Oh Frac! – Real Stories from Fractional Leaders

On this episode of Oh Frac!, host Adir Ron sits down with growth and marketing leader Thomas Kuchling—ex-CMO at fast-growing European startups and now a fractional CMO, advisor, angel investor, and mentor. Thomas pulls no punches on the #1 scaling mistake he sees from Seed to Series A: mistaking early traction for true product-market fit and papering cracks with ad spend instead of fixing retentio...

From law school in Madrid to Hong Kong, EY’s global brand team, and B2C growth at Booking.com, Natalia Arcila Barbour has built a career at the crossroads of strategy and scale. Now a fractional CMO, founder of NXERA Consulting, partner at The Agentix Co., and creator of the Marketing Breakfast Club, she joins Adir Ron on Oh Frac! to unpack how events, community, and crisp GTM foundations translat...

Sjeel Koster went from startup employee #16 at SEOshop (acq. by Lightspeed) to EMEA marketing lead by 25, helped steer through IPO/M&A waves, founded Holiday Hero, and now operates as a sought-after Fractional CMO. In this Oh Frac! conversation, host Adir Ron digs into Sjeel’s playbook: landing the first fractional clients, running 4+ concurrent engagements without burning out, building a stea...

What happens when your business values collide with survival?  In this Oh Frac! episode, host Adir Ron sits down with Steph Thommen, a fractional Head of People and product-minded CPO who turns HR into a growth engine. Steph breaks down culture as “how we do things around here,” not swag or beanbags—and explains why a 5–10% productivity lift can effectively extend a startup’s runway. We trace her...

On this episode of Oh Frac!, host Adir Ron sits down with Kremena Yordanova—ex-adidas and ex-Reebok turned fractional CMO who “builds momentum by design.” Kremena walks us through her readiness quiz (a fast filter for fantasy vs. feasible), how she vets founders with “Why now? Why me?”, and why the “one hire to do it all” mindset derails growth. We dig into juggling five calendars across time zone...

On this episode of Oh Frac!, host Adir Ron sits down with Sue Duris—a Silicon Valley CMO turned fractional CX leader and global awards judge—whose customer-centric playbooks have driven 50% revenue lifts, 4× user growth, and even helped steer a CX platform to a ~$20M Cisco exit. Sue explains why empathy + curiosity are the real levers behind retention and advocacy, and why modern CMOs must act as...

On this episode of Oh Frac!, host Adir Ron sits down with demand-gen dynamo Shahar Heiman—splitting his week between fintech Bridgewise and CAD platform Shapr3D—to unpack how to build pipeline without a six-figure martech stack. Shahar shares why “good-enough” tools, crisp ICP/messaging, and human-first content consistently beat AI noise and FOMO. He walks through his hybrid setup (anchoring with...

Swedish-born revenue architect Mats Forsgren joins Oh Frac! with host Adir Ron to unpack a 25+ year journey from scaling BlueCurve and LinkedIn Nordics to building GrowthGen as a fractional CRO. Mats contrasts New York’s “fast no” sales culture with Europe’s “slow no,” explains why a PE shake-up pushed him out of corporate and into fractional life, and how coaching—and the value of freedom—shaped...

In this Oh Frac! episode, host Adir Ron sits down with Aylin Abdullah - founder of Human Collective and a powerhouse in culture, communications, and operations, to unpack the rise of fractional leadership across Europe, why “fractional ≠ contractor,” and how neurodiversity can supercharge executive teams. Aylin shares her AUDHD journey, the burnout that pushed her to redesign her career after beco...

Get ready for a masterclass in modern product leadership and fractional work. In this episode of Oh Frac!, host Adir Ron sits down with battle-tested product leader Artyom Chelbayev (ex-Yelp, Contentful, Prisma, co-founder of fintech startup Vitamin). Artyom unpacks a 15-year journey from analytics to founding, shares why he’s bullish on fractional and interim C-level roles, and explains how an AI...

On this episode of Oh Frac!, host Adir Ron sits down with fractional COO & Chief of Staff Konrad Jarosinski—the self-described “Swiss-Army-Knife” who’s scaled everything from Emirates and Visa to hyper-growth startups like Booksy. Konrad unpacks the realities of juggling multiple inboxes, why first-time founders obsess over product while veterans obsess over distribution, and how AI supercharg...

On this episode of Oh Frac!, host Adir Ron sits down with Jack Oliphant—endurance athlete, former CBSi/Vox/Acast rain-maker, and self-proclaimed “fractional generalist.” From finishing an Ironman to shepherding multimillion-dollar ad products, Jack now blends RevOps, sales leadership, and operational strategy for seed-to-Series D startups. Tune in for a candid look at why CRM is a fractional’s bes...

What happens when a creative writer-turned-coder ditches corporate cubicles, scales an eight-person dev team from a two-man “dumpster fire,” and decides fractional life is actually safer than a “stable” job? In this episode of Oh Frac!, host Adir Ron sits down with tech strategist and fractional CTO Tricia Ballad to dissect the crossroads of creativity, code, and chaos. Tricia reveals why meticulo...

Sean MacMannis traded scaling Pinterest’s ads to $1B for scaling his own freedom. In this episode of Oh Frac!, host Adir Ron unpacks Sean’s journey from big-tech marketer to Web3 DAO builder, trail-running dad, and fractional marketing coach. You’ll hear how one “soft-landing” freelance gig snowballed into multiple clients, why diversified income beats one oversized paycheck, and the surprising li...