Inside the decisions as a partner. Not advising from the outside.
The right engagement depends on where you are. Some organizations need the function built from scratch. Others need the one they have to finally start working for them.
01 · Embedded Operating Design
Embedded Operating Design· 6 weeks
The work starts with live decisions, not frameworks. Week one is pressure-testing what's actually happening: where ownership is unclear, where priorities are competing, where the delivery model is breaking down.
Some teams have the talent but not the infrastructure to execute. Others accumulated structure by default. Either way, the output isn't a document. It's the team knowing who owns what, what comes first, and how work ships.
Process
Wk 1
Orientation
Map live decisions, pressure-test where friction is structural, align on scope and access
Wk 2–3
Discovery
Leadership interviews across functions; map where decisions stall, where ownership is missing, and what's competing for priority
Wk 4–5
Working sessions
Targeted sessions to clarify who owns what, resolve priority conflicts, and lock in who decides going forward
Wk 6
Alignment
Leadership session to confirm resolved decisions, named owners, and committed next steps. The work is done before this session begins.
Typical result
Ownership defined. Priorities sequenced. Delivery model in place. The engagement closes when the organization functions differently. Not on a fixed date.
For Investment Funds
The engagement structure is the same. The entry dynamic differs.
- ·Introduced by the fund, contracted directly with the portfolio company
- ·The portfolio company is the principal. The fund is kept informed, not involved.
- ·Working sessions are confidential. No interim process reporting to the fund.
- ·Fund receives a summary of resolved decisions at close, not a process report
In their words
I was brought into B1 to build the program management and operations function. Stephen came in at the same time to build the product side.
He brought what the organization hadn't had: a product delivery framework, a way to surface and sequence inputs from across the organization, and the rigor to make the shift from R&D into something that could actually ship.
Together we scaled the team, sequenced the milestones, and built the accountability structures the program needed. The model became the foundation for a product org we eventually spun out as its own company. Stephen understands how an organization actually functions, not just how it should.
Jeff Werner
Director of Operations, B1
02 · AI-Native Team Design
AI-Native Team Design· Scoped engagement
The way teams build is changing. Small engineering teams now produce at many times their headcount. Agents do as much work as people. Output multiplies. So does drift. Nobody is sure what anything costs, who decided what, or whether the team is building the right thing faster or the wrong thing sooner.
The operating model needs to be rebuilt for how the team actually works now. Same discipline, new coordination patterns.
What this covers
- ·Audit of current workflows, cost structure, and coordination patterns
- ·Operating ceremonies redesigned for AI-native workflows: planning, review, and retrospective at AI speed
- ·Decision ownership mapped across the team
- ·Internal tooling identified and scoped, from token budget visibility to PR triage to agent job monitoring
Typical result
Operating ceremonies redesigned for AI-native workflows. Clear ownership of product decisions across the team. Cost visibility where there was none. Internal tooling identified and scoped.
Talk through your team's setup03 · Advisory
Ongoing Advisory· Flexible cadence
Advisory isn't a project. It's ongoing access to someone working alongside leadership on decisions as they surface, not called in after the pattern has already hardened.
Some come to it following an engagement, keeping the clarity built during it intact. Others engage directly: leaders who don't have a pressing structural problem but want that perspective available as new questions emerge.
Typical rhythm
- ·Monthly working sessions with founder or senior leadership
- ·Direct access for input on live decisions between sessions
- ·Periodic review of operating model as the organization evolves
Typical result
Structural questions caught before they compound. Decisions made with confidence. Leadership running the organization rather than being run by it.
Start the conversation04 · Other Engagements
When the primary engagement isn't the right starting point, or when the need is more specific.
Fractional CPO
For founders carrying the product function themselves, or teams that need senior product leadership before they're ready to hire it full-time.
Outcome: A product function that runs without the founder in every decision: priorities owned, process in place, and a translation layer between what leadership wants to build and how the team executes it.
Early-Stage Clarity Sprint
For teams that haven't fully committed to a problem definition, or have but the priority decisions keep getting relitigated.
Outcome: A locked problem definition, explicit customer scope, and a sequenced set of priorities the team can execute without relitigating the decisions behind them.
Leadership Coaching
For leaders whose decision load has grown faster than their decision architecture and need to operate differently before the pattern hardens.
Outcome: Clearer authority boundaries, faster decision cycles, and an operating posture that stops centralizing what the organization should be absorbing.
Common Questions
Decisions keep returning to the founder. Nobody clearly owns the product function. Priorities compete without resolution. If that's the pattern, the engagement is relevant. The friction is structural. Not a people problem, not a market problem.
Embedded Operating Design fits organizations with an identifiable structural problem: friction that's acute and has a name. AI-Native Team Design fits teams where the operating model hasn't kept pace with the velocity AI tools enable. If you're not sure which fits, the first conversation is designed to figure that out. Most people know something is off before they know what to call it.
A consultant delivers a recommendation and leaves. I stay through the work. I'm in the room while decisions get made, building the function alongside the team. The measure is simple: can the organization execute without me at the end?
Resolved decisions, with owners named and sequencing locked. Leadership can move without relitigating the same questions. The measure is whether the organization functions differently at the end. Not whether a document was delivered.
Six weeks fits organizations with an identifiable structural problem: friction that's acute and nameable. If the problem is more diffuse or the organization isn't yet at a growth inflection point, the Early-Stage Clarity Sprint may be the better starting point. If you're not sure, start with a conversation.
For Investment Funds
The portfolio company is always the principal. The fund introduces the engagement and receives a summary of resolved decisions at close. No process report, no interim updates. Working sessions are confidential to the portfolio company's leadership.
Frame it around their interest, not your visibility. The introduction that lands: “I'd like to bring someone in to work directly with you on the execution friction you've been navigating. He contracts with you, not me. I hear about outcomes at close, nothing during.” The CEO needs to trust that this is in their interest. The contractual structure supports that; the framing has to lead with it.
Still not sure if it's a fit? That's what the first conversation is for.