Start with the problem.

Strategic projects

Fixed scope and fixed fee.

For when There is a specific problem the executive team has not had the time or the vantage point to solve, or the board has asked for a plan and nobody has time to build one.

A defined problem, worked through properly. Operating plans, organisation design, a hiring plan sequenced against runway, a board-requested review or the groundwork for a strategic decision. Often it begins with a diagnostic of how the company actually runs.

You get a written answer and a prioritised plan you can act on with or without me. It is a standalone piece of work rather than a sales process. Plenty of companies take the plan and run it themselves.

• The problem and what a good answer looks like, agreed before anything starts
• Interviews across the executive team and, where useful, the board
• Review of reporting, runway, hiring plan and governance as the problem requires
• A written answer with ranked actions and owners
• A working session with the founders to take it forward

Capital advisory

Ahead of and during a raise. Often follows a strategic project.

For when A raise is coming and the company cannot afford to lose six months of executive attention to it.

Making a company backable, then running the raise with discipline once it starts. Investment narrative, deck, financial model, data room and diligence readiness.

Where the round needs a vehicle rather than a straight equity line, I structure it. SPVs, co-investment vehicles and the legal, tax and service provider coordination that comes with them.

Almost a decade reading these documents from the investor's chair is the whole of the value. I know which claims survive an investment committee and which get quietly picked apart in the room after you leave it.

Fractional COO

Two to three days a week, rolling three month term.

For when The company has outgrown founder led operations but cannot yet justify, or find, a full time COO.

Embedded operational leadership with real accountability. I take ownership rather than producing recommendations. I am reachable between the days I am in.

Equity, where appropriate, sits alongside the cash fee rather than replacing it. A retainer that has outlived its usefulness is a failure of advice, so every engagement carries a review date.

• Hiring, onboarding and the sequencing of both against runway
• Management reporting the executive team actually uses
• Budget, runway and supplier discipline
• Board packs, board cadence and investor updates
• The unglamorous systems work that stops being anyone's job

Interim CEO

Defined term, to a handover.

For when A founder is stepping back, a search is running or the company needs steadying while the board decides what it wants next.

Different in character from a fractional role and shorter in intent. The job is to hold the company steady, keep the team and the investors informed and hand over to a permanent appointment in better shape than it was found.

I will always be explicit about which of the two we are doing, because confusing them is how interim appointments quietly become permanent ones nobody chose.

Non-executive director

Board term, a limited number of seats.

For when The board needs independent judgement, or an investor needs a nominee who will do the reading.

Seed through Series B, founder appointed or as an investor nominee. Governance, remuneration and audit input, chair support, succession planning and a habit of asking the question everyone in the room is avoiding.

I hold few seats deliberately, so each one gets genuine preparation rather than a skim of the pack on the morning of the meeting.

How engagements work

No hourly billing and no open ended scope.

[email protected] Tell me what the company does and what is currently in the way. Two paragraphs is plenty.