Find Your Line.
Ever ridden a motorcycle on a racetrack?
I have, and it taught me something about leading teams:
Success isn't just about following a perfect line. It's about finesse, adaptability, and knowing when to lean in.
A good strategy gets you to the grid. What happens mid-lap, when a turtle crosses your line, decides whether or not you finish on the podium.
That's the work I do for growth-stage companies. I'm a fractional leader who drives strategic projects, product commercialization, and brand development for teams who need senior horsepower without the full-time investment.
Discover my services
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When You Need Someone to Get ‘Stuff’ Done
Fractional project leadership for growth-stage companies that need senior horsepower to drive critical, cross-functional initiatives without a full-time hire.You've got the vision, and just enough budget and capacity to green light the project. What you don't have is someone with the bandwidth to actually drive it forward. That's where I enter. I shepherd the strategic projects that are too important to fail but don't fit neatly into anyone's current job description.
Recently, I stepped into a post-acquisition data migration affecting hundreds of customers across two ERP systems. The team knew what needed to happen but lacked someone with capacity to lead it, work through roadblocks, and keep momentum going. We delivered within leadership's timeline, freeing the customer experience team to bring the new customers into their more efficient practices.
Whether it's innovation management for exploring new opportunities or just plain project leadership to get initiatives across the finish line, I work with your existing resources and adapt to how your team actually operates.
What I do: Depending on your needs, this might include project scoping, cross-functional team leadership, innovation management, stakeholder alignment, and the finesse to navigate organizational politics without getting stuck in them.
The Impact: Projects actually ship. I led one team through complex database and product-testing roadblocks that threatened a four-month delay, cleared them, and hit leadership's original launch window. The result: revenue forecasts remained intact.
Best Fit: Companies with more good ideas than execution capacity, teams launching strategic initiatives without dedicated project leadership, and organizations ready to pursue innovation but lacking someone to shepherd it through the system.
"We don't have budget for a full-time program manager." That's exactly why fractional leadership works. You get senior-level project leadership without the overhead. -
From Stuck to Launched
Product commercialization for growth-stage companies, leading the upfront work that turns a customer need into a launched product (the business side, not the engineering bench).
You know that feeling when you're stuck between where you are and where you need to be, but the path forward is unclear? That's when leaders engage me. No more walking blindfolded or building products nobody wants.
What I Do: While this is completely dependent on the project, I start with empathy and observation to understand your unique needs. Consumer insights, market validation, and product development process are a few of the things I lead.
The Impact: I've helped turn around underperforming products to achieve 10% - 20% sales growth within six months. On another team, I worked alongside a sharp internal innovation group, adding the quantitative validation method that helped secure product funding for the first time.
Best Fit: Companies bringing a new product to market, teams sitting on a validated idea with no one to lead it to launch, and founders who need commercialization leadership without a full-time product hire.
"But Alison, we don't have budget for innovation or validation." I get it. There are scrappy ways to validate ideas even when money's tight. One business partner described me as a master of stretching resources. Let's talk about what's possible.
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From stagnant to strategic
Brand and marketing strategy for growth-stage companies, building the positioning, voice, and systems that turn scattered marketing into growth you can see.
Your marketing machine has developed some cracks. Your brand feels scattered across channels, messaging isn't as effective, and you're not seeing the growth you want. We'll work together to rediscover your authentic voice and build systems that have impact.
Recently, I worked with a brand to evolve their positioning and marketing strategies. After securing funding for a key workshop, we found their new voice, integrated it across all touchpoints, and developed new marketing plans. The result: 20% to 40% increase in organic web traffic (depending on season), a reinvigorated content strategy that the team turned into YouTube revenue generation within nine months, and increased engagement across platforms.
What I Do: Depending on your needs, this might include brand positioning and sales enablement strategies, brand activation planning and execution, content development frameworks, implementation of marketing analytics, and complete marketing strategy overhauls.
The Impact: I build the infrastructure that makes everything else possible. One team reduced meeting time by 60% and established data-driven practices to refine marketing decision-making.
Best Fit: Brands ready to evolve their market presence, growing companies who want marketing systems that scale, and teams needing integrated approaches to digital marketing, events, and sales support.
"But we need more leads, not brand work." Short-term thinking gets you one-time buyers. Brand and marketing connection gets you customers who stick around and refer others. You need both to win long-term.
Let’s have coffee
Need help but not sure where to start? Let’s talk. We’ll figure out the best race line to get you where you need to be.
Contact Me
Have questions, but not ready for an introductory call? Send me a note.