In this episode of Full Throttle Leaders, host Michael Falato interviews Henning Schwinum, founder and CEO of Vendux, a marketplace that matches pre‑vetted fractional sales leaders with companies needing executive sales expertise. Henning explains why he left a 25‑year career as a sales leader to create Vendux, noting the lack of a dedicated agency for fractional sales executives. Vendux operates as a matchmaker, placing fractional executives—CROs, VP‑level, senior AEs—into client organizations, with about 20% of assignments converting to full‑time roles. Over seven years, the company has completed roughly 900 placements, serving clients ranging from pre‑revenue startups to $100 M revenue firms, though most engagements fall in the $1‑20 M range. The business runs entirely with 1099 contractors and outsourced support functions. Henning shares a recent failed experiment building a cold‑email outreach process, highlighting that timing and pain‑driven buying signals are crucial in the fractional space, making blind cold outreach ineffective. Instead, Vendux relies on inbound demand generated through content, community involvement, partnerships with other fractional leaders, and AI‑tool queries. He outlines how prospects can contact Vendux via LinkedIn (unique name) or the website vendux.org, and mentions upcoming in‑person meetups in Denver and Kansas City, plus a virtual talk with the German‑American Business Association. The conversation underscores the challenges of selling fractional executive services, the importance of positioning around client pain points, and the operational model of a contractor‑only firm.
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All right, everybody. Michael Falato here again from GTM Full Throttle, and this is the show Full Throttle Leaders. And we have a great CEO founder from Vindux, Henning. Henning, welcome to the show.
Thank you, Michael. Thank you for having me.
No worries. Um, it was awesome just doing your podcast. Now you're on mine. Tell me what, what your company does and why you, uh, started your company.
Well, let's start with the, uh, the why I started it, because, um, I've spent about 25 years as a sales leader, very similar to you. Um, and then I was done with that. I didn't enjoy it anymore. And, uh, I looked around and I thought becoming a fractional executive, a fractional sales leader would be the right next step. I uncovered very quickly that I was not well connected enough. Like you today, I have 30,000 connections on LinkedIn.
Yeah.
But back then I had 700 and none of them were CEOs, founders, owners, investors, board members, none of that. And when I looked for an agency, I couldn't find one. Not one that had a focus on sales leaders. And that's when I started Vendox. And that's what we do to this day. We are the matchmaker between a roster of pre-vetted fractional executives, fractional sales leaders, and companies who have a need for that particular skill set.
And those fractional people, do they ever turn into full-time hires? And do you make, uh, Like almost a placement approach for that, or is it basically all fractional and then you don't really get involved in the permanent placement side?
About 20% of our fractional assignments convert to full-time. And in more cases than not, the fractional executive that we placed is the one who takes over the role in a full-time motion. And our contracts actually account for that. We put a conversion fee in that allows us to also benefit from that, very similar to how a recruiter gets paid.
And how do you know how many fractional slots or positions you filled over the last— I mean, how long you been doing this?
7 years.
Do you have an idea like how many fractional positions you've actually Placed?
Well, we, uh, did an assessment or a count, uh, earlier this year and, uh, we were up to almost 900 placements.
Wow. Nice. And how big is your company? Tell us a little bit about the size of your company and who kind of helps you out on a daily basis and what your ideal customer profile is.
Yeah. So we're, we're a bunch of 1099 contractors. Um, so I always like to say there are no employees. We have, at this point, I have one co-founder, 2 partners who do basically what I do, and then we outsource everything else. We have 5 or so contractors for things like taxes, our IT, marketing, etc., that come in. And our clients are anywhere from pre-revenue to about $100 million in revenue. industry agnostic since our roster covers every industry vertical, every type of product. Though it is fair to say that the majority of fractional sales leadership assignments are somewhere in the $1 to $20 million range.
And do you place CROs, CMOs, or even fractional guys like me who are in go-to-market top of funnel? Like, tell me what your ideal Uh, slot.
Yeah, the, the, the way I describe the roles, um, I say it's everything sales, revenue growth, business development, C-suite level, VP level, director level, even senior AEs, uh, when, you know, gray hair is needed to, to do multi-million dollar deals. What we don't do are SDRs, BDRs. We're not in the sort of in the agency business where we're bringing, bringing in agencies. Our focus is on placing people. So we're in the people business.
