Fractional COO
I call it the Cofounder Experience. For founders who need a partner inside the business to help with the team, stuck departments or senior hires who aren't landing. I can get up to speed fast and share the load.
Senior help inside the business, without hiring a co-founder
I work inside the business as your fractional COO: with your team, your managers and your new senior hires, not only with you.
In the room with the team, not only in a call with the founder.
The situation
Some problems can't be solved from a coaching chair. The team isn't working the way it should. A department has been stuck for months. You've hired senior people, but they aren't landing, because nobody has had time to bring them in properly. A key person is leaving and taking knowledge with them. And you're too busy running the business to fix it.
Most founders reach this point before they can justify a full-time COO. A fractional COO fills the gap: senior, embedded and working like an owner rather than a contractor. I think of the role as a fractional co-founder.
What we work on
- Operations: how work flows, who owns what, and what gets reported
- Senior team development and coaching for your managers
- Onboarding and induction for senior hires, so they land in weeks, not quarters
- Departments that are stuck, and the people in them
- Key-person transitions: exits, handovers and succession
- Sales, strategy and marketing, leading where needed or bringing in a specialist
- Putting AI to work in day-to-day operations
How it runs
- 01
Founder audit
Get what lives in your head onto paper, and decide what you keep and what you hand over.
- 02
Structure
A written role definition for each direct report, clear reporting lines and a small set of dashboards.
- 03
Embed
Regular days in the business with the team: onboarding senior hires, running strategy sessions, unsticking what's stuck.
- 04
Succession
Most founders need a second-in-command before they think they do. I help you find and develop one, so the business doesn't need me.
The case: a key-person exit
An Australian design and fabrication business of around 30 staff was facing the exit of a key person. I managed the transition, rebuilt the team on one side of the business, onboarded new senior leaders and coached the founder and his managers, alongside a growth plan to 2029.
It's very important that you aren't there all the time, because the business needs to learn to live without you.
The founder side
Founders who need this most often pull back from the team, or let the loudest voice set the direction. I call these patterns Sensitive and Accommodating.
Questions
- How is this different from coaching?
- Coaching works with you. As a fractional COO I work in the business, with your team, and take on part of the load.
- Can it start small?
- Yes. One day a month is enough for many businesses, increasing during a transition or a big hire.