Plan like a funded company, spend like one that is not.
Few early-stage companies fail because they ran out of ideas. Whoever happened to be free built the finance, the sales motion or the architecture, and the cost arrives later.
Why founders call for senior help early
Dublin founders describe much the same thing:
Investor-ready numbers do not exist
Enterprise Ireland, angels and funds in Dublin and London all ask for reporting the founder has never had to produce.
Technical choices made in a hurry
Decisions that made sense in month three are why the roadmap is slow in month thirty.
The founder is the go-to-market
It works until the founder is the limit, and it cannot be passed on because nobody designed it to be.
A permanent executive comes too soon
A permanent executive brings a salary and a commitment the runway cannot yet carry.
A fractional executive brings an early-stage company the seniority of someone who has done this before, for only as long as it is needed, on a contract for services. It is the difference between learning the expensive way and not.
Who this is for, and who it is not
Best for
- Founders wearing every hat with no senior cover where it matters most
- Pre-seed to pre-Series A companies that need structure before they can fund it
- Teams that need investor-grade finance, reporting or operations at speed
- Startups scaling headcount faster than their processes can hold
- Founders who want to protect the cap table while adding senior leadership
Not for
- An idea with no product or traction to build structure around yet
- A role a capable full-time hire is already ready to own
- Founders looking to outsource a function rather than lead it
- A single deliverable an agency or contractor could hand back
What comes with the operator
A first senior hire matters more in a small team. We stay involved after the match, so you are not judging it on your own.
Checked against the brief
At fixed points we hold the work up against the brief with you, and speak up early if the plan starts to drift.
People who have built companies
A seed round, a first sales hire or an architecture call can go to peers in our collective of 800+ who have made them.
The role is the company's
Should your executive move on, what we know about the company and its investors carries straight into the next search.
Matched to founders
We match for operators who are comfortable with a small team and an unproven market.
From first call to embedded operator
We move at startup speed.
Tell us your stage
Where are you in the journey? What are the gaps? What does the next 90 days need to deliver?
We match the right operator
From our vetted collective, we introduce the fractional executive matched to your stage, sector, and culture.
Embedded within weeks
Your fractional embeds with your team, begins the scoped work, and operates with real accountability.
Scale the stack
As you grow, add further specialists from the collective. We coordinate them so they work as a coherent team.
Which leader for your stage
The gap that slows a startup changes as it grows. Here is where most founders feel it first, and who owns it.
The right fractional executive depends on your stage
Start with the widest gap today, then add roles as you scale.
Our operators have built and scaled at
