how i work

I work with you as a senior operator, embedded alongside your team.

We surface what you need, make explicit the common thread in your business — how strategy, people, and execution actually connect — and turn it into systems and decisions that will help you succeed.

Engagements are focused and time-bound. Over a few months, I help you work out what needs to scale now, build the foundations to support it, and make sure they function in the real world. I bring COO-level rigour, systems thinking, broad experience, and a hands-on mindset — without the commitment of an expensive, permanent executive hire.

We’ll agree an initial plan, and iterate as our relationship evolves and your company grows. I know better than most how fast things change in growing companies: I’m here to support you in navigating successfully through that change, not to lock you into a plan that only made sense in last month’s context.

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the menu

I’ve worked with enough founders to know that don’t need everything at once: you need the right things, at the right moment. We’ll focus on what matters now. These areas outline the territory and the kinds of outcomes we can drive, but the work is always tailored to your company and its next inflection point. This is a menu, not a checklist: we’ll strengthen the parts that need to carry weight, stay light everywhere else, and avoid building anything that adds drag, theatre, or unnecessary complexity.

  • Creating clarity, alignment, and a shared sense of direction from day one.

    Investing time and energy in articulating (and road-testing) each of these helps ensure that you’re spending your energy moving in the right direction. It’s a massive friction-reducer that enables you as a founder to execute faster towards your vision.

    Planning in particular can be daunting in an early-stage business, with so many unknowns. Developing a “low-resolution” plan – with inflection points rather than dates, and all interdependencies surfaced – gets you out of perpetual planning mode and into action, while assuring that you’re always running full-speed in the best direction.

    Focus areas:

    • Values you’ll actually use

    • Culture definition (diagnostics → behaviours → rituals)

    • Mission + narrative clarity

    • Business model clarity

    • Strategy development

    • Low-resolution, flexible Year One planning with inflection points + scenarios

    Example outputs:

    • Documented company values + behaviours + rituals

    • Mission + vision statement (internal + external versions)

    • Year One flexible planning framework (goals, priorities, sequencing)

    • Strategic roadmap draft highlighting key milestones

    • Clear business model hypotheses to test

  • Lightweight structure that enables pace without noise.

    Establishing each of these builds a company that just works, so you can spend your time developing your business, rather than having to think about how you work.

    Focus areas:

    • Goal-setting

    • Operating cadence (weekly / monthly / quarterly rhythms)

    • Internal comms rhythm and structure

    • Documentation hierarchy

    • Strategy & planning cadence

    • Scalability thresholds: when to do it manually, when to build something scalable, when to shift from one to the other

    • Investor relations strategy, including investor update design + cadence

    Example outputs:

    • Quarterly/annual goal-setting framework (with example OKRs or priorities)

    • Employee handbook skeleton

    • Leadership + all-hands meeting stack + agenda templates

    • Comms map (what goes where, to whom, when)

    • Investor update template + recommended cadence

  • Your business’s unexciting core: simple, compliant, scalable.

    Getting these areas right is critical to your future success, but they’re risk-reduction rather than growth levers. Establishing the right core objectives and processes, supported by the right tools or partners, means that you can stop spending time in spreadsheets that don’t serve you. Less time in admin, more time making decisions that influence your success.

    Focus areas:

    • Financial discipline (budget, forecast, burn visibility)

    • Core legal principles & non-negotiables

    • HR compliance & people ops foundations

    • Compensation strategy

    • Tool selection for core processes

    • Risk governance & oversight

    • Fundraising preparedness

    • Partially automated, flexible early processes

    Example outputs:

    • Basic financials forecast + reporting template

    • HR checklist + compliance calendar

    • Compensation framework document

    • Recommended tools stack: payroll, FP&A, HRIS, comms, workflows

    • (Semi-)automated workflow templates (e.g., investor updates, accounts payable, hiring process)

    • Risk register + oversight reporting template

  • Building the team in the right shape to scale.

    Hiring is one of the most highly-leveraged things you can do, but also can introduce a ton of overhead and problems if you’re not building the organisation that you need for the future, or if you hire when you should’ve done something else. Thoughtfully planning the direction of these enables quicker decision-making and more sustainable team growth (and fewer uncomfortable conversations)

    Focus areas:

    • Org design (options, sequencing, role clarity)

    • Hiring priorities

    • Early levelling & career frameworks

    • Performance philosophy + review cycles

    • Executive team dynamics

    Example outputs:

    • Org chart & 12–18 month growth plan

    • Role mandates

    • Hiring roadmap + interview scorecards

    • Career framework / leveling draft

    • Performance feedback training + lightweight templates

    • Employee exits cheatsheet

    • Leadership team alignment plan

  • Building and scaling yourself alongside the company.

    Your investors are backing your expertise, vision, and drive. Without self-focus, you risk burnout, or your company outgrowing you. Invest in yourself so that you can always be the leader your business needs.

    Focus areas:

    • 1:1 regular confidentials & decision support

    • Leadership rituals & personal operating system

    • Managing overwhelm & priorities

    • Becoming the leader the company scales around

    Example outputs:

    • Personal leadership operating rhythm

    • Decision-making framework template

    • Delegation toolkit

    • Founder reflection + prioritisation dashboard

  • High-impact, flexible support to accelerate progress in areas that are messy, cross-functional, or outside your core expertise.

    Examples:

    • Customer success / service experience setup

    • Office move planning

    • User personas

    • Customer journey mapping

    • Copywriting & brand voice clarity

    • Sales strategy foundations

    • Marketing strategy foundations

    • Shaping initial technology requirements

    • Onboarding design

    • Data foundations

    • Fundraise support

    • Other strategic projects inc regulatory

If you think this could be what you need, let’s have a conversation. I work with a small number of founders at a time, usually for focused, time-bound engagements. The first chat is just a chance to compare notes, get a clear sense of what’s happening in your company, and see if working together makes sense for us both — if not, I’ll tell you!

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