These ex-Grab, Peak XV execs want to help founders find ‘fractional’ CMOs

(From left) Fractional’s leadership team of Sophie Jokelson, Oliver Lo, and Rana Saha / Photo credit: Fractional

When Oliver Lo worked as vice president of marketing for Surge, Peak XV’s scale-up program, he saw many startups struggling without the necessary marketing guidance.

“From value proposition and brand positioning to finding repeatable growth motions without the need for unsustainable paid ad budgets, these aren’t simple challenges for most startups,” Lo said. “Many struggle without the right marketing leadership.”

That led him to co-found Fractional, which bills itself as a collective of chief marketing officers (CMOs), with fellow Southeast Asia-based marketing leaders Sophie Jokelson and Rana Saha.

Based in Singapore, the company curates Southeast Asia’s top marketing leaders and matches them with startups, bringing Silicon Valley’s “fractional hiring” trend to Southeast Asia. The term refers to startups hiring highly experienced executives, like CMOs or CFOs, on a short-term or part-time basis.

The three founding partners bring roughly 50 years of combined experience working for companies like Grab, Uber, App Annie, and Standard Chartered.

As Fractional pointed out, Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem is relatively young, with smaller funding rounds compared to mature markets like the US. For early-stage startups, this means a lack of CMOs who have deep operator experience while also being affordable, thus leading them to hire full-time CMOs relatively late in the game.

Saha added that marketers often have to choose between challenging work in growth companies and steady, well-paying jobs. With Fractional, experienced marketers can get an alternative, where they work on interesting problems without sacrificing pay.

The company is already working with business founders and VC firms. Jokelson said that the team is seeing an increased interest in Fractional’s model amid the economic downturn, as startup fundraising becomes increasingly scarce.

“And as we turn the corner, I strongly believe that companies will find more sustainable ways to grow into the next cycle,” she added.

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