About Open Coffee For Fractionals with David Raistrick
Weekly open office hours for fractional professionals, hosted by David Raistrick.
These are real, unscripted conversations about what’s working, what’s not, and how to build a business that fits your life.
It’s part of David’s coaching practice and the For Fractionals community.
No slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation.
This is an Open Coffee for Fractionals session — part of my coaching practice.
In this 20th and final Open Coffee session, we had a strong mix of new and familiar voices: Chris Hilton, Jim Grey, Michael Berris, Noel Putaansuu, and me. We dug into what it really means to build a fractional practice, how to structure offers, and where the pitfalls show up when you drift into agency models.
We got into:
Why proposals work better as structured menus than open-ended negotiations
Starting a fractional practice when you’ve only worked in corporate
How to handle pricing, retainers, and avoiding hourly traps
Growing vs. staying solo — and why many regret moving into agency models
Using testimonials, recordings, and tools to reinforce value
Noel’s work measuring smoke for wood stoves and wildfire prevention
My own pivot from fractional coaching toward buying a business
No slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation.
📅 Recorded September 15, 2025
🎙️ Hosted by David Raistrick
13 Oct 2025
Open Coffee For Fractionals #19
This is an Open Coffee for Fractionals session — part of my coaching practice.
Chris Hilton brought in a live dilemma: when a founder friend wants you full-time but you’re only willing to engage fractionally, how do you make it work?
We compared notes on retainers, boundaries, and the risks of equity-heavy compensation, while also detouring into business acquisitions, old cars, and the politics of refrigerants.
We got into:
Structuring retainers to balance client comfort and fractional freedom
Why equity in exchange for comp is often a scam at the engineer level
The realities of SBA loans and specialty financing in auto-related acquisitions
Stories of Model Ts, VW buses, and EV charging frustrations
Refrigerants, regulation, and the absurdity of industry transitions
Insurance adjusters, home repairs, and the value of documentation
No slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation.
📅 Recorded September 8, 2025
🎙️ Hosted by David Raistrick
Join a future session (https://davidraistrick.com/free/opencoffee/)
Explore the For Fractionals community (https://forfractionals.com/)
6 Oct 2025
Open Coffee For Fractionals #18
This is an Open Coffee for Fractionals session — part of my coaching practice.
Noel Putaansuu joined this session just before heading into a job interview. We compared buying a business versus getting a job, and dug into what it means to keep the lights on while still trying to build something bigger.
We talked about the lag on publishing Open Coffee episodes, batching content, and why LinkedIn Live isn’t worth the headache. Noel walked through his clean energy project, SAFE notes, and the search for a lead investor. We ended up in DevOps land: on-call culture, cowboy fixes, hero syndrome, and the strange red flags that show up in interviews.
We got into:
Buying a job vs getting a job
Batching Open Coffee episodes four weeks behind
SAFE notes, lead investors, and startup fundraising
Emissions monitoring, stoves, and Beer–Lambert law
DevOps on-call fatigue and hero culture
Interview red flags and trust in ops roles
Florida vs Pacific Northwest weather stories
No slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation.
📅 Recorded September 1, 2025
🎙️ Hosted by David Raistrick
Join a future session (https://davidraistrick.com/free/opencoffee/)
Explore the For Fractionals community (https://forfractionals.com/)
Contact Open Coffee For Fractionals with David Raistrick
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