When Don’t You Need a Fractional COO Like Me
Photo by Linda Eller-Shein from Pexels.
In case this is your first visit, I’m John Gauch – a seasoned fractional COO, sales coach and mentor. Over 20+ years, I have applied my growth and operations skills to help dozens of startups, building one high-impact venture to nearly $100M in revenue and a second to exceed that benchmark. I began my career as a tech lawyer in New York City. I developed my expertise in progressive roles in business development, finance, sales, marketing and product, working along the way with companies like Amazon, IBM and Microsoft.
There is no right or wrong reason to want to build a business. Maybe it’s a creative outlet for one person. Someone else might be obsessed with solving a nagging problem they observed out in the world. Perhaps a third person never fit into a traditional corporate job and has a ton to offer in a role and company of their own making.
Business building is about changing the future.
A successful new business makes the world different than it is today, and I’ll be a match for anyone who aspires to have a huge positive impact on the lives of their customers and stakeholders.
This brief post is not about all that. It’s about when it might not make sense to work together formally, even if we are a match regarding outlook and values. You can still try me, but I may not be a fit in either of these two situations.
Situation One
You’ve got all the right team members with the right skills and experience in the right roles. You’re not struggling with scaling yourself, and you’re not missing any key capabilities. You have plenty of time to learn what you need to know. You are only spending time on the activities you alone can do. The team has everything else covered.
AND
The organization is learning quickly and efficiently. You have demonstrable evidence you’re onto a compelling new business opportunity (i.e., traction). You have practices and processes to surface the big assumptions and unknowns you need to test or get clarity on to move the business forward. You’re not struggling with team alignment or direction. You are sure about your next moves.
Read also: Overlooked Traits of Successful Startup CEOs
Situation Two
Your team makes you feel superhuman. You’ve eliminated all the significant unknowns relating to the business. Moreover, you’ve built the supporting infrastructure to scale. These efforts are going smoothly. You are making incremental business improvements. You are not making major shifts. You are not feeling out of control. You’re clearly well on your way to building a successful and sustainable business.
Read also: Defining our Terms: What is a Fractional Leader Anyway?
Congratulations to you for all that you’ve achieved so far. It is a real feat.
If you feel like you fall into Situation One or Situation Two, and there are still aspects of the business or your work life that you want to change, I’m always happy to chat. I’m also glad to be in touch purely for information sharing and networking purposes.