The day rate is dead. Fractional is kaput. Welcome to outcomes.
Fractional consulting is a broken model
The same disruption that’s undermining seat-basis in SaaS has hit consulting just as hard. AI has made knowledge abundant and commoditised intelligence, making pay-for-time an inefficient model. Any model built on day rates, seat rates or information asymmetry has had time called on it.
Your customers won't pay for bums on seats. Neither should you.
I ran a consultancy from 2011 to 2014 on day rates and retainers. It worked then.
The next 11 years I spent inside a high-growth B2B SaaS business. Part of a team that scaled from £10m to £200m and delivered a £1.1bn private equity exit. Along the way we rebuilt commercial models, launched new products, integrated acquisitions and figured out what it actually takes to scale a software business.
Coming back to consultancy in 2026, the idea of replicating the past is a nonsense. The world has moved on. Retainer, fractional and day rate sound as legacy as support and maintenance.
This practice works differently
Defined deliverables. Fixed prices. Delivered outcomes. You know exactly what you're commissioning before we start and exactly what you'll have when we finish.
Every B2B software business is a different combination of market position, product maturity, team capability and competitive pressure. The methodology is fixed but what we discover is always specific to your business, your market and your situation.
The delivery model is based on human expertise and experience enhanced by AI and uses the Marketing Eight: eight specialist marketing functions, built on AI and orchestrated by an expert human in the loop.
Every engagement is scoped and priced before we start. No surprises, no scope creep, no open-ended commitments. See exactly how it works on the pricing page.