The most successful organizations adopt AI not to replace workers, but to solve talent shortages and scale expertise through AI agents.
AI is often framed as a productivity story. But, according to one of our RED Team Interim CIOs whose expertise involves transforming organizations using AI and technology, the problem is something very different.
“They don’t have the workforce.”
Agentic AI shifts work from humans navigating software to AI agents executing workflows directly under expert supervision.
“Agentic AI” is one of the hottest terms out there. But what does agentic AI really mean? It’s not chatbots, copilots, or incremental automation. That is so last week in our AI-fueled world.
In our interview with an Interim CIO who has led multiple deployments, the distinction was clear: agentic AI isn’t about assisting users, it’s about artificial intelligence agents actually doing the work.
And it’s big. Really big. In fact, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in his keynote address at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show that enterprise AI agents would create a “multi-trillion-dollar opportunity” for many industries, from medicine to software engineering.
So how do you get a piece of that?
Agentic AI changes how software works by executing workflows instead of supporting users. This shift challenges seat-based SaaS economics and requires experienced executive leadership to guide transformation.
For years, SaaS valuations were built on a familiar model: growth, recurring revenue, and expanding user seats. Companies scaled by adding customers and increasing adoption inside organizations.
No more.
Agentic AI is changing not just how software is built, but how work itself gets done. And for many SaaS companies, especially those in the broad middle of the market, that shift has immediate implications for valuation, growth narratives, exit strategies, and executive leadership needs.
Every CEO eventually faces the same leadership dilemma: the opportunity ahead is bigger than the team you have today.
Markets open and close faster than ever.
Revenue targets climb.
Competitive threats appear without warning.
Boards and investors demand performance.
In these moments, the difference between hitting growth milestones and watching them slip away comes down to having the right leadership in place. Successful CEOs know how to ensure they always have the leadership capacity they need when they need it: they bring in top-tier interim executives.
Interim leadership is much more than a stopgap: it’s a strategic force multiplier. Interim executives with a strong track record of accelerating growth know how to orchestrate change fast, decisively, and with minimal disruption.
2025 was significant for our tribe of leaders serving as expert interim and fractional executives. What happened? Here are the highlights, followed by what we see coming:
Back in 2007 we launched the predecessor to InterimExecs. NO ONE had a clue what we were talking about. Interim? What’s that? Are they in between jobs? Retired? Consultants?
No more. Business finally gets executives-on-demand. Specialized expertise for what you need right now? That’s a huge plus – it resonates. And a minus – you’re no longer alone in the field. There’s a lot more noise.
At InterimExecs, we’ve spent years developing a proven methodology for matching companies with experienced interim executives. While skills, experience, and track record matter, one factor consistently rises to the top of the list: chemistry.
Whether the interim executive will be working with a private equity fund, a company owner, a board, or an existing management team, alignment and trust are essential. Once we recommend an executive—or team—tailored to a company’s needs, the next question almost always follows:
“What should we be asking in the interview to know if this is truly the right fit?”
Below are several targeted interview questions designed to help you assess both capability and chemistry—so you can move forward with confidence.
Every organization needs a leader. But not just any leader will do. Success depends on finding the right leader to meet the organization’s needs in that precise moment.
But, as we have learned over more than 12 years of working to place the right leader into the right organization at the right time, doing that is no easy feat.
In fact, it’s why we wrote our new book on leadership, Right Leader Right Time: Discover Your Leadership Style for a Winning Career and Company. (Visit Right Leader to learn more.)
The book is the culmination of our experience over the last 12 years, experience that has shown us what the most successful leaders do well.
Corporate distress is so common, sometimes we don’t even notice it.
Twenty percent of companies fail in their first year. Sixty-five percent fail within 10 years. After 20 years, nearly 80 percent have disappeared.
Yet these statistics also reveal that decline is not at all inevitable. What separates the survivors from the casualties?
The difference lies in how they think about their core business.
This isn’t intuitive, or popular. When companies get into trouble, the reflex is frequently to attack the symptoms: costs.
Fire the receptionist.
Cancel the office perks.
Reduce headcount.
But this approach rarely works, because cutting expenses isn’t usually the way to fix a failing business.
Key Points
• Senior leadership without full-time commitment: Fractional executives provide C-suite-level strategy, decision-making, and accountability — on a part-time basis aligned to actual business needs.
• A flexible, lower-risk, lower-cost alternative to full-time hiring: Boards gain experienced leadership while controlling costs, reducing long-term obligations, and maintaining the ability to scale involvement up or down.
• Built for moments that matter most: Fractional executives are especially effective during growth, transformation, transitions, and periods where targeted expertise delivers outsized impact.
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Fractional executives — including fractional CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and CIOs — are the hottest thing in the C-suite. What started as a niche workaround has gone mainstream, with companies from fast-scaling startups to Fortune 500s tapping part-time leaders for big-impact roles.
These aren’t consultants or advisors — they’re deeply embedded executives, delivering high-level strategy, leadership, and results without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire.
But what exactly is a fractional executive? How is this different from an interim or outsourced solution? And when does it make sense to go fractional in the first place?
In the fast-moving world of private equity, middle-market portfolio companies face unique challenges: rapid growth, complex transactions, and tight timelines. For PE firms, ensuring leadership that can drive value immediately is critical to maximizing returns. That’s why more firms are turning to interim CFOs. These experienced executives provide immediate financial leadership, operational expertise, and strategic guidance.
At InterimExecs, we’ve helped PE firms across industries place the right interim CFOs to accelerate growth and unlock value in their portfolio companies. Here’s how.
Association Membership Application
First-year Change Agent members have access to the Interim Institute’s 4 hour audio program on the Fundamentals of Interim Management, and a one-hour strategy session to help jumpstart their interim career.
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