I was interviewed on Fractional Futures in late 2024, a podcast hosted by Paul in the UK that speaks to fractional leaders across different markets and disciplines. We spoke about how I moved from corporate marketing into fractional CMO work, and how the model is being received here in South Africa. Worth sharing the full conversation and adding some context of my own.
Here is a link to the podcast on YouTube
The model is behind the UK and US but it's moving
Fractional leadership is still a young concept in South Africa. It's had years to embed in markets like the UK and US; here, it's closer to its early days.
But the signs are there. More job adverts on LinkedIn are asking for fractional support. Trade press is covering it. Business leaders I speak to are starting to ask why they didn't consider this model sooner.
Part of that is digital collaboration making the model practical in a way it wasn't twenty years ago. I recorded that podcast episode with someone 10,000 kms away, no travel, no friction. Expertise as a service doesn't require a desk in someone's office anymore.
My own path into it wasn't dramatic
I didn't plan a straight line into fractional work. I ran a digital agency and software development firm in Cape Town, sold it in 2008, then spent close to a decade moving through corporate roles, including time split between sales and marketing.
That sales exposure mattered more than I expected at the time. Sitting closer to the customer taught me things about positioning and messaging that marketing alone never would have. I'd recommend it to any CMO who hasn't done a stint in sales.
When I left corporate in May 2024, I started researching the fractional model properly, spoke to a fractional CEO here in Cape Town, and realised it matched how I wanted to work far better than traditional consulting. From there, Hedley Sydney took shape.
The discipline that actually made it work
The move itself wasn't difficult. What's harder, and what I'm still refining, is the discipline required to run it well.
Early on, opportunities came through that sat outside my ICP. It would have been easy to take them. I didn't, because doing so would have diluted what I was building and diluted the value I could offer the clients who were the right fit.
That's the part people underestimate about fractional work. It's not just flexibility. It's the willingness to say no to revenue that doesn't fit, so you can say yes properly to business that does.
My focus has stayed narrow: B2B tech and services businesses that have a business strategy but no marketing strategy behind it. Companies that need go-to-market work done properly, not bolted on.
Why this matters if you're the business, not the fractional leader
If you're a CEO or founder weighing up whether fractional marketing leadership makes sense for your business, the model itself isn't the risk. The risk is hiring someone who hasn't defined their ICP as tightly as they should, and ends up stretched across problems they're not equipped to solve.
Ask any fractional CMO where their focus sits, and what they turn down. The answer tells you more than the pitch does.
Listen to the full episode:
Buzzsprout - Fractional Futures Season 2 Episode 6
Apple Podcasts - Fractional CMO Perspectives from South Africa
Spotify - Fractional CMO Perspectives from South Africa
I had to stay clear about my ideal customer profile and stick to that.
If you made it this far, we probably share a bias: that marketing is a craft with numbers attached, not a brand project with money attached. If you want to pressure-test that bias against a real business - yours - I offer a free 30-minute consultation. No slides.
Pressure-test this on your business.
Free 30-min consultation. No slides.