I speak to around 7 or 8 Fractional AI Specialists every month, some of whom are pretty established and some who are just getting started.
Invariably the conversation turns to required skillsets.
Apart from some sector-specific examples, I’m of the opinion that experience in the client’s stage of growth is more valuable than experience of the client’s industry.
You’ll find AI implementation for a Seed fintech and a Seed B2C brand is more similar than a fintech at pre-seed and a fintech at Series B. The playbooks, challenges, and strategic priorities align much more closely when companies are at similar growth stages, regardless of what they’re selling.
The Growth Stage Alignment
This is something that often gets overlooked in the fractional hiring process. Clients frequently fixate on finding someone who “knows our industry inside out” when they should be asking “who understands the specific challenges we’re facing at our current stage?”
As Andrew Ng famously observed, “AI is the new electricity” – but just like electricity, how you implement it depends more on your infrastructure’s maturity than on what specific product you’re powering. And the AI strategy a company needs at seed stage is fundamentally different from what it needs at Series B or C, regardless of industry.
A pre-seed company needs someone who can identify initial AI use cases and validate their impact on product-market fit. A Series A company needs someone who can build scalable AI systems and formalize the data infrastructure. A Series B company needs someone who can manage a growing AI team and expand capabilities across the organization.
The Fractional Difference
But do you know what most aspiring Fractional AI Specialists don’t realise? That being a Fractional is a skillset in itself.
Delivering value as a Fractional takes an entirely different mindset to a full-time gig. ðŸ§
When you’re fractional, you’re not just an AI expert – you’re a consultant, a coach, a strategic advisor, and sometimes even a therapist all rolled into one. You need to:
- Drive impact quickly – You don’t have the luxury of a 6-month onboarding period
- Transfer knowledge effectively – Your job isn’t just to implement AI, but to build AI capabilities within the organization
- Navigate ambiguity – You’re often brought in precisely because the company doesn’t know exactly what they need from AI
- Right-size your recommendations – Solutions must match the company’s data maturity and resources
- Build trust rapidly – Without the daily face time of a full-time role
The best Fractional AI Specialists I know aren’t just great technologists – they’re exceptional at reading organizational dynamics, identifying the highest leverage AI applications, and implementing solutions that stick after they’re gone.
The Value Exchange
This unique position creates a fascinating value exchange. Fractional AI specialists gain exposure to multiple data environments and implementation challenges simultaneously, accelerating their pattern recognition abilities. Companies get access to cutting-edge AI expertise without the full-time specialist price tag.
However, this arrangement only works when both sides understand the nature of the relationship. Companies need to be ready to implement recommendations and provide necessary data access and context. Fractional AI specialists need to be realistic about what they can accomplish within their limited time allocation and the company’s existing data infrastructure.
The companies that extract the most value from fractional AI relationships are those that view them as capability-building partnerships rather than outsourced technical providers.
Finding Your Match
If you’re considering bringing on a Fractional AI Specialist, prioritize finding someone who has deep experience working with companies at your specific growth stage. Their industry experience is secondary – smart AI specialists can learn industry nuances far faster than they can develop stage-specific AI implementation intuition.
Look for someone who understands the fractional mindset – who can balance strategic AI guidance with tactical implementation in a way that builds lasting AI capabilities within your organization.
I’ll write another post soon diving deeper into what makes for an effective Fractional AI Specialist mindset and how to succeed in this unique role. In the meantime, let me know if you want to talk Fractional AI specialists – it’s a topic I’m passionate about and always happy to discuss.