Comparison Guide
Management Consulting Alternative
Strategy decks vs. built systems: when to hire McKinsey vs. a fractional operator
Management Consulting
Strategy & Recommendations
- Delivers strategy decks and frameworks
- Observes and recommends from outside
- Junior analysts do the work, partners present
- Optimizes for billable hours
- Leaves when the project ends
Fractional CGO
Execution & Ownership
- Ships working systems and infrastructure
- Embeds in team, owns outcomes
- Senior operator does the work directly
- Optimizes for your P&L impact
- Leaves you with assets that compound
When Management Consulting Makes Sense
There are scenarios where the McKinsey stamp and rigorous analysis genuinely add value.
Fundraising & Board Presentations
You need a polished market analysis, competitive landscape, or growth strategy to present to investors or your board. The McKinsey stamp matters.
Market Entry Strategy
You're entering a new geography or vertical and need comprehensive market research, regulatory analysis, and go-to-market frameworks.
M&A Due Diligence
You're acquiring or being acquired and need rigorous financial modeling, synergy analysis, and integration planning from a trusted third party.
Organizational Transformation
You're restructuring at scale — hundreds of employees, multiple business units — and need a framework plus change management methodology.
When Fractional CGO Makes Sense
When you need execution, not recommendations. When the bottleneck is building, not strategizing.
Operational Execution
You don't need another strategy — you need someone to actually build the thing. Churn systems, billing automation, pricing infrastructure.
Revenue Systems
You need infrastructure that drives revenue: quote-to-cash automation, churn recovery workflows, SEO at scale, data pipelines.
Hands-On Builder
You need someone who ships code, configures tools, and runs experiments — not someone who tells your team what to do.
Speed Over Polish
You need results this month, not a 12-week engagement that produces a PDF. You'd rather have a working prototype than a perfect deck.
Founder Integration
You want someone who joins your Slack, attends your standups, and becomes part of the team — not a consultant who parachutes in for workshops.
Cost and Timeline Comparison
The economics are dramatically different — and so is what you get for your investment.
| Category | Management Consulting | Fractional CGO |
|---|---|---|
| Typical Engagement | $500K - $2M+ for 3-6 months | $60K - $150K for 3-6 months |
| Who Does the Work | Junior analysts (recent MBAs) | Senior operator (15+ years experience) |
| Time to First Deliverable | 6-8 weeks (discovery, analysis, synthesis) | 1-2 weeks (diagnostic, quick wins) |
| What You Get | Strategy deck, frameworks, recommendations | Working systems, automation, infrastructure |
| After Engagement Ends | You implement (or hire someone to) | Systems running, team trained to maintain |
The Operator Mentality Difference
The fundamental difference: consultants recommend, operators ship. Here's what 'operator mentality' looks like in practice.
Ships Code
Recommends implementing a churn prediction model
Builds the model, deploys it, connects it to your CRM alerts
Builds Tools
Recommends buying a $50K/year analytics platform
Builds a custom dashboard over the weekend that fits your exact needs
Runs Experiments
Creates a testing framework and prioritization matrix
Launches 3 pricing tests this week, reports results next week
Owns Outcomes
Presents recommendations, success depends on your execution
Accountable to revenue impact, stays until systems are working
Founder-Led Company Fit
Management consulting was designed for Fortune 500 companies with layers of middle management. Founder-led companies need something different.
Systems Shipped vs. Slides Delivered
The proof is in the output. Here's what each approach actually delivers.
50-page market analysis deck
$1.43M annual churn recovered through automated systems
Pricing strategy recommendation
Pricing infrastructure built, 3 A/B tests run, 20% lift captured
SEO strategy and content roadmap
500K+ pages indexed, 2,653% traffic growth delivered
Operational efficiency framework
540 hours saved annually through billing automation
Go-to-market playbook
$3.5M in new bookings from product launch execution
Ready for systems that ship, not slides that sit?