CSW: Your First Executive Team Might Be Fractional

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Real talk from working fractional execs on building your first leadership team without over-hiring or running out of runway. Most early-stage founders stare at an org chart full of roles they can't afford yet. A CMO. A CTO. A CFO. Real salaries, real equity, real risk, and no runway to cover a hiring mistake. Here's the good news. At the beginning, you probably don't need any of them full-time. You need their judgment. We're kicking off Denver Startup Week first thing Monday morning with a panel of working fractional executives across marketing, technology, and operations, and a straight read on building your first leadership team. We'll get into when a fractional leader beats a full-time hire, how to structure the engagement so it works, what it costs, and the red flags that mean it's going sideways. We've all seen it. The founder who hired too senior too soon. The one who waited too long and burned out doing three jobs at once. We'll talk about both. Bring your questions. This one is built for Q&A, not a lecture. And if Monday leaves you wanting more of this crowd, come close out the week with us Thursday at our Startup Week happy hour at Improper City. **Crys Black — Moderator · Fractional CMO & AI Strategist Crys Black is a fractional CMO and AI strategist who helps small businesses and early-stage tech cut through AI hype and build a go-to-market that actually repeats. She leads Colorado Fractionals and is your host and moderator for the hour.** **Evan Meagher —** Fractional CFO Evan Meagher is a fractional CFO with more than 20 years in entrepreneurial finance, including CFO of CoreWeave and VP of Finance at Logikcull through its acquisition. He is a CFA and the author of a strategic guide to corporate turnarounds. Evan helps founders get cash flow, forecasting, and financial strategy under control before a raise, a board, or a rough quarter forces the issue. **Jason Fletchall —** Fractional Product Leader Jason Fletchall spent 20+ years building product at eBay and HelloFresh before launching North Lafayette, his fractional product and tech practice for non-technical founders. His specialty is taking products from zero to scale: shaping the vision, building the team, and putting the execution in place to turn an idea into something customers rely on. These days he is deep in AI tools and what they let a small company build in a week. **Korey Mercier —** Fractional CTO/CIO Korey Mercier runs Herding Wolves, where he is the fractional CTO/CIO founders call when something feels off and nobody inside can name it. He restores leadership alignment, repairs cross-functional friction, and brings order to teams adopting AI faster than they can govern it. His take: AI is just another wolf, powerful and fast, and too many companies are letting it into the pack without thinking about what happens next. **Amy Giggey-Burns, PHR —** Fractional People Leader Amy Giggey-Burns is the founder and CEO of Talent to Team, a fractional HR firm that embeds alongside leadership teams at companies from 25 to 1,200 people. She builds people systems that match the pace and ambition of the business without burning out the team or breaking the culture, from hiring and compensation to org design and M&A. Her clients call her their co-pilot. She describes running a company as driving 100 miles an hour with a cougar in the passenger seat, and she is built to ride shotgun. **Who should come** Early-stage founders, solo operators wearing five hats, and anyone curious whether fractional leadership fits, either as a founder hiring it or as an operator weighing the path.