[ Engagement ]
How it works.
One to three days a week. Embedded. Reports to the CEO or board. Exit by month 9. No retainer trap.
[ 01 ]
Cadence
A normal week.
[ Monday ]
On site or call. Leadership stand-up. Weekly KPI review.
[ Wednesday ]
Working sessions with function leads. Process build. Hiring loops.
[ Friday ]
Async: written update to CEO / board. Next-week priorities locked.
[ Ongoing ]
Slack / WhatsApp on critical issues. Same-day reply during work hours.
[ 02 ]
First 90 days
The plan.
[ Week 1 ]
Listen. 1:1 with every direct. Walk every function. Read the data.
[ Week 2 ]
Diagnose. Write the top 5 bottlenecks. Sized, owned, dated.
[ Weeks 3-4 ]
Quick wins. Reporting cadence live. KPI tree in place. Standups standardised.
[ Month 2 ]
Build. Process for the 3 most broken workflows. Hiring loops fixed. Vendor stack rationalised.
[ Month 3 ]
Operate. Monthly business review live. Forecast accuracy in target. Leadership team running its own ops.
[ 03 ]
Reporting
Who I report to.
CEO or board. Direct. No matrix. Weekly written update. Monthly review. Quarterly board-ready ops pack.
[ 04 ]
Exit
How it ends.
Engagement ends when the operation runs without me. Typical horizon: 6 to 9 months. Two clean exits:
- [ 01 ] Hand operations to internal leadership team. Full doc trail.
- [ 02 ] Hire the full-time COO. I write the brief, run the panel, hand over.
[ Next step ]
Start with a 30 minute call.
If it fits, kickoff is usually within two weeks.
[ 05 ]
Q&A
Engagement questions.
[ 01 ]
Do you attend board meetings?
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[ 01 ]
Do you attend board meetings?
Yes on request. Board pack owned end to end. Attend quarterly board or PE ops reviews. Not on the board, in the room.
[ 02 ]
What tools do you work in?
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[ 02 ]
What tools do you work in?
Whatever the company already uses. Notion, Linear, Jira, Asana, Slack, Google, Microsoft, HubSpot, Salesforce. No tool migration unless the stack is the problem.
[ 03 ]
What does the intro call cover?
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[ 03 ]
What does the intro call cover?
30 minutes. Three things: current bottleneck, last 90 days, next 90 days. End of call you get a yes, a no, or a referral to someone better suited.
[ 04 ]
How do you handle confidential data?
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[ 04 ]
How do you handle confidential data?
NDA before diagnostic. Data stays in the client's systems. Encrypted laptop. No exports off client platforms without written approval.
[ 05 ]
Can you overlap with a permanent COO search?
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[ 05 ]
Can you overlap with a permanent COO search?
Yes. I run ops while the search happens, write the hiring brief, sit on the panel and hand over. Typical overlap is 4 to 8 weeks.
[ 06 ]
How do I hire a COO on a part-time basis?
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[ 06 ]
How do I hire a COO on a part-time basis?
Book the intro call, agree on 1, 2 or 3 days a week, sign a 3 month starter. Kickoff within two weeks. That is the whole procurement cycle to hire a part-time COO.