What the role actually owns

• The revenue number and the forecast the board sees.
• Sales strategy: segments, motion, pricing discipline, territory design.
• The sales organisation: hiring, structure, comp, performance.
• Executive selling: the largest deals, the strategic partners, the difficult customers.
• The interface with marketing, product and finance on anything revenue-related.

A CSO is judged on whether revenue is predictable, not on activity.

CSO vs VP of Sales vs CRO

• VP of Sales: runs the sales team and the quota-carrying motion. Operational.
• CSO: owns commercial strategy and the number at executive level, usually with VPs beneath.
• CRO: CSO remit extended across marketing and customer success — all revenue, not just new sales.

Titles inflate quickly in small companies. What matters is whether the person can both design the system and sit credibly in front of an economic buyer.

When a fractional CSO is the better decision

If you have fewer than a handful of sellers, or you are entering a market you cannot yet describe accurately, a full-time CSO is an expensive way to buy discovery. A fractional CSO gives you the judgment and the buyer-facing credibility now, produces evidence about the market, and makes the eventual full-time hire far lower risk.

Chief GTM's engagements are built on that logic: senior presence in the market first, permanent headcount once the market has earned it.