Founders who left the giants still have to build the basics.
Seattle startups are often started by people who learned at very large employers. They know what good looks like at scale, and they now have to build the finance, the first sales process and the people function with a team of a handful.
Where young companies get stuck
The product is strong. These slow everything else:
The founder is the whole back office
Runway, payroll and the books fit between product decisions, until an investor wants something sharper.
Big customers on the doorstep
Enterprise buyers nearby ask for security reviews and contracts that a young team has never seen.
No standard for the first offers
Early hires are priced one by one, and the logic is lost within a year.
Guessing the first senior hire
Too early, it drains runway. Too late, the founder burns out.
A fractional executive lends an early company the judgement of a well funded one, for only the hours it needs. They build the function, prove it works and pass it on once a full-time leader makes sense.
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
How it works at seed stage
A senior operator for the hours you need, with our governance around the engagement while it runs.
Check-ins that catch drift
We check in on a set rhythm and tell you early if the work has wandered from the brief.
A second opinion on hand
The collective of 800+ includes operators who built companies from a handful of people, ready to back your executive.
If someone leaves
If your executive has to step away, we search again with what we have learned about the company and manage the handover.
Founder fit first
Founders and their first senior hire work very closely. Temperament matters as much as the CV.
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 days
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.
Operators from the region's defining startups, and beyond
