Behind the Scenes of a Fractional Executive’s Journey
With a career spanning more than two decades, Nalini Mohan has worked across the enterprise infrastructure software and AI-based applications space, contributing to several companies and product categories. Now, as a Fractional CMO and founder of Escape Vlocity, Nalini partners with businesses that need executive-level expertise, on a flexible, as-needed basis.
“Think of me as your CMO you will not be saddled with and can pay after your project is done. This way you will know the quality of your hire from the results.”
The Leap Into Fractional Leadership: Nalini Mohan Career Pivot
For Nalini Mohan, stepping into Fractional work was sparked by a realization while working with early-stage startups. Watching engineers and developers launch companies around their skills, she asked herself: Why can’t I take my go-to-market skills and build something scalable around them?
“After returning from a care-giving break in India, she made the leap and founded Escape Vlocity, a Fractional CMO practice designed to help businesses achieve traction without the long-term cost of a full-time hire.”
This shift allowed them to apply her deep expertise across multiple businesses, focusing on strategy and outcomes rather than being tied to one organization.
Superpower in Action: Nalini’s Strength as a Fractional Executive
Every Fractional leader has a challenge they excel at solving. For Nalini, that superpower is clear:
“Identifying real-world. use cases at the very early stages of a product. I am able to see use cases that not even the creator had foreseen, and this is a gratifying moment to both sides.”
Breaking the Myths: What Fractional Leadership Really Looks Like
Fractional leadership is often misunderstood. Nalini Mohan notes:
“Fractional is often misconceived as just another name for different individual freelance projects on a contractual basis. This is not and needs to be differentiated. Fractional is performing the entire gamut of a role for several entities/businesses.”
Rather than a “consultant” working from a distance, Fractional Executives embed themselves in their clients’ teams, providing hands-on leadership exactly when it’s needed.
Wins That Define Their Fractional Journey
One project Nalini is especially proud of is her ongoing work with InstaSDR, an AI-based sales product she has been involved with since its conception.
“I recently began working with a startup company that provides a mobile app and service to improve user engagement and combat isolation and depression through social media event collaboration. I was able to develop a go-to-market strategy that introduced them to new use cases and industries beyond their current view and expand into new markets to accelerate their growth.” - Nalini Mohan
These kinds of wins exemplify how Fractional leadership isn’t just advisory, it’s transformational.
Lessons from the First Few Months in Fractional Work
Looking back, Nalini reflects:
Nalini's Advice for New Fractionals
“I wish someone had told me that it will take several months, even a year, to function as a well-oiled machine if I did not put the structure in place. I had no structure and evolved willy-nilly figuring it all out on the go, but got fortunate with some excellent projects to get started.”
For those just starting out in Fractional leadership, her advice is simple yet powerful:
“Don’t provide free work. It erodes your worth as everything is perception in business. Goodwill gets forgotten conveniently. Always negotiate a timeframe and get paid, even if it’s later.”
Beyond the Resume: The Real Nalini
What defines Nalini’s leadership style is her spirituality:
“My spirituality has laid the underpinnings of my awareness that we are all microcosmic reflections of the macrocosmic Universal Being - call it Brahman, Holy Spirit, the Dao, or the Nagual. As above, so below. This defines everything I do in everyday life, including work.” -Nalini Mohan
One Quote That Sums It All Up
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
This quote perfectly encapsulates Nahini’s leadership style, approach to work, or life philosophy.
