The company has outgrown the way it was first put together.
Growth reveals each informal arrangement in one go. What ran on goodwill in a small team needs structure once customers are in London, staff are on three continents and an investor wants monthly numbers.
Where growing companies start to creak
Across growing businesses in the city, the weak points are predictable:
Founders making every call
Decisions queue behind two or three people, and capable managers stop proposing.
Reporting trails the decisions
The monthly pack arrives after the decisions have been taken.
Selling beyond Scotland without a plan
A first London or overseas customer won through relationships, with no repeatable way to find the next.
Investors want governance
Institutional backers expect an independent voice and committee discipline the business has not yet built.
The operator we embed has seen a company through this stage before. They put in the layer you lack, in finance, operations, revenue or people, and then either stay part time or help you recruit the permanent role.
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
What a growing company gets
For Edinburgh companies outgrowing their first structure, a part-time senior operator is an established step. The match and the governance around it decide how well it works.
Governance as the company changes
We revisit the brief at set points, because the company that hires in spring is not the one reporting in autumn.
Disciplines beyond one person
A finance lead who meets a technology or people problem can ask an operator in the collective who has handled it.
Context held by us
Board papers, the brief and our notes stay with us, so a new executive would not start cold.
Matched to founders and backers
The operator has to work with research-minded founders and institutional backers. We match for both.
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
