Series A is one of the most critical inflection points for B2B startup pipeline strategy. You have just raised $5M to $15M, your investors expect meaningful ARR growth within 18 to 24 months, and you are expected to go from scrappy founder-led sales to a repeatable, scalable revenue motion. The pressure to hire fast and build fast is intense. And that pressure is exactly what causes most Series A companies to make expensive BD mistakes.
Having worked with multiple Series A companies as a fractional BDM and helped generate over $100M in pipeline across these and other engagements, I have a strong view on what the right move is at this stage. Here is the case for fractional BD leadership at Series A.
The Series A BD Trap
The most common Series A BD mistake is hiring a full-time BDM or VP of Sales before you have proven out the motion you are asking them to run. Companies post a job description, hire the most impressive candidate they can find, give them a quota, and then watch in frustration as the new hire spends six months trying to figure out what works rather than executing what is proven.
The result is predictable. After six months the hire has generated some pipeline but not nearly enough to justify the $180,000 plus cost. The relationship is strained. There is pressure to show results before the motion is mature. Either the hire leaves, gets managed out, or the company keeps hoping it turns around.
I have seen this pattern across multiple Series A companies. It is not a people problem. It is a sequencing problem. You are asking someone to both discover the BD motion and execute it at scale simultaneously, which is nearly impossible.
What You Should Do Instead
Before you make a full-time BD leadership hire at Series A, you need to answer five questions with real data:
- Which two or three ICP segments convert to qualified opportunities at the highest rate?
- Which outbound channels produce the best results for your specific buyer persona?
- What messaging and positioning resonates most with decision makers?
- What does a qualified opportunity look like, and how do you distinguish it from a tire kicker?
- What does the BD playbook look like, documented well enough that someone new can run it?
A fractional BDM answers these questions through execution in 60 to 90 days. They run the outbound, talk to prospects, test the messaging, and build the infrastructure. By the time you are ready to make a full-time BD hire, you have real answers instead of hypotheses, and the new hire walks into a proven motion instead of a blank slate.
What a Fractional BDM Does at Series A
The scope of a fractional BDM engagement at Series A is broader than at earlier stages because the company has more resources and more capacity to absorb infrastructure investment. Here is what a typical Series A engagement includes:
Full ICP Analysis and Segment Testing
I start by analyzing the existing pipeline data and identifying patterns in what has closed, what has stalled, and what has failed. For most Series A companies, the existing data set is large enough to draw meaningful conclusions about which segments are most attractive.
Then I design and execute a systematic test of the top two or three ICP hypotheses. This means running parallel outbound campaigns to different segments, measuring conversion rates at each stage, and making data-driven decisions about where to concentrate the BD investment.
Outbound Infrastructure Build
Series A companies often have partial BD infrastructure that was built reactively rather than deliberately. I audit and rebuild the full stack: Apollo for sequencing, HubSpot or Salesforce for pipeline management, Clay for enrichment when needed, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator for account-based outreach.
I also establish the reporting dashboards and pipeline metrics that give leadership real-time visibility into BD performance. By the end of the first month, the CEO and board have a weekly pipeline report that shows exactly what is working, what is not, and what is in the pipe.
Strategic Partnership Development
At Series A, partnerships are often an underutilized growth lever. I identify the two or three most valuable partner categories for your product, initiate the relationships, and build the co-sell motion that generates warm inbound referrals alongside the cold outbound effort.
Partnership pipeline typically has a 40 to 60% higher close rate than cold outbound pipeline because the trust transfer from the partner relationship reduces the sales cycle friction. For Series A companies trying to maximize pipeline efficiency, this matters a lot.
Hiring Input for the Full-Time BD Role
One of the highest-value things I do in a Series A engagement is help the company define and hire the full-time BD role. By the end of the engagement I know exactly what skills and experience are needed based on real observation, not guesswork. I help write the job spec, advise on candidate evaluation, and often participate in final-round interviews.
This input dramatically improves the quality of the full-time BD hire because it is based on actual data about what the role requires rather than a generic BD job description.
The Timeline That Works
Here is the Series A BD timeline I recommend:
Months 1 to 3 (Fractional BDM phase): ICP testing, outbound infrastructure build, first pipeline generation, partnership initiation, playbook development.
Months 4 to 6 (Fractional BDM plus recruiting): Continued outbound execution, double down on winning ICP segments, begin recruiting for full-time BDM or VP of Sales with informed job spec.
Month 6 or 7 (Transition): Full-time BDM onboards into a working motion. Fractional BDM stays in a light advisory role for 30 to 60 days to ensure transfer of knowledge.
This sequence costs more in the first six months than hiring full-time immediately. But it dramatically reduces the risk of a bad full-time hire, cuts the time to a proven BD motion, and gives the full-time hire a real chance to succeed because they are running something that works rather than building from scratch.
The Numbers at Series A
Here is what a well-run fractional BDM engagement at Series A should produce over a 90-day period:
- 20 to 50 qualified opportunities added to pipeline, depending on ACV
- Pipeline value of $500K to $3M depending on deal size
- A documented ICP with validated data on two or three primary segments
- A working outbound stack generating consistent discovery calls
- One or two active partner relationships with referral potential
- A BD playbook ready for the full-time hire
For a Series A company with a $8,000 to $15,000 per month fractional BDM retainer, the pipeline generated in the first 90 days should be 10 to 30x the cost of the engagement, depending on ACV.
Investor Perspective
One thing I have noticed in conversations with Series A founders is that investors increasingly see fractional GTM leadership as sophisticated, not as a compromise. The narrative is: we are being deliberate about proving our motion before scaling our team. That is a story investors like. It signals operational discipline at a stage when many founders make expensive, impulsive hires.
If you are about to close or have just closed a Series A round and are thinking about your BD strategy, book a strategy call. We can talk through your current pipeline situation, what a 90-day engagement would look like, and whether fractional BD leadership makes sense for your stage. Visit my pricing page for current engagement structures designed specifically for Series A and growth-stage companies.