Fractional COO. Operations that scale without breaking.

The fractional COO role

A fractional COO owns execution. Translates strategy into operations, defines who does what, measures, corrects, repeats. The natural partner for a CEO or founder who wants to focus back on product, customers or strategy.

• Core process redesign with owners, SLAs and KPIs.
• Org chart, clear roles and responsibilities.
• Operating cadence: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly.
• Tech stack: ERP, CRM, PM tools, automations.
• Financial ops: budget, cashflow, management control.

Signs you need a fractional COO

A founder handling everything and unable to delegate, endless meetings without decisions, customers lost to operational errors, a frustrated team without priorities. All symptoms of the same thing: the COO function is missing.

• The same decisions come back on the agenda every week.
• Processes live in two or three people's heads.
• Every new customer breaks something.
• Team grows but productivity per person drops.
• Meetings have no owner, no decisions, no follow-up.

Fractional COO for SMEs and scale-ups

In an SME the fractional COO builds the first real operational function. In a scale-up they upgrade it to handle 5 or 10 times the volume. In both cases they leave behind an internal team and an operating playbook.

Mandate structure

Typically two or three days a week for 6-12 months. Explicit quarterly goals, monthly review with owners, measurable KPIs. At mandate end, a junior in-house COO or head of operations can take over.