Past the founders, before the management team.
The founding team's skills no longer match the size of the company, and the people to run it at its new scale are not yet in place. Scale-ups stall in that gap.
Where scale-ups stall
Demand is rarely the problem. One of these four usually is:
Founders still own every function
The people who built the firm have become the bottleneck for hiring, pricing and finance.
The second market is harder than the first
The Netherlands was a test. Germany or beyond needs a plan, a team and an owner.
Investor reporting outgrows the spreadsheet
A growth investor expects monthly figures and a board pack delivered on the agreed day.
The permanent hire is a year away
The role is clear, the budget is not, and the search would take longer than the problem.
A fractional executive covers the seat while the company grows into it. They run the function, set up what the permanent hire will step into and help select that hire when the time arrives.
Who this is for, and who it is not
Best for
- Companies that have outgrown founder-led informality but cannot yet fund a full C-suite
- Finance functions that need to become board and investor grade
- Revenue still riding on founder relationships rather than a repeatable engine
- Teams and culture straining as headcount climbs past what informal management holds
- Leadership gaps that would stall growth if left open for a full hiring cycle
Not for
- Early startups still searching for product-market fit
- A single function a ready full-time executive should already own
- Businesses wanting advice on a deck rather than an operator in the work
- A one-off project better suited to a specialist contractor
How we keep pace with you
A scale-up rewrites its priorities every few months. We stay in the engagement so the brief keeps up.
A brief that moves with you
Each quarter we revisit the engagement with you and your executive, and rewrite the brief when the company has moved on.
Second views on growth
Expansion into Germany or a new product line may raise questions outside your executive's function; colleagues in our collective of 800+ can weigh in.
From fractional to permanent
When the seat becomes full time, or your executive leaves, we run the transition and any new search ourselves, building on the original brief.
Chosen for the growth stage
We match on stage and pace. Someone used to a large group's support staff can struggle in a company that is still building its own.
From diagnostic to infrastructure that scales with you
Our process runs at the pace of a scaling company, not a hiring cycle.
Scale diagnostic (weeks 1–2)
Map the current state: operational stress points, financial infrastructure gaps, commercial engine gaps, people risks.
Engagement design (weeks 3–4)
Design the right fractional leadership configuration, which roles, what scope, what priority sequencing.
Infrastructure build (month 1–3)
Fractionals embed: operational systems, financial infrastructure, commercial engine design, people frameworks.
Adapt to the growth (ongoing)
As you grow, we adjust the configuration. The goal is always the right leadership for the current phase.
What changes in the first 90 days
A scale-up engagement is judged on what moves early. These are the shifts a fractional operator is there to make.
The scale-up leadership stack
Each role below owns a different part of the scale-up: finance, operations, commercial, people or technology.
Leaders who have scaled