What's a tech or solution or strategy or plan that you've implemented over the last 6 months that worked really well or completely bombed? And the reason why I ask you this is lose and learn or win and strategize and tell people how you did it.
Yeah, so one that bombed completely was to build our own cold outreach, cold email outreach process. How long ago was that? That was about 12 months ago that we started the project and then abandoned it after 3 or 4 months because it did not deliver the results.
And what was wrong? Because this is, this is my space. Like, this is where I could have helped you. But what, what did you— what was wrong? What was right?
Well, I think what's the question is, what are we selling and to whom? Um, and in the fractional space, I believe it's all about timing. So it's not about cold calling a CEO and saying, hey, you need— do you need a fractional sales leader? That's not how this works. It's more about— so fractional executives get brought in when clients experience a problem, when they hit a roadblock.
A pain.
A pain, exactly. And they're looking for somebody to take away that pain, to dissolve the roadblock, to get the company back onto a growth journey. And especially in sales, It's all about growth. It's about generating more revenue. And so our clients are founder-led sales motions, sales teams that are stuck, sales teams who are expanding into new markets, into new geographies.
So people that just raised money would be a good fit?
We have found that that is not true.
Not true? So what, where are they when they need you? How do you know the pain?
Well, that's where I think a true cold outreach does not work because there are no signals. There are no outside indicators that would tell you that the company is experiencing pain. The CEO is seeing the pain and the CEO wants to do something about the pain. And so what we do, on the other hand, is now we, we put a lot of content out there, we build a lot of connections, we are involved in communities, we are involved in the industry association for the fractional industry, we are building partnerships with companies that are in this space as well. Fractional CFOs, COOs, CMOs, recruiters, startup networks. And through all of these channels, we're putting our name and our capabilities out there. And then most opportunities are the result of somebody inbound coming to us. And today, most of those inbounds are generated by people who go to their favorite AI tool And ask questions. No longer Google, AI tools. Who is the partner I should work with? I have this issue, who should I talk to? And that's how our name comes.
Have you ever thought about kind of the using the CFO or anybody else's LinkedIn and saying, hey, we're doing a joint roundtable and we're using their LinkedIn and your LinkedIn because you obviously have a great, uh, number of people, but that's how you could get those 2 partner things together and doing a joint roundtable. The podcast thing that you get— you do and I do is obviously a great way to talk to people too, because the email side of things, if you said in email and LinkedIn, hey, I'm doing a podcast, I'm doing a roundtable, I'm doing it with Johnny or Steve, the LinkedIn and email work. You just got to know what to say in those things and you got to make sure it gets delivered. So that's kind of what I, what I would say on the email side of things. Like, you got to have no more than 50 emails a day. You got to do 15 to 20 of those message domains and email boxes to get it out there. Yeah, without breaking your domain.
Michael, I have no doubt that you do all of that successfully for the clients that you have. Yeah, but I can also tell you that over the years I've had Many people come to me with a very similar message that it's all about how you do it and who you're targeting. And none of these people, none of these organizations have been successful.
You know why? Because they stink.
Well, I also think at this point though, it has something to do with what we're selling.
Yeah.
And if you bring to me an example of somebody who does exactly what I do and you've done it successfully for them, and I talk to the person and they confirm it, then I might believe that, that you have something that's different and that I'm proven wrong when I say it doesn't work for what I'm selling.
Yep, I got you. Um, tell, tell us how, um, how people get a hold of you and who do you want to get a hold of you and reach out to you?
Well, we're as a matchmaker operating on both sides, so we are always interested in expanding our roster. If you're a fractional sales leader, reach out to us. But we're also looking for companies who experience sales issues, founder-led sales motions who need to be professionalized in order to allow scaling, companies who are stuck in their sales motion. We We can staff any scenario, any role. The way to get in touch is look at my name, Henning Schwinum. I'm the only one with that name on LinkedIn. You can't go wrong. There is no second one. But you can also go to vendux.org, vendux.org. That's our website, and get in touch with us that way.
And how about some events that are coming up? Any events where people can find you? Whether they're online or in person?
Well, we, uh, we have 2 in-person events come up. We do a meetup in Denver and a meetup in Kansas City, um, in June. Both dates are on our website. And then you can encounter me next week at a virtual event with the German American Business Association when I'm talking about how to set up a sales team for for a Silicon Valley startup.
Well, I appreciate your time, Henny. Thanks for coming on my podcast as well.
