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Sprint · 12–20 weeks

I install the operating system that lets the business run without being held together by the founder.

Built for founder-led businesses that have outgrown the operating model that got them here. The team has scaled, the product is winning - but the way the business runs day-to-day is still held together by the founder's instinct.

Who this is for

This is the moment the Sprint is built for.

The founder feels it most. They came in to build a business - and they're spending their week handling escalations that shouldn't reach their desk, unblocking decisions that should belong to the leadership team, and translating data that should be speaking for itself. The operating model that got the business here is the thing that's slowing down what comes next.

  • Your name is the answer to too many questions that aren't yours to answer.
  • The leadership team is waiting for you to unblock decisions that should be theirs.
  • You can't see clearly what's happening in the business without translating the data yourself.
  • New hires are onboarded by whoever has bandwidth that week.
  • The operating model that got you here is starting to slow down what comes next.

Typical shape. 20 to 100 people, £5–25M ARR or equivalent, scaling fast, no dedicated COO.

What we build together

The operating system. Six components, installed together.

I install the operating system that lets the business run without being held together by the founder. That includes:

01

Decision rights

Clear roles, mandates and decision rights so people stop waiting for the founder to unblock them.

02

KPI & OKR framework

A working framework that tells the leadership team what's happening in the business without the founder having to translate the data.

03

Meeting cadence

The right meetings, designed to surface the right decisions at the right level. Not more meetings - the right ones.

04

Customer operations

The disciplines around customer onboarding, success and retention that turn ad-hoc good service into repeatable customer experience.

05

PMO discipline

Project delivery from improvised effort into predictable output.

06

HR & finance touchpoints

Early HR and finance disciplines at the operating level - escalation routes, basic people processes, financial discipline at the team level.

What's not in scope: the deeper governance scaffolding - that's Governance Foundations Sprint.

How it runs

Four phases. Twelve to twenty weeks.

The boundaries between phases are deliberately soft, because real work doesn't fit neatly into stages. The cadence is the work.

01 / Understand
Weeks 1–3

In your meetings, your data, and your people - not delivering yet.

Reading the financial and operating reports the leadership team currently sees, sitting in on the standups and reviews, talking to your team leads about what's working and where the friction is.

02 / Design
Weeks 3–6

We agree, together, what the system needs to look like.

Decision rights and mandates. The cadence of meetings and reviews. The KPI framework and what feeds it. By the end of this phase, the leadership team has a shared, agreed picture of what we're building and why.

03 / Embed
Weeks 6–15

The longest phase. We build the operating system into the business.

Not a parallel project - embedded directly into how the team works. By the end of this phase, the operating system isn't a deck - it's how the business actually runs.

04 / Hand over
Final 2–3 weeks

Step-down rather than step-out. From running the work to watching your team.

I move from running the meetings to watching them. From making the decisions to checking that the team is making them well. From doing the work to letting your team do it. The rhythm is embedded & the work is yours.

The cadence is the work. I'm in the business one or two days a week throughout - not parachuting in for monthly reviews.

What changes

What changes is how the business feels.
Six months in:

  • 01

    The founder is freed from operational firefighting - back to product, strategy, the next phase of growth.

  • 02

    The leadership team runs the business with clarity, discipline and pace. Decisions get made at the right level.

  • 03

    The team has structure they can grow into. Roles defined. Career paths shaping. New hires onboarded into a system.

  • 04

    The business has a reporting rhythm that makes sense - weekly, monthly, quarterly. Right information, right level, right time.

This isn't for everyone.

A few honest filters.

The work is built for a specific kind of business and a specific kind of relationship. I'd rather tell you here than in week three.

  • -
    …you want a deck and an outside expert.

    The Sprint only works if you want an operator who'll embed, build the work with your team, and bring them with us. If you're looking for advisory at arm's length, there are people who do that well - I'm not one of them.

  • -
    …the business is in turnaround.

    This work is built for businesses that are succeeding hard enough to outgrow their operating model. If the business is in crisis and needs restructuring, that's a different engagement with different specialists.

  • -
    …you want someone to confirm decisions already made.

    I work best with founders who want honest counsel - including when I disagree. If you're looking for a senior voice to validate the direction you've already chosen, the Sprint won't give you the value you're paying for.

  • -
    …the role needs to be external-facing.

    I'm an operator, not a thought-leader-for-hire. The work I do best happens inside the business, with the team - not on conference stages or in public commentary.

Commercial shape

Scope, deliverables and outcomes - agreed before the work begins.

Delivered as a fixed-scope, fixed-fee engagement. Fees set against the agreed scope. No day-rate creep. No scope-of-work surprises. No retainer-by-stealth.

Length
12–20 weeks
Structure
Fixed scope · fixed fee
Cadence
1–2 days a week embedded
Operating Rhythm Sprint

If this sounds like your business - let's talk.

The next step is a thirty-minute conversation. No deck, no pitch, no pressure - just an honest read on whether the engagement is the right shape.

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