Four kinds of platform, and who pays whom
Most of what gets called a fractional CFO platform is one of four models. The name on the website tells you little; the fee model and the direction the money flows tell you nearly everything.
| Platform type | How work reaches you | Fee model | Who pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open marketplace | Clients post projects and anyone can bid | A commission on what you bill, sometimes on both sides | Usually you, out of every invoice |
| Curated bench | You are vetted, listed, and companies contact you directly | Free to list, or an optional membership; any introduction fee is on the company | The company, once, if it engages you |
| Agency network | The firm sells the engagement and assigns you to it | A margin between what the client pays and what you receive | The client pays the firm, the firm pays you less its share |
| Recruiter | A search against a brief, ending in a shortlist | A placement or search fee | The company |
The six routes
| Route | What it takes | What it gives |
|---|---|---|
| A fractional CFO practice | A large share of the fee, often half or more, and usually your rate-setting | Flow. Work arrives without you selling |
| A marketplace or bench | Varies: a commission, a subscription, or nothing | Visibility to companies actively looking |
| Recruiters | Nothing from you; the company pays them | Access to briefs that are never advertised |
| Your own network | Nothing, but it is finite | The highest conversion rate of anything |
| Job boards | Nothing but time | Volume, and mostly the wrong kind |
| Writing and speaking | A lot of time, slowly | Inbound that compounds and never stops |
A practice
You join a firm that sells fractional CFOs and assigns you to clients. The work arrives, which solves the hardest problem in the first year, and you stop having to sell.
The cost is the margin, and it is usually large. Half of the fee is common and more is not unusual, which means doing the same work for a materially lower number. You also generally do not set your own rate, do not choose your clients, and in many cases cannot take a client with you if you leave.
This is a reasonable trade in year one when you have no pipeline, and an expensive one in year three when you do. Read the leaver clause before anything else in the agreement.
A marketplace or bench
You list yourself, companies find you, and you deal with them. The important question is what the platform takes, and there are three models: a commission on what you earn, a subscription to stay visible or to reply, or nothing.
A commission is the one to look at hardest, because it never stops. A percentage on an engagement that runs for three years is a very different number from the introduction fee it resembles.
The second question is whether placement can be bought, and whether the platform says so. If paying is the only way to be seen, then being good is not enough and you are in an auction rather than a market.
For completeness, since this page is on one of these: there is no registration fee and nothing is taken from an operator's rate. Operator Pro, an optional membership, lists members ahead of non-members in their seat on the open bench, and never touches a shortlist.
Recruiters
Worth being on the radar of two or three who genuinely work your seat. They cost you nothing because the company pays them, and they see briefs that are never advertised anywhere.
Treat it as a supplement rather than a strategy. Recruiters work on the briefs they are paid for, which means you hear from them when something fits and not otherwise, and that is not a pipeline you can plan around.
Your own network
Where most first engagements actually come from, and by a distance the highest conversion rate available to you. Former employers, former colleagues, and the people who have already seen you work.
It is also finite, which is why people who rely on it exclusively stall at two clients. The right pattern is to start there and build something else alongside it before you need it.
What to check before you sign anything
- What percentage, if any, is taken, and does it apply to renewals as well as the first engagement?
- Who sets your rate, and can you change it?
- Is there exclusivity, formal or effective? Can you list elsewhere at the same time?
- If you leave, can you keep working with clients you met through them, and for how long is that restricted?
- Can anybody pay to appear above you?
- Who owns the client relationship and who holds the contract?
The pattern that works
Almost nobody builds a fractional practice from one channel. The operators who get to three or four clients and stay there are usually on two or three benches, known to a couple of recruiters, visible on LinkedIn, and working their own network continuously.
Listing on more than one bench is normal and sensible unless something you signed says otherwise, which is the reason exclusivity is on the checklist above.
Common questions
Do fractional CFO platforms charge the executive?
Some do and some do not, and it is the first thing to establish. The three models are a commission on what you earn, a subscription to stay visible, and free. A commission is the one worth examining most carefully, because it continues for as long as the engagement does rather than ending at the introduction.
Can I list on more than one platform at the same time?
Usually yes, and most established fractional executives do. The exception is where you have signed something exclusive, which is more common with practices than with marketplaces. Check for it explicitly rather than assuming, because effective exclusivity is sometimes written as something else.
Is it worth joining a fractional CFO firm?
In the first year it often is, because the hardest part of going fractional is finding the first clients and a firm solves exactly that. It gets expensive once you have your own pipeline, since the margin continues indefinitely. The clause that matters most is what happens to your clients if you leave.
More of them, on hiring, contracts and what a fractional engagement costs, on the fractional executive FAQ.