How to find a fractional COO

Write down the work you want off your plate. Not “operations,” the actual work.

A fractional COO is a part-time, contract operations executive. They do the job of a chief operating officer for part of the week, or for a defined piece of the business: processes, systems, vendors, fulfillment, reporting, and the handoffs between people. You get senior operating help without carrying an executive salary before the business is ready for one. Unlike an advisor, a good one builds the system, runs it, and hands it to your team.

• What still runs through you today?

• Which decisions or processes need an owner?

• What keeps breaking, and when?

• How many hours a week does it take from you?

That list tells you what kind of fractional COO you need, and gives every candidate the same thing to respond to, so you can compare answers. Most owners bring one in when everything still runs through them, the same problems keep coming back, and they know what needs building but don’t have the time to build it.

Referrals from other owners first. Every other source works too, if you vet it the same way.

• Referrals from other owners

  UpsideYou hear how they work from someone who paid for it.

  CatchYour network may be small, and a fit for their business isn’t automatically a fit for yours.

• Operator communities

  UpsidePeer groups and industry associations: people who have run businesses, often in your industry.

  CatchPlenty of advice, uneven follow-through. Find out who actually builds.

• LinkedIn

  UpsideA wide pool, and work history is easy to see.

  CatchProfiles are self-written, and a title says little about what someone built.

• Fractional marketplaces

  UpsideFast, with a pre-screened pool and flexible terms.

  CatchMatching tends to be by title and hours, and hourly billing works against a defined outcome.

• Hands-on operations firms

  UpsideMore than one person behind the work, and a set way of scoping and handing off.

  CatchSome sell strategy and leave the building to someone else. Ask who does the work.

Wherever you look, check whether they will work inside your tools and your team, or only hand you a plan. Execution is the difference.

What they built that still runs without them, and what done looks like here.

1. 01

   What did you build at your last client that still runs without you?

2. 02

   Have you run a business yourself, or only advised one?

3. 03

   What would you build here first, and when would it be done?

4. 04

   Will you give me a written scope and a fixed price before work starts?

5. 05

   What does “done” look like, and how will we both know?

6. 06

   Will you work inside our tools and with our team?

7. 07

   What do you need from me each week,

   and how will you tell me what moved and what’s blocked?

8. 08

   How do you hand off?

   Who owns each system after, and where do the documentation and accounts live when you leave?

A good one starts with how the work actually gets done. A bad one starts with a framework.

A good fractional COO names the first thing they’ll build and when it will be done, gives you a fixed price and a written scope before they start, works with your people, and leaves the business running without them. Walk away if you see these:

• A plan, then gone.

  They hand you a document and leave.

• Strategy first.

  They talk strategy before they’ve looked at the work.

• No price, no timeline.

  Or a scope with no defined outcome.

• Open-ended hours.

  The meter runs; nothing is ever done.

• Nothing to show.

  They can’t point to real work they built.

• You in every meeting.

  If they need you there, they haven’t taken anything off your plate.

A written scope, a fixed price and a defined outcome, before work starts. If they won’t give all three, keep looking.

• A written scope.

  What they own, and what they don’t.

• A fixed price.

  Not an open hourly meter.

• A defined outcome.

  It’s done when that outcome is running, not when the hours run out.

That’s how we set ours up at Lockhold. The length varies: some are long-term engagements, some a narrow scope. What doesn’t vary is those three.

Fractional COO, operations consultant or full-time COO?

• Fractional COO

  What they doOwns operations part-time and builds the systems, accountable for the outcome.

  Best whenOperations still depend on you, and a full-time salary doesn’t make sense yet.

• Operations consultant

  What they doUsually diagnoses and recommends. The better ones also implement.

  Best whenYou want one specific problem looked at and fixed.

• Full-time COO

  What they doLeads operations every day as an employee.

  Best whenThe business can carry the salary and needs daily operating leadership.

Many owners start fractional. When the full-time hire comes, the processes and reporting are already in place.

Write down the one thing that’s stuck: the process that keeps slipping, the system nobody has time to build. That’s the starting point.

Our fractional COO services start there, with a written scope and a fixed price, and end with the system running in your business. If you have one problem to fix rather than a role to fill, operations consulting may fit better. You can also see the work we’ve built.

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