Who this is for
- Seed to Series C hardware companies heading toward their first production build
- Teams where founders or engineers are running supplier relationships
- Companies between procurement leaders, or preparing to hire their first one
What a fractional lead does
Owns the sourcing strategy for the critical commodities, makes or reviews the major supplier decisions, sets cost targets with engineering, runs the most important negotiations, and builds the processes and team that will carry the function after us. It is a seat at the leadership table on supply questions, not a project.
A typical cadence is two to four days a month with a fixed weekly touchpoint, scoped by quarter so you can scale up into a launch or down once the team is in place.
What changes in the first 90 days
- A supplier map and risk view for every critical part
- Should-cost targets on the highest-spend items
- Sourcing decision rules and an approval matrix
- A hiring plan for the first full-time procurement roles
- At least one major negotiation or supplier decision closed with a documented result