Product leadership for a set time – fractional, interim, or hands-on
Not every company needs a full-time CPO right away – but almost every company needs someone at some point who holds product strategy, team, and delivery together. I join you as a fractional or interim product leader: a few days a week or for a transition period.
When temporary product leadership makes sense:
Sometimes exactly one role is missing.
Three examples:
The gap at the top
For four months now, your Head of Product position has been vacant. Before that, someone had the roadmap under control and the team behind them.
The search drags on, and in the meantime, every team decides for itself.
The product organization keeps running – just no longer in the same direction.
Too early for a CPO
It’s still too early for a full-time CPO, so the founders look after the product on the side. That worked well for a long time.
Now the team is growing, the first product managers need leadership, and “on the side” is no longer enough.
What’s missing is experience – just not full-time yet.
An initiative that needs leadership
A new product, the move into a new country, or the next funding round: the coming year holds a big initiative.
The existing team is supposed to shoulder it on the side, and the initiative slips from quarter to quarter.
No one owns the heavy lift.
Sound familiar?
Completely normal. A permanent hire isn’t always the fastest or the right answer.
I take on the responsibility until you can carry it yourselves again.
“Working with Jan was not only always on equal footing but also marked by genuine honesty – always with the goal of delivering the best results. Especially for me, as someone whose strengths lie more in sales than in product development, the collaboration was not just pleasant but truly moved us forward. Thank you so much, Jan!”
How I come on board
As a fractional product leader, I’m a permanent part of your team, just not five days a week. As an interim product leader, I bridge a vacancy or carry an initiative until it’s up and running. And where you need more hands than leadership right now, I work hands-on as an experienced product manager on the team.
What I take on:
- product strategy and roadmap, aligned with the executive team and the board
- leading and coaching the product managers
- building or restructuring the product organization, including hiring and the path to AI-supported work
- discovery and delivery in depth, when it matters
Where the experience comes from: Today I’m the founder and CPO of ganzheit, my own AI startup. As VP Product and later CPO at Evernest, I grew the product team from zero to three teams, launched a B2B platform for real estate agents, and internationalized the products for the expansion into Spain. Before that, I was Product Lead and Head of Product Operations at ORBIT, and Head of Product and Director Product Management at Event Inc. I know the roles I take on temporarily not just as a service provider but from the inside.
As a founder, I experience every week what it’s like when budget, speed, and product quality all pull at once – and I know why part of the week is sometimes the more honest answer than a full-time position.
From day one, I work toward a handover: to a successor we find together, or to a team that carries the work itself. On site in Hamburg and Berlin, remotely anywhere.
Connected in the product community
On the PRODUKTKRAFT podcast, I talk every month with CPOs, founders, coaches, and product leads – about strategy, organization, discovery, and AI. It keeps me close to what is working in other product organizations right now, and it keeps my thinking broad, not limited to my own experience. When a question goes beyond that, I usually know someone who has already solved it.
A new episode every month
Contact
Want to work together?
Looking for temporary product leadership or experienced support on your team? Then let’s use a no-obligation intro call to discuss what getting started could look like.
Feel free to book a call right away, email me at jan@produktkraft.com, or reach out on LinkedIn.
