What is a fractional COO?
A fractional COO is an experienced operations leader who works for your company part-time. That's often a few days a month, up to about a day a week. They set priorities, run a weekly rhythm and answer for results the way a full-time COO would.
Many growing companies need a senior operator before they're ready for a full-time COO. The founder is often still running operations on top of sales and everything else. A fractional COO takes that load off. They build the habits and systems that let the business run without one person in every decision.
A consultant studies the business and hands over a report. A fractional COO stays and runs the plan.
What does a fractional COO do each week?
A fractional COO spends most weeks on four jobs. They run a weekly numbers meeting and own a short list of priorities. They also clear blockages between teams and make sure fixes actually get done.
The weekly meeting comes first. A good fractional COO picks a handful of numbers that show whether the business is healthy. Think quotes sent, orders shipped, cash collected or jobs finished on time. The leadership team reviews them every week, so problems show up early instead of at the end of the quarter.
The priority list keeps everyone focused. Growing companies always have more ideas than people to do them. Part of the job is saying no, or not yet, to good ideas so the most important fixes get finished.
- Runs a weekly leadership meeting on a short list of numbers.
- Owns and protects a short list of priorities.
- Settles handoff problems between sales, operations, finance and the field.
- Writes down how key processes should run.
- Oversees projects that fix systems and processes.
- Coaches managers so they can own more over time.
When does a company need a fractional COO?
A company usually needs a fractional COO when the founder has become the bottleneck for daily decisions. Other triggers are growth outrunning the way work gets done, or teams dropping work at handoffs. If the same problems come up every month with no one in charge of fixing them, it's time.
Other signs include leaders who argue in meetings about which numbers are right. Another is a CRM or ERP that people work around instead of in. A founder who can't take a week off without things stalling is a third.
It's usually too early if the business is still finding its market and the way it works changes every month. It's time for a full-time COO when the work needs someone four or more days a week for the foreseeable future.
How is a fractional COO different from an operations consultant?
An operations consultant finds problems and recommends fixes. A fractional COO finds the problems, decides what to do and runs the plan for months. The difference shows up when the first fix runs into a busy team and someone has to keep pushing.
Many good engagements use both. They start with a short, paid diagnosis, then move into ongoing leadership based on what it found. That way both sides agree on priorities before committing to months of work. At Push, that diagnosis is the initial analysis of our Friction Point Analysis. Our guide on what a process audit is explains how it works.
What does the first 90 days look like?
A fractional COO's first 90 days usually split into three parts. Month one is for learning and finding the problems. Months two and three go to fixing the top priority, and day 90 is a review where both sides decide what's next.
In month one, the operator maps how work moves, interviews the team, looks at the data and puts a cost on the biggest problems. They agree on priorities with the owner, including what to leave alone. In months two and three, the weekly meeting and a short list of numbers get going. Work starts on the most valuable fix. At day 90, everyone reviews the numbers. Then you decide whether to continue, change scope or move toward a full-time hire.
Can a fractional COO fix our systems too?
Some fractional COOs can fix your systems, but most set direction and rely on your team or outside vendors to build. That handoff is a common place for things to fail, because the person who chose the fix isn't the one building it. Having both under one roof helps.
That's how our fractional COO work is set up. Your operations leader decides what to fix, and our team builds it. That could be a HubSpot rebuild, an ERP connection or reports that tie ad spend to sales. For example, we connected Photon Brothers' design, inventory, finance and permitting systems to HubSpot. It saves them about 10 hours of data entry a week.
What does success look like after a year?
After a year with a fractional COO, the business should need its founder in far fewer decisions. The weekly numbers meeting should run without the operator pushing it. The top problems from the first diagnosis should be fixed, with the numbers to show it.
Other good signs are managers who own their numbers and processes written clearly enough for a new hire to follow. Look for systems people work in instead of around, and fewer surprises at month end. At that point, you can keep a lighter fractional role, hire a full-time COO or promote someone from inside.
What should you ask before hiring a fractional COO?
Before hiring a fractional COO, ask what operations they've run and how they'll study the business before recommending anything. Ask what will keep running after they leave and how the engagement ends. The answers show whether they've run operations themselves or only advised.
Also ask how much of their time you'll get each month and what decisions they can make without you. Ask how progress will be measured, and who owns the documents and systems they create. The answer to that last one should be you.
- What operations have you actually run, and at what size?
- How will you diagnose before recommending anything?
- How much of your time will we get, and when?
- What decisions can you make without me?
- How and when do we review progress?
- What keeps running after you leave, and who owns it?
Written by the Push Analytics team.