Hire a fractional COO
A fractional COO makes the company run without the founder in every decision. They own how work actually gets done: the processes, the handoffs, the reporting, and the uncomfortable question of who is accountable for what.
What a fractional COO owns
- The operating rhythm: what gets reviewed, how often, and by whom
- Process where there is none, and removing process that has stopped earning its place
- Hiring plans and organisational structure as the team grows
- Delivery and service quality, especially where it is slipping quietly
- Being the person the team escalates to instead of the founder
Signs you need one
- Everything routes through you and the business stops when you are away
- The team has grown past about fifteen and things start falling between people
- You are firefighting the same problem monthly and nobody owns the fix
- You want to work on the business and cannot get out of it
What it costs in the UK
Higher end for turnarounds, scale-ups past 50 people and multi-site operations.
Rates are set by the operator and paid to them directly. We are not in the payment path, and the operator never pays us a fee.
How this compares
A management consultant produces a recommendation and leaves. An operations manager executes within a system somebody else designed. A fractional COO designs the system and stays to run it, which is why they are usually the first senior hire a founder actually feels.
What to look for
- Ask what they would fix in the first thirty days and whether the answer is specific
- Someone who has operated at the size you are heading to, not just the size you are
- Whether they are comfortable holding people accountable, which is most of the job
- Sector experience matters less here than stage experience
Common questions
- What does a fractional COO cost in the UK?
- Typically £700 to £1,300 a day, most often two to three days a week during an active period, then reducing. That is roughly £6,000 to £15,000 a month while the heavy lifting is happening.
- What does a fractional COO actually do?
- They own how the company runs day to day: the operating rhythm, the processes, who is accountable for what, and the reporting that tells you whether it is working. In practice much of the early work is removing the founder from decisions that should not need them.
- When does a company need a COO?
- Commonly around fifteen to twenty people, when informal coordination stops working, or whenever the founder has become the bottleneck. It is also common during rapid growth, where the operating model that got you here actively breaks.
- Is a fractional COO the same as a consultant?
- No. A consultant diagnoses and hands you a document. A fractional COO holds the seat, makes decisions, and is accountable for whether the change actually happened.
- Do you take a cut of what I pay them?
- No. We are not in the payment path. You contract and pay the operator directly, and the operator pays us nothing either.
Operator Search: £999 to run, £2,500 if you hire
Can't find the right COO, or haven't got the time to look? We run the search and put three vetted operators in front of you in five business days. Both numbers agreed before anything starts, and the operator pays nothing either way.
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