to find the next one. I write the ICP from the buyers who already said yes, and I sit in the outbound with you until pilots start turning into paid customers.
Make it repeatable. I build the machine
Demand is real. It still all runs through you. I hire the reps and ramp them, and I put a weekly pipeline meeting on the calendar so the number isn't stuck in your head.
Scale and hand over. I own the number
You just closed the round, and the motion that got you here is cracking. Pipeline is uneven and the process is still in your head. I find where it actually breaks, and I fix that before anyone talks about more reps. Then I hire the leader who takes it from me.
If we work together, the shape is simple.
Advisor, consultant, or fractional CRO, depending on where you need help the most.
When you're the whole sales team and want to stop guessing.
Advisor
- You keep the calendar and the close
- ICP, founder-led outbound, and pilots that turn into paid
- Your first sales hire walks into a plan, not an experiment
When demand is real and the system isn't.
Consultant
- Lists, sequences, hires, ramp, CRM, comp and dashboards
- A scoped build with an end date, done with your team
- You own the engine when the work is done
Fractional CRO
When the number needs one owner
- First I find where it breaks. Pipeline, conversion, or the process.
- Then one weekly forecast, and the board sees that same number.
- I don't hire ahead of the motion. When it is repeatable, I hire your full-time leader and stay until they run it.
How an engagement runs.
Discovery call
Thirty minutes. Where you are, where the board expects you to be, and an honest fit check.
Diagnostic
Two to three weeks in your CRM and on your calls. Where deals stall, what the number actually is, and one plan for the next 90 days.
Build
Lists, sequences, hires, ramp, CRM, comp and dashboards. We build it in your stack while the deals keep moving.
Run
Weekly revenue meeting, deal reviews and a forecast rhythm until the engine is stable.
Hand over
Playbooks documented, your full-time leader hired and onboarded. You own the engine.
Questions founders ask.
Advisor, consultant or fractional CRO; what do I need? +
Pre-revenue, sell it yourself and take an advisor. Once demand is real and the system isn't, a consultant builds it with you. After a Series A or B, the fractional CRO seat is usually the one. We settle which on the discovery call.
Don't fractional sales leaders usually fail? +
Many do. They sell a framework and stay off the deals. I get on the calls, the forecast, and the hiring. Ask me for a founder to call, and ask them whether anything actually changed. Every fractional engagement includes hiring and onboarding your full-time leader, so it doesn't fall over when I leave.
Do you work with companies outside India? +
Yes. Most of my clients are Indian-founded teams selling into the US, LATAM, EMEA and APAC. I also help global SaaS companies set up a sales team in India.
Do you take equity? +
For advisor roles, yes, with standard two-year vesting. For fractional CRO work, the range is ₹5 lakh to ₹15 lakh a month, and that includes the incentive. The incentive is a percentage of the deal, or equity.
How many clients do you take on? +
Three or four at a time. That's the most I can take and still be on your calls and in your CRM every week.
What do I need to provide? +
CRM access, a founder for about two hours a week, and budget for tools and data. You also have to be willing to change how you sell. I don't arrive with a playbook. We write it from the deals you already closed.
I work with venture-backed B2B SaaS founders, mostly Indian-founded teams selling to the US, LATAM, EMEA, and APAC. Devtools, security, the kind of products technical people buy. And I only take three or four companies at a time, because this works when I'm on your calls and in your CRM. Nobody can do that for ten clients.
The engine should outlast the builder.
If this resonates with you, let's talk. Thirty minutes. No deck. I'll tell you whether I can help.
Book a discovery callSwati
Swati Rastogi · Founder, ToplineCRO · LinkedIn
P.S. The best founders call one quarter before they think they need to.