"It was great for me too, because I was stepping into something new. I've been a direct contributor for 30 years, so having that opportunity through Connectd and Otterkin to get my feet wet and see if that was something I'd actually be comfortable doing — it was fantastic."
Andrew White, Founder & CEO, Otterkin: At Otterkin, we are building the world's fine art commissioning platform. Asking someone to create a bespoke piece of art has existed for millennia. The Renaissance in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries was only a renaissance of what happened before in ancient Greece and Rome. We have inherited this practice, and what we are building — what we got Julie on board to help us do — is build an online marketplace platform that allows people to find and connect with artists, specifically in the fine art commissioning niche.
We were two non-technical founders with a vision, a Figma account, and a will to make something happen. Our challenge was communicating our vision in a way that made sense for the way engineers work and the manner in which they need to build. Software uses databases, system architecture, and processes. We had some idea of that, but when we brought Julie in, she really helped us take our vision and turn it into cadences and sprints that our engineers could easily understand.
Julie McFadden, Fractional CTO, Otterkin: What drew me to Otterkin initially was partly personal — I also have a degree in classics. I'm not a traditionally trained software engineer; I was studying Latin and ancient Greek while working in the computer labs building websites. So when I got connected with Otterkin, it was amazing, because that academic match with my passions was really compelling.
I love art, so there was an immediate interest. And then seeing Andrew and Ru — they had the vision. I could see immediately what they were trying to build and the place they saw for Otterkin in the world. But they had never built software before. It's just as important to know when we're going astray as it is to know that we can hit our deadlines, and I was able to provide them with some of that overall structure about how software is designed. They were already building the tech, so it was more about: how do we make it better, faster, and get this to market? That was the main drive for me.
Julie McFadden: I'll be honest — I felt like we were in alignment by the end of our first meeting. It was just very smooth. There was an immediate understanding and connection. I felt welcomed, I felt respected, and I felt like they wanted to work with me and wanted to give this a chance. I felt the same way about them.
Andrew White: From our very first meeting, it was Julie's excitement and the fact that she bought into our vision that meant we were immediately aligned. Why do we do startups? It's not because we're going to get a healthy salary and pension contributions from day one. We do this because we have a vision, a goal, and we see the world in ways that others haven't quite yet. When we're aligned on that vision — and that happened very quickly — we were off to the races almost immediately.
Andrew White: I'll be completely transparent: the realities of bootstrapping a startup mean we didn't have the budget for a software engineer to come in as CTO with 30-plus years of experience from day one. That's the reality. The beauty of Connectd is that it allows an early-stage startup — one that might have ambition, a big dream, and the vision to get there — to access world-class domain experts. We didn't have the salary in our budget to hire someone as brilliant as Julie. But luckily for us, Julie saw what we were doing, was passionate about it, and was at a stage in her career where she wanted to move into an advisory role. That mutual value add — for both the startup and the fractional executive — is the beauty of Connectd.
Julie McFadden: It was great for me too, because I was stepping into something new. I've been a direct contributor for 30 years, so having that opportunity through Connectd and Otterkin to get my feet wet and see if that was something I'd actually be comfortable doing — it was fantastic. That's all I'm going to say.
Andrew White: What's really special is that Connectd may have introduced us, but the structure it rightly placed on the relationship — to ensure both people's time is respected — isn't binding forever. Our professional relationship has developed far beyond what Connectd originally envisioned, and that's a huge compliment to the model. It allowed us to get on with the work we needed to do. The ease with which we can dip in and out of the pool of talent that Connectd has to offer startups like us delivers such value in such a short period of time — which is amazing.
Julie McFadden: In the first 30 days, my priority was to get a cadence in place. The most important thing I saw was: first, get a clear picture of where things stood, because the MVP was in development and somewhat scattered. Then understand what the dev team needed to bring it all together. How far away were we from launch? Because my goal was launch.
