Most delegation doesn't fail because of the person. It fails because of the model.

A fractional executive assistant is a senior level EA whose time is split across a small number of clients, so you get strategic support without paying for a full time hire. Instead of a salary, benefits, and the overhead of an employee, you pay a monthly retainer to a provider who supplies and manages the assistant. It gives founder stage companies access to experienced executive support at a fraction of the cost of building the role in house. The one thing to check before you commit: whether you're getting a single placement or a managed team with coverage behind it.

At Delegate Solutions it runs $2,299 to $3,959 per month for 25 to 45 dedicated hours, plus a one-time $499 onboarding fee. That's a US based, dedicated team, not a single contractor billing by the hour. It also sits well below the fully loaded cost of a full time EA, which can run $90K to $120K a year once you add benefits and overhead. We publish our pricing in full so you can compare before you ever talk to us. (Link: See our published pricing -> /fractional-executive-assistant-pricing)

In the fractional model, you typically don't put anyone on your payroll. You pay the provider a monthly retainer, and the provider employs, pays, and manages the assistant, including benefits, taxes, and coverage. That's part of the appeal: you get the capability without the administrative and HR burden of a W-2 hire. The structure keeps costs predictable and takes employment logistics off your desk entirely.

A virtual assistant is generally a task focused remote generalist who executes defined work you assign: scheduling, data entry, inbox cleanup. An executive assistant operates at a strategic level, anticipating needs, managing communication on your behalf, and owning outcomes rather than individual tasks. The simplest way to think about it: a VA clears your task list, while an EA takes work off your plate entirely, including the thinking behind it. Which you need depends on whether your problem is task volume or strategic bandwidth.

Sometimes, at the edges. A strong, experienced VA can take on some higher level responsibilities, and plenty of people use the titles loosely. But there's a real difference between someone who executes tasks well and someone equipped to exercise judgment, manage stakeholders, and own strategic outcomes. If you hand true executive level work to a task oriented VA, you'll usually find yourself back in the loop, still directing and still deciding. Match the model to the work you actually need done, not to the title on the listing.

Not quite, though the terms get blurred. "Virtual executive assistant" describes where and how the person works: remotely, at an executive support level. "Fractional executive assistant" describes the commercial model: one assistant's time shared across several clients on a retainer. A fractional EA is usually virtual, but a virtual EA isn't necessarily fractional. The distinction that matters most for your decision isn't the label anyway, it's whether you're getting a single person or a managed team with continuity built in.

In most models, honestly? The work pauses. In a single person setup, whether a VA, a traditional EA, or a standard fractional placement, there's no one to seamlessly step in, so your inbox backs up and you re-absorb the load until they're back. That's the continuity gap the industry doesn't like to advertise. We built Delegate Solutions specifically to close it: your team backs each other up, and if someone moves on we slot in another member who already knows your work, so a sick day, a vacation, or a transition never becomes your problem.