Building a fractional career: the four foundations
In today’s evolving business landscape, the concept of a fractional portfolio career is no longer niche. For experienced professionals seeking variety, flexibility, and impact, it offers the opportunity to work across multiple roles and sectors, leveraging expertise in new and dynamic ways.
However, success in this space does not happen by chance. Transitioning from a traditional corporate career into a portfolio-based model requires intentional preparation, a clear strategy, practical experience, and ongoing professional development. To thrive, individuals must focus on four key pillars: structured training, hands-on experience, mentoring, and community engagement.
1. Training and development: building the core capabilities
A common misconception among professionals considering a fractional career is that success will come naturally after years of experience in a corporate environment. On paper, the logic makes sense. If you have spent decades leading teams, managing budgets, and shaping strategy in a single organisation, it seems that expertise should translate easily into multiple roles.
In reality, experience in a single role within a structured corporate environment is only the starting point. The world of fractional portfolio work, where you may act as a board advisor to a tech startups, a fractional executive for a scale-up, and a mentor for an emerging founder, requires a distinct set of skills, behaviours, and mindsets.
Unlike the predictability and established hierarchies of large organisations, portfolio professionals operate in environments defined by agility, speed, and evolution. Startups and scale-ups often have lean teams, shifting priorities, and ambitious growth targets. Navigating these contexts effectively demands adaptability, entrepreneurial thinking, and self-sufficiency.
This is why targeted training and professional development are essential. It allows professionals to leverage their corporate experience while developing the practical tools and behaviours needed to thrive in new ways of working. Training bridges the gap between past success and future readiness, reshaping habits and equipping individuals with frameworks to deliver impact across multiple businesses.
Connectd’s Academy provides expert-created and curated courses, tailored to the three core pillars of a fractional portfolio: board advisor, fractional executive and non-executive director. Each role carries unique responsibilities, expectations, and measures of success, making dedicated training essential. Professionals gain the knowledge and skills needed to operate effectively in these roles, ensuring they are prepared for the distinctive challenges of a portfolio career.
Reflecting on his experience of the Connectd Academy, David Bergey says:
“The training, exercises and self-reflection are invaluable. It pushed me to think deeply about my successes, challenges, and transferable skills, and gave me long-term clarity on pursuing this path.”
Structured learning, combined with reflection and practical insight, helps professionals convert decades of experience into a flexible and fulfilling portfolio career.
2. Practical experience: turning knowledge into impact
While structured learning provides the foundation, confidence and competence in a fractional career come from experience. Translating knowledge into real-world value is a defining step in moving from knowing to doing.
For professionals transitioning from corporate roles, this shift is transformative. In established organisations, roles are stable and processes are defined. In the fast-moving world of startups and scale-ups, conditions are fluid, and challenges evolve rapidly. This dynamism offers an environment of accelerated learning, providing opportunities to test skills, solve diverse problems, and see the direct impact of their decisions. In more established businesses, the chance to experiment, take ownership of multiple challenges, and act as a catalyst for change is often far more limited.
One highly effective strategy is taking on unremunerated positions. While initially unpaid, these roles allow professionals to build trust with founders, understand organisational challenges, and assess whether the working relationship is a good fit for both parties. They also provide a foundation to move into longer-term, paid engagements as the business grows.
The value of pro bono is apparent to our members, with 87% of fractional portfolio placements with startups on the Connectd network rated as good or very good.
Connectd’s platform, with thousands of startups and scale-ups across multiple sectors, offers professionals the opportunity to leverage their expertise to drive innovation in some of the most exciting emerging industries. This provides immediate returns, as individuals gain exposure to new areas, apply transferable skills, and contribute to tangible outcomes from the outset.
Hands-on experience, particularly in dynamic growth-stage businesses, accelerates learning, builds credibility, and prepares professionals to thrive in a multi-role portfolio career.
3. Mentoring: learning from those who’ve been there
Mentoring can provide critical support for anyone moving into a fractional portfolio career. Guidance from professionals who have already made the transition helps emerging fractional talent to navigate challenges, build confidence, and refine their career strategy.
Mentoring is a pivotal aspect of the Transition to Portfolio programme, and is structured as a process of reflection and guidance, setting it apart from executive or professional coaching. Mentors facilitate self-exploration, asking questions and offering perspective, helping mentees clarify their goals and consolidate their understanding of their own capabilities. This process is empowering, affirming, and essential for solidifying career ambitions.
As Transition to Portfolio alumni, Nadir Miheisi notes:
“The mentorship has been really valuable. It’s helped me understand how to position myself and go after roles more confidently.”
Mentoring is also a natural extension of the skills developed in fractional roles. Many experienced professionals use informal mentoring when working as fractional executives, board advisors, or NEDs. These skills form the basis for providing more formal mentoring, creating a virtuous cycle of learning and teaching.
Connectd’s mentors include many exited founders, offering insights from the other side of the board table. This dual perspective helps mentees understand not only how to deliver value as fractional leaders but also how to anticipate founder challenges, contribute strategically, and create meaningful impact.
Through mentoring, fractional professionals gain clarity, confidence, and guidance, making the transition to a portfolio career smoother and more effective.
4. The power of community connection
Fractional careers are flexible and autonomous, but working across multiple organisations can also be isolating, particularly when starting out on a new career path. Engaging with professional communities provides support, visibility, and opportunities to connect with both your fractional peers and engaged founders.
Connectd supports this connection through a year-round programme of events, from thought leadership panels that upskill professionals and provide sector insights, to networking mixers that bring startups and fractional talent together to find synergies. These gatherings foster learning, collaboration, and connection, often opening doors to new advisory or fractional roles.
In addition, Connectd hosts a dedicated online community, where members can discuss current business topics, share opportunities, and offer professional advice. This asynchronous network ensures support is always available, helping professionals feel connected regardless of time zone or schedule. It complements in-person events, providing a continuous source of guidance and peer-to-peer learning.
As Connectd member, Shivram Balachandar reflects:
“Connecting with industry leaders, engaging directly with founders, attending workshops, and the social events helped me leverage my soft skills to step into advisory roles with confidence.”
Communities, both online and in person, provide essential learning, visibility, and a support network for fractional professionals navigating new roles.
A holistic path to a fractional career
Building a successful fractional portfolio career requires more than expertise in a single sector or skillset. It involves a deliberate combination of learning, practical experience, mentorship, and community connection, with each pillar playing a critical role. Structured training equips professionals with the frameworks, behaviours, and tools to translate corporate experience into value across dynamic businesses. Hands-on experience, including pro bono assignments, allows individuals to test their abilities, build trust, and accelerate learning. Mentoring provides guided reflection, helping professionals clarify their aims and consolidate their skills. And last, but not least, community engagement ensures continuous learning, visibility, and support within the fractional ecosystem.
For professionals seeking a portfolio career, this holistic approach provides a supported and structured route to success. It helps individuals leverage past experience, develop new capabilities, build meaningful connections, and create a sustainable, fulfilling career across multiple roles and sectors.