The first 30 days were really about organisational trade-offs — getting Andrew and Ru to take a step back, write out the requirements, and then assess: what do we have to do? How close are we? What do we prioritise? Can any of this drop before launch? Is all of this required for launch? I walked them through it, got alignment, and then we started rocking and rolling with Hamza and the devs and knocking it out.
Andrew White: One example was a discussion a few months ago about integrating video calls into the platform for use during a commission, between an artist and the patron commissioning them. But more broadly, the value add is architectural.
We are building the world's fine art commissioning platform — which is primarily B2C, a consumer-facing brand. But we quickly realised there was a huge opportunity in the B2B market: commercial commissioners like banks, law firms, and hotel owners. We also quickly realised we wanted to integrate galleries onto the platform. So you essentially have a B2C platform, a B2B platform, and a B2B2C platform — three in one.
We make no bones about having a big vision, but to Julie's credit, she helped us spec out what all of those things would look like. We're still building out Galleria, for example, and I'm working with another Connectd advisor on what our B2B platform infrastructure is going to look like. We feel like we have a really good captain on board — Julie's presence at Otterkin steadies the ship and helps us as founders know what we're doing week by week, as we build this company brick by brick.
Julie McFadden: I think I started doing CTO-type work almost immediately, because that's where I was comfortable. We did a soft launch, and I thought: let me step into the CTO role and take that off of Andrew, because he needs to focus on other things now. That's when I put that pressure on myself — to step in more fully, take over the sprint cadence, and take over running the dev team, so that Andrew could simply oversee and participate when he wanted to, rather than feeling like he had to.
Andrew White: The reality is that a lot of founders spend too much time tinkering with their product and not enough time going out and selling it. And it's the selling that keeps it alive. I recognised that danger in myself, and thankfully Julie had pointed it out to me as well. I welcomed that organisational shift. Suddenly I wasn't messaging our backend and frontend engineers multiple times a day. I wasn't carrying that cognitive load. It was like a tectonic plate shifted — freeing me up to do all the other things a founder has to do in order to turn a business idea into a reality.
Julie McFadden: It has felt very natural all along, and that's in large part because all of us have been very open. And again, credit to Connectd for setting that stage up perfectly — we are fractional, and we are all committed to being upfront, authentic, and honest about what we can and cannot commit to.
Julie McFadden: The most important thing is to be open. The decades of habits, patterns, rules, and corporate behaviour that we frequently get indoctrinated with — don't let that guide your interactions. The joy of new businesses is the freedom to explore.
And as someone coming into somebody else's idea, I'd offer two pieces of advice: be open, and be respectful of the founders. Remember — this is their baby. You might come in as a fractional and think, from 20 years of experience, that something is just wrong. My advice in that case is to step back first. Evaluate your own view of what is right and wrong, and why. Give the founders their respect. They may not know all the rules or all the conventional ways things are done, but they have a vision, they have a baby, and they have been pouring their time and effort into it. We are there to help them.
Andrew White: First and foremost, respect people's time and experience. Don't expect them to do everything for you.
My advice would be: know where you're heading. You need a North Star. For us, it's changing the way people commission art for the digital age — the same practice that has existed for thousands of years, reimagined. We had our vision, and our vision was evolving. We just needed to know the specifics of how to get there. That's when you bring in a fractional.
There's something magic about the founder and fractional combination. The founder knows their startup inside out, and the fractional knows their domain inside out. When you bring those two things together — and you're both communicating clearly and aligned on the North Star — that's where the real magic happens. That's what has blessed our business, and I'm sure it has done the same for countless others on Connectd too.
Every one new to the fractional space has the same question: what should I actually charge? Read on to find out
From choosing your niche and pricing your engagements, to landing your first client and building toward board-level roles - this guide covers it all.
A fractional CHRO operates as a genuine member of the leadership team, shaping decisions that affect the entire company's trajectory - and they could be critical to your startup's growth
