Practice
Fractional operator
In the room for the decisions, not just the deliverable.
The retainer version: two days a month inside your business, on whatever the hard thing currently is. Pricing, hiring, a partnership term sheet, whether to build or buy, which product to kill.
It suits founder-led companies somewhere between traction and structure — enough revenue that decisions are expensive, not enough team that anyone senior is checking your reasoning. The value is having someone with no stake in the internal politics say the unwelcome version out loud.
It does not suit anyone who wants a decision made for them. I will give you a position and the reasoning, and the decision stays yours — a consultant who owns your decisions has quietly become an employee you cannot fire.
What you get
- Two days a month, taken as whole days or split — your call, agreed at the start of each month.
- Async access on weekdays with a same-day reply on anything blocking.
- One written memo a month on the decision that mattered, so the reasoning survives the conversation.
- Introductions where I actually know the person, and a plain no where I don't.
What this line is not
- Not legal, tax, or regulated financial advice. Those need a licence and insurance, and I have neither.
- No board seat, no equity in exchange for the retainer, and no signing authority.
- Three of these at a time, maximum. The fourth would be the one that gets the leftover attention.
Where to check it
Real products with real customers, not a case study written about itself.