Alice spent significant time doing pro bono work for VC portfolio companies before going fractional, creating a network of relationships that became her pipeline. She maintains three critical groups: past connections (with a policy of always saying yes to help requests), VCs (staying top of mind through referrals and advisory work), and exec search firms (acting as an advisor on job descriptions and hiring processes). This ecosystem approach created a "chock full pipeline" within weeks of going fractional.

Despite receiving conflicting advice about keeping her value proposition broad, Alice ultimately created a single Notion page that clearly articulated specific pain points she could solve and how she solves them. Her principle: if you can't explain what you offer in one page, you can't explain it to anyone. She's now comfortable telling prospects exactly what she can't do, which keeps client relationships clean and prevents scope creep.

At Codat, Alice created cross-functional pods consisting of an AE, BDR, and marketer—all focused on the same set of target accounts with the same goal. Instead of meetings focused on activity metrics ("how many calls did you make?"), these pods collaborated on account strategy ("where are we at in cracking these five accounts?"). This structure eliminated finger-pointing and created genuine teamwork because everyone won and lost together.

Alice argues that the traditional justification for SDRs reporting to sales—creating a talent pipeline to AE roles—is "absurd" in enterprise B2B where that career path is unlikely. SDRs are more mentally aligned with marketing operations, and sitting in marketing helps them understand how to leverage marketing resources. The best SDRs, in her experience, don't end up in sales anyway—they use it as incredible training for various career paths.

The number one factor for success when managing SDRs as a marketing leader is true alignment with your commercial/sales counterpart. Alice recommends not taking on this responsibility unless you can see real potential for cooperation and can create shared incentives together. Without this alignment, the structure will fail regardless of how well you execute tactically.

Despite building what she describes as an "AI-native go-to-market engine" in her stealth startup, Alice admits the reality doesn't match the vision yet. Many companies claiming to be "AI-first" are actually just using Clay for emails and ChatGPT Pro licenses—"stuck together or bitty." Even sophisticated tools like Clay require significant technical knowledge to implement properly. Most marketers are still in the "productivity tools" phase rather than the "full-scale transformation" phase that the industry narrative suggests.

When considering fractional work (or any career move), Alice recommends identifying what gives you energy rather than just what you're good at. For her, it's organizing teams and solving brand-new problems across different disciplines—an approach rooted in her cell biology background where figuring out metabolic pathways was genuinely fun. Being clear about energy sources and drains helps you position yourself to take on only the work that's sustainable long-term.