Start here
Product Clarity Sprint
7,500 €fixedI go through your product, your backlog and the way decisions get made. You end up with a prioritised 90-day roadmap your team can start on Monday.
Products customers love, numbers investors can trust.
Fractional product leadership for digital products. I take a product area off your desk and own it, hands-on inside your team. For scale-ups, PE-backed companies and enterprises.
Mandates with
Engagements
Fractional product leadership, priced by the month.
Focus
6,000 €per monthOne product area kept moving. Prioritisation, specs, release scope and the decisions that unblock delivery.
Core
9,000 €per monthFull ownership of a product or platform area, including discovery, experimentation and the stakeholder work around it.
Lead
12,000 €per monthOwnership across several teams, or a programme with a hard date, plus an operating model that survives after I leave.
Interim cover and peaks
1,600 €per dayBridging a vacancy or a launch window at short notice.
First call
0 €no stringsThirty minutes and you will know whether this fits. Bring the product area that keeps slipping. You get a read on it either way.
Retainers run for a minimum of three months. Days are spread across the month, in your cadence. A six-month commitment reduces the rate by 8 percent, quarterly prepayment by 5 percent. All figures net, plus VAT. Access to your tools and documents from day one is part of the agreement, as is the weekly written check-in.
Who you are hiring
One person, inside your team, with a handover as the goal.
Alexander Karl, Berlin
Role About
Fractional product lead for digital products. Scale-ups, PE-backed companies and enterprises.
Two to three days a week inside your team. From week two I run in your cadence.
Track record
7 / 7 / 5
Mandates, organisations, industries. B2C, B2B and enterprise.
First ninety days
7×
Done seven times. That is the part you are hiring for.
Languages
GermanEnglishRussianUkrainian
AI-native delivery
My delivery runs on AI workflows I built. That is how one person covers the surface area of a small team.
Specs, decision logs, roadmaps and prototypes come out of codified workflows in your formats and your tools. The judgment, the scope and everything touching production stay with me.
The situation
Most of a year without an owner, or an owner from week two.
Time to a working product owner
Five to seven months of searching plus ramp is most of a year without an owner. The goal on my side is a handover: once you hire the full-time lead, I onboard them and step out.
The founder is still the product manager, alongside fundraising, sales and hiring.
The VP Product search is live. Five to seven months of searching plus ramp is most of a year without an owner.
A launch, a key account or a board milestone has a date on it and nobody owns it from end to end.
The number you have to show at the next raise is off track and the roadmap is not aimed at it.
How I work
I take a product area off your desk and own it.
Ownership over an engagement
Every week, in your own tools
Groomed backlogWritten decision logRelease-scoped roadmapWritten check-in
What that looks like
- 01Decide what gets builtI write the specs your engineers work from and defend the roadmap when everybody wants to reorder it.
- 02Prototype it myselfPeople align on something they can click through instead of on a slide.
- 03Run on AI workflows I builtThat is how one person covers the surface area of a small team. The judgment stays mine.
- 04Nothing sits only in my headBacklog, decision log and roadmap live in your tools from week one.
- 05Hand over and step outOnce you hire the full-time lead, I onboard them.
Where I am not the fit
You need somebody to manage a team of product managers, or to find product-market fit from scratch. That is a different hire and I will say so on the call rather than three months in.
What that has produced
Seven mandates, and what came out of them.
Each card opens the full story. All work.
Zero to a live MVP
8 weeksFour-figure daily revenue at launch. Most of the work was scoping out everything the launch did not need.
MVP, rolled out
3 countriesAn MVP for a fragmented industry in three and a half months, then rolled out in three markets.
A third option at end of lease
40 %Taken on more than 40 percent of expiring contracts. It came out of discovery and an A/B test.
Structured experimentation
+7 %Conversion up 7 percent and abandoned checkouts down 12 percent, on a live shop.
Information to transaction
RoadmapTransactional flows, page types and a phased roadmap for the Digital Sales Center, handed over to internal teams for implementation.
Currently on an enterprise order flow: product ownership across a multi-stakeholder programme, from discovery to release.
Currently at Carl Zeiss Vision on an enterprise order flow. B2C, B2B and enterprise. I have done the first ninety days seven times, which is the part you are hiring for.
FAQ
Questions that come up on the first call.
What is a fractional product lead?
A senior product person who owns a product area inside your team for a fixed number of days per month, typically four to eight, instead of joining full time. You get the decisions, specs, backlog and roadmap of a product lead without a full-time hire, a recruiting cycle or a consultancy that leaves after the workshop.
How is this different from an interim product owner or a consultancy?
An interim PO usually replaces one seat full time for a few months. A consultancy advises and hands over a deck. a11l sits in between: I take ownership of an area, decide what gets built and write what the engineers work from, but on a retainer of four to eight days per month with a three-month minimum. The goal is a handover to a full-time lead, not a permanent seat.
How fast can you start?
Usually within two weeks of the first call. Week one is access to tools, documents and people. From week two I run in your cadence: your standups, your planning, your release rhythm.
What does it cost?
The Product Clarity Sprint is a fixed 7,500 €. Retainers are 6,000 € (Focus, four days a month), 9,000 € (Core, six days) and 12,000 € (Lead, eight days), each with a three-month minimum. Interim cover is 1,600 € per day. All figures net, plus VAT. A six-month commitment reduces the rate by 8 percent, quarterly prepayment by 5 percent.
Remote or on site?
Mostly remote, in your tools, with on-site days where they earn their keep: kick-off, discovery with customers, a release. I am based in Berlin and work across DACH and Europe in German and English.
Which companies is this for?
Scale-ups from Series B, PE-backed companies and enterprises with a digital product that needs an owner now. Typical triggers: the founder is still the product manager, the VP Product search is running, a launch or board milestone has a date and no owner, or the number for the next raise is off track.
Where are you not the fit?
If you need someone to manage a team of product managers, or to find product-market fit from scratch. That is a different hire and I will say so on the first call rather than three months in.
How does the handover work?
Nothing that matters sits only in my head. Backlog, decision log and roadmap live in your tools from week one. When you hire the full-time lead, I onboard them for a few weeks, then step out.
Thirty minutes and you will know whether this fits.
Bring the product area that keeps slipping. You get a read on it either way.