Ryan D’Wolff Munro is a Portland-area fractional executive and entrepreneur who serves as chief operating officer of Orange Bike Brewing and founded nested, a tech startup that supports fractional executives. A
Ryan D’Wolff Munro is a Portland-area fractional executive and entrepreneur who serves as chief operating officer of Orange Bike Brewing and founded nested, a tech startup that supports fractional executives. A former DoorDash sales executive, Munro was an early-career investment banker at Goldman Sachs. After connecting with Munro at this year’s Startup Maine Week, Mainebiz caught up with him to learn more about his background and business.
Mainebiz: For those unfamiliar with the term, what is a ‘fractional’ executive
Ryan D’Wolff Munro: In its simplest form, a fractional executive is an experienced professional who comes into a business either on a part-time or interim basis to help advise and operate the business. There’s a myriad of disciplines involved, but the most common tend to be fractional CFOs, CMOs, CTO and COOs. Businesses benefit because they get access to executive-level talent without the executive compensation package.
MB: How did you get started in this field?
RM: When I moved to Maine in 2019, I didn’t have much of a professional network. My career up to that point centered around New York and Boston, so in an effort to branch out, I began offering free advising for a few hours a week. At the time, I wasn’t aware of this “fractional executive” term but looking back, I was setting myself up for this kind of career.
MB: What does your role at Orange Bike Brewing entail?
RM: I’m a fractional COO at the brewery today. The scope is rather broad but if I were to distill it down, it would comprise three main functions: help set the company’s North Star goals and manage the team to hit those goals; build the systems and processes needed for the business to operate seamlessly; and partner with Tom Ruff, the owner, on strategic initiatives.
MB: What’s a typical client load for fractional executives?
RM: The average fractional likely has between three to five active engagements, depending on scope. As you can imagine, AI has made managing engagements exponentially easier but there are still headaches — mainly around handling the various inboxes, calendars and Slack channels — that come from operating multiple engagements at a time.
MB: What did you set out to accomplish when you launched nested in 2025?
RM: The mission was, and still is, pretty simple: to build the ecosystem that allows people to choose whom they work with. Our view is that fractionals and independent professionals will stay independent if they have the agency to choose the right engagements, partners and collaborators. We’re seeing a wave of people who are realizing that they can build a successful career on their own, without being tethered to one employer. This is a global workforce shift that we’re excited to invest in.
MB: What does the talent pool for fractional executives look like in Maine?
RM: It’s sizable. COVID was certainly a catalyst in people wanting more flexibility and control over their work life. As of today, there are over 1,000 people in the state who consider themselves fractional or are doing fractional-adjacent work (consulting, advising, coaching, etc.). Maine also has an amazing resource in the Maine Entrepreneurial Resource Corps under the Maine Technology Institute, that has over 200 independent professionals.
MB: Why are startups often a good fit for fractional executives?
RM: Because they meet two very specific criteria: Startups need executive-level talent to grow and scale quickly but they’re generally cash-constrained. That’s not to say that all businesses wouldn’t benefit from fractional talent, but the quickest adoption has been in the startup world over the past few years.
MB: What skills are most important to become a fractional executive?
RM: Sales. A large part of being an independent professional is business development. Selling yourself as a domain expert is not an organic skillset for most, so lean on your network and local ecosystem to find your first few engagements. From there, word-of-mouth and referrals will be your flywheel.
