From the lab or the laptop to a company investors can read.
Edinburgh produces companies from its universities, its software teams and its kitchens. Many are strong on the idea and thin on the commercial and financial layer an investor looks for.
What prompts founders to seek senior help early
The problems tend to be alike in the run-up to a first institutional round:
Founders who are researchers first
Excellent science or engineering, and nobody who has priced, sold or financed a product.
Public funding, private money and revenue mixed
Grants, loans, investor cash and sales arriving together, each needing its own records.
Intellectual property unclear
Ownership split between the founders and a university, with terms nobody has revisited.
The first sales appointment is a risk
A salesperson hired before the pitch is proven spends months learning what the founder already knew.
We find a senior operator who fits your stage: finance to build the forecast and reporting, commercial leadership to prove the sales route, or technical leadership to decide the architecture. They work part time, so the cost suits a company that has not yet raised the next round.
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 a young company gets
Part-time senior leads are a familiar part of early teams in Edinburgh, from spinouts to software studios. Ours are chosen for your stage, with governance kept around the engagement.
Reviews as you change
We check in at set points and rewrite the brief when a grant, a licence or a round changes the plan.
Experience across functions
Technical, commercial and finance operators in the collective are there for a second opinion before a decision reaches the founders.
Changeover managed by us
If your lead leaves, we start the next search from our notes on the company and see the changeover through.
Matched to researcher founders
Founders who are scientists first need a lead who respects the research and is plain about the 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
